Hand Pies and Getting Creative in the Kitchen

There’s an amazing group in my community that works to reduce food waste. We gift unwanted food for free to other members so that that food will be used and not wasted. I picked up a box of food from one of these offerings and inside was a container of berry pie filling. It’s not something I would typically buy, and it was far too sweet to use in most dishes. Being determined to use the food and not waste it, I decided to make hand pies.

I had every intention of making these pies into beautiful and symmetrical shapes, but I was working with little helpers and decided that letting them have a larger role in the process was more important than the food being beautiful.

I searched the internet for vegan pie crust recipes that I could make with whatever I had in the pantry. After finding a recipe we whipped up the pie dough and rolled it out. We added the filling and baked the pies for breakfast on a cold morning. They were delicious!

We had enough filling to make two recipes, so after we sampled our pies and decided they were worth eating again, we made a second batch and stuck it in the freezer for another day. I love having food in the freezer for busy days.

Saving one can of pie filling from going to waste isn’t going to save the world, but I like to incorporate these small practices into my daily life. It’s a little reminder to not waste, to appreciate what we have, to make the best choice available, and to have fun while doing it.