Either you grew up cooking with the mantra of "waste not want not" and it's now simply a part of what you do. Or you didn't. Food waste in general and in home kitchens specifically has gained awareness in recent years. I love _Cooking with Scraps_ as it's the antithesis to the many didactic cookbooks begging for shelf space. I'm human and I'm imperfect. Yes, I want to reduce my waste for many reasons and I'm always looking for novel approaches to overcoming the inevitable cooking ruts. I like Hard's approach -- based on a range of experiences toward _mottainai_ [Japanese expression conveying a sense of regret over waste]. While zero waste is an ideal, _Cooking with Scraps_ is practical and understands that we're doing our best. Being empathetic toward reality helps makes it an enjoyable cookbook to read. Combined with the enticing and gorgeous photos, I find I want to make most everything!

What caught my eye? Two recipes definitely caught my eye in the "why didn't I think of that" category. It never dawned on me to create dried apple peel chips! I rarely peel apples because while they're nice for my compost bin I couldn't think of something to do with them. They will be a nice afternoon snack. While I often roast winter squash seeds, it never crossed my mind to do the same for cantaloupe. In addition to the expected ingredients, this cookbook shows how you can cook with more from your pantry. There are recipes for meats, cheeses, breads, stone fruits, infused liquors, and more found within the beautiful pages of _Cooking with Scraps_.

Cooking with Scraps is a creative resource for using every bit of your food and ingredients. From artichoke leaves to tortilla chip crumbs. I loved how it was organized by ingredient alphabetically so that it can be an easy reference. There were some obscure items: shiso and bacon ends you might not come across in your daily cooking, but overall most recipes featured common ingredients. I tried several different recipes and they were both good and were easy to prepare when following the directions. There are several more I bookmarked to try another time. Great book to add to your collection.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read an early copy. All thoughts are my own.

This was a fun read, and the photography is beautiful. Truth be told, however, I probably won't make any of these recipes, as it's too easy for me to feed our scraps to the hens or toss them into our compost pile. And, frankly, I don't want artichoke leaves as part of my nachos, I don't eat meat, and any kind of bean sneaked into a food where it doesn't seem to reasonably belong is just not worth my time.

I did find good instruction on food handling and storage. Related to that, a cook can always keep a bag in the freezer and add scraps to it, then make an interesting soup or stock later. Sorry, but these recipes were just a bit odd for my tastes, and I also have to consider what my husband will and will not eat.

Really interesting book with some good ideas for using up leftovers. A lot of the recipes require too many extra ingredients and took a lot of effort, so wouldn't appeal ;to me. There were some really good ideas and the book does inspire you to think up your own.. A great book for anyone looking to reduce food waste.

Since reading this cookbook cover to cover, I find that I quote from it daily and insert my new found “scrap food” knowledge into all conversations. I had no idea how much potential food I was composting and now it is suddenly a delicious dish!

This is exactly the kind of cookbook I've been looking for! It's not just that it gives recipes and ideas for kitchen scraps that some might know, but so many that are new ones to me. For example, I know about pickling watermelon rind, but granita? Yum! Not mention uses for whey, peanut-shell cheese pot, banana peel bread, bacon ends, and completely new foods (aebleskivers, anyone?). This will undoubtedly be a wonderful new addition to my kitchen bookshelf (when it comes out)!

Where has this book been my entire (cooking) life? If you like watching <i>Chopped<i> because you like seeing what inventive uses the chefs are going to find for bizarre ingredients, you're pretty much guaranteed to like this book. The fact that it helps reduce waste and save money on groceries doesn't hurt, either.

Amazingly creative ideas for using up all sorts of kitchen scraps, many of which I didn't even realize you could eat (banana peels anyone?). I knew you could make stuff with the green tops of lots of veggies, but this goes much further.

The book is organized around type of scrap, with a really well laid-out table of contents that makes it easy to find recipes. Have some cheese rinds, lemon peels, or corn cobs you don't want to throw away? You'll find something to do with them in the table of contents. The recipes are clearly written, too, so they should be easy to follow.

This is an interesting concept for a cookbook. Take scraps which would ordinarily be thrown out and turn them into something special. While some ideas seemed a bit too out there for me (artichoke leaf nachos and beet peel margherita), the sections on ways to use up old bread and scraps of cheese were pretty helpful. The cocktails section sounds especially inventive. This would be a good book for generating ideas, although I’m not sure I’ll return to it regularly.

A clever idea, and taken to extremes I have never considered! I fancy myself a waste-conscious cook, but Ms. Hard takes it to a new level. It's impressive, and very interesting, though I have to be honest and say that many of the ideas here are ones I probably won't try.

As someone who has occasionally wondered what to do with a single stalk of leftover asparagus or a few apple slices, this cookbook is perfect. Organized by leftover ingredient, recipes appear simple and easy to follow--not to mention delicious.

I love everything about this book. Usually, my complaint about cookbooks are all of the ingredients--they're either hard to find, expensive, only sold in bulk, or some combination of the three that just results in waste.

In this book, the core ingredients are things I'm buying anyway, and the other ones tend to be bulk items that actually come in handy for other things (like sugar)

My second complaint is usually the cost to make recipes, but this book is there to save you money and even squeeze a few more cent's worth out of your groceries.

And then of course, I complain that I would never use cookbook recipes in real life but GUESS WHAT. I found myself telling my mother you could whip bean water just like egg whites as we made channa masala.

5 stars. Buy a copy for everyone.

This book isn't perfect, but is far better than other waste less food cookbooks.

This book is organized well, with each section based on a food.
This makes it easy to find out what to do with your radish tops or apple peels.

My main problem with the book is that many of its recipes either use sugar, alcohol or non paleo ingredients. That being said, there were many more acceptable and useful recipes here.
Many of the recipes are darn near revolutionary (apple core syrup!) and most are at least interesting.
The recipes are easy to follow and well illustrated.

This book is absolutely FANTASTIC - I love it - my children should have a copy - everybody's children and grandchildren should have a copy.
The book is fabulously laid out and the photographs of the food are beautiful. There are also some really interesting facts about food, that was new to me. I love the recipe called "Strata" - a recipes about clearing out odds and end from the fridge. I love the fact that nothing is wasted, is good for you and saves money.

This book is really well put together. I have to admit a lot of the recipes didn't interest me at first but then I made myself open up my mind. Its a very beautiful book and the recipes are easy to follow. Who doesnt want to save money and cook healthy.
Will be purchasing this for my vegetarian daughter-in-law and friends.

Amazing and modern cookbook! This is an impressive collections of recipes and tips that how reduce waste of food by turning on delicious meals. I specially loved the WHEY COOL LIMEADE based on the whey left from home made cheese. This book will not disappointed you!

An instructive and beautiful guide to making more from less. Recommended for readers who have an interest in green and eco-friendly practices, and for gardeners eager to stretch the bounty of their harvest.

This wasn’t really what I as expecting. This cookbook seems to focus mainly on vegetable scraps rather than all kinds of scraps.
The recipes themselves do seem very nice and they have amazing photos along side them. Although I’m unsure whether I’d use many as they seem rather fancy rather than everyday meals.

A collection of 80 surprising, creative, delicious recipes for anyone who wants to cook smart, sustainable, and impressive meals out of unused bits of produce. Thank you for the opportunity, this book is pretty helpful!

Foodwaste haunts me, and the best way to remove a ghost is with an exorcist...and that got weird...Ok, this book is great if you are wanting to find more uses for your excess food bits, be it to save money and get more bang for your buck or to help out the environment by not making as much garbage.

There are so many clever recipes in this book, which is also chock full of lovely pictures, I found myself wanting to try just about everything presented. I am definitely adding this cookbook to my collection and want to get it as gifts for people.

A really original book, who knew that scraps could turn out so well although there are a few recipes that I wouldn't be too keen on but overall a good cookbook that makes you think about how to avoid waste and save money.