Marielle

You're listening to Life Kit, from NPR.

Hey, it's Marielle.

When Margaret Lee was a kid, she watched her mom doing something that was a little unusual.

After she collected a bunch of them, she would mix them all together.

Years later, when Margaret and her sister wrote a cookbook called Perfectly Good Food, they dedicated it to their mom and the way she would rescue takeout sauces.

Because this was a formative lesson for Margaret.

It showed her that you don't always need a recipe to make something delicious, and you can find creative ways to use up just about any ingredient in your kitchen.

The latest estimate from a nonprofit called ReFed is that a quarter of all food products in the U.S.

get dumped.

And the residential food sector accounts for a big part of that, which means if you spend $200 a week on groceries and takeout, you might be throwing away the equivalent of $50 of food.

But also, once you get the hang of how to use more of your food, it makes the daily chore of feeding yourself easier.

You just used up what you had.

On this episode of LifeKit, reporter Emily Siner is going to talk about how to make creative meals out of leftovers, out of odds and ends, and anything else you usually end up throwing away.

It might shift your perspective.

A lot of us have basically a mini beauty product store in our bathrooms.

And it's easy to feel like if you don't use the right serums, creams, acids, and toners, you're somehow doomed to having bad skin.

But do you really need all those products?

LifeKit made a special newsletter series to help you figure out your skincare goals and what you actually need.

Sign up at npr.org slash skincare or find the link in the description for this episode.

That was reporter Emily Siner.