Reviewing Food Trends | Vol.14 Sorted Food

Today we not only dive into some mind-blowing food trends but also some mind-blowing kitchen gadgets that are taking the internet by storm!
Below is what we explored today if you want to check them out:
Home Composter: bit.ly/3D8i0R8
High-End Kombucha: bit.ly/3tvGf8n
Fish Alternatives
Custom Spice Blends
Wanna become an awesome home cook? Sign up to our Sidekick app and be the hero of your kitchen: bit.ly/3tfFgsR
- Discover Smarter Recipe Packs - 3x delicious recipes, 1x simple shopping list
- Cut out food waste - share ingredients across recipes so nothing gets wasted
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- Start your 1 month free trial today: bit.ly/3tfFgsR
#SortedFood
#FoodTrends
#KitchenGadgets

[@rhvette]

As someone who actually helped design and engineer one of those home “food composters,” just don’t. Composting is a combination of aerobic bacteria and enzymes breaking down organic material into compost. It takes time. Every one of these “composters” is kneecapped by orders from on high that they have to make low volume, dry “compost” overnight. So they have to cook it all down, which kills any bacteria and deactivates any enzymes present. Which means what you’re spreading on the garden isn’t actually compost, it’s just finely ground waste. It still needs to convert via enzymatic and bacteriological processes, and can actually burn your plants if used too generously. It also sucks up a ton of power to effectively boil off the water, which carries water soluble compounds with it into the air, so there’s going to be a smell of cooking garbage. There’s some validity to a composting appliance. Using a machine to routinely agitate the decomposing mixture helps keep it aerated, which means aerobic decomposition which is faster, less smelly, emits less methane and CO2, and produces a more nutritious compost for the garden. The problem is time. If you want to turn food waste into compost, even with the help of agitation, you’re looking at around three weeks to a month, minimum. So any small kitchen appliance you could put on a countertop would be full within a week, and then it would have to sit there for three weeks, the refuse of which would have to be put somewhere else (likely the garbage can, as if you tried to store it until there was room in the machine again, it would have long since melted into horrifying slime). Composting appliances, if there is a place for them, belong where you’d keep your compost if you were doing it the manual way: in the back garden or shed.

[@tessan613]

Very well explained 👍🏼

[@benjin3993]

Looking at a compost bin in the garden, the turning could be done by installing a simple cranking mechanism. Either wind powered for constant turning, or hand cranked to shift things around slowly.

[@AmbroseReed]

I was wondering about this, thanks for sharing

[@chucknight]

This is great info, thanks for sharing. I live in Ontario, Canada where we have a composting system (fill our green bins with food waste in biodegradable bin bags, which is picked up every week with garbage and recycling). But I've always wanted to set up a compost in my backyard similar to something I saw in our primary school. Do you have any advice on how to set up a home compost system? Or am I better off just using the municipality's?

[@martihurford]

Thank you for your explanation. My first thoughts when I saw the machine, heard the process, and saw the end result was…there has to none or very little nutrients for it’s stated purpose. As an avid gardener in zone 5b-6a, I will continue to compost outside. IMO the price doesn’t justify the product offered.

[@monageeuk6504]

shout out to the comments section for being genuinely great. offering advice, being concerned about the environment, remembering to consider those who can't afford certain options. Just A Good Audience. Nice one audience, and good job Sorted.

[@emilydenny7366]

I grew up composting and that machine way overcomplicated the process haha. There was a little tub by the backdoor with a charcoal lined lid (for the scent) and whenever there were food scraps they went in the tub. When it got full, the tub's contents got dumped out in a pile that got rouged around and aerated with a shovel every week or two in the yard. Then it just sits there until it's time to garden! Even now, I live in D.C. and do the exact same thing, I just take my tub to a local compost dropoff every weekend since I don't have a yard. You definitely don't need a 400 dollar machine to compost at home.

[@AnnAnonyme]

I've had a compost bin, with worms, inside my apartment for several years. The only smell was a pleasant, fresh dirt smell (except that once I put cabbage in!). I eventually got rid of it, because it got minute black scavenger flies after about 4 years which I couldn't get rid of, so now I bring my compost to an outdoor compost bin at my work.

[@GRIMHOOD99]

How does it overcomplicate when it does less steps than you said? I don't think that machine is necessary but it certainly makes the whole process simpler for people without garden. You literally just put the compostable stuff in and take it out when it's done.

[@ach3909]

@@GRIMHOOD99 It does more bad than good. Because instead of an energy free process, you now need something that's plugged into the grid, and depending on the percentage of renewables your grid uses, you're likely going to be doing more harm to the environment than good and be paying $400 for it. And think about it, if you don't have a garden, where are you going to put the byproducts? straight back into the trash bin? If it's headed there anyways, why spend money and electricity to do it?

[@dragontears]

@@ach3909 Not to mention the amount of plastics used to create the thing in the first place.

[@dowfreak7]

@@ach3909 The 400€ are also notable, because that's money you could've spent on locally grown food/meat or even donated if you wanted. All of those things having more impact than a machine that doesn't do what it says.

[@shawaam]

The cocoa nibs in a mill like that was pure genius. Without the sugar it's a healthy flavor kick you could add to any kind of sweet dish on a daily basis. Add it on your breakfast cereal, muesli, porridge, yoghurt and so on and so on whenever you want it. And of course it will be handy for those times you want to use it as a garnish for desserts and whatnot. Yeah, I'll use that one.

[@krisski6236]

My family has a recycled container in the freezer, for compost. As soon as it’s full, we take it out to the back of the garden.

[@badgereaux]

How did I never think of keeping it in the freezer?! Solves the stinky windowsill issue. Great tip!

[@JLoDucky]

I bought a caddy that fits in my fridge my flat is just too warm to have it out living on my own I never had too much on the “meat shelf” so it wasn’t an issue for me

[@alicemaggio8854]

I never EVER thought of putting my bucket in the freezer. Thank you so much for the great idea. We do exactly the same thing with a composting pile. Every so often we open the fence which keeps out the raccoons, and allow the chickens to stir everything up. They do a great job. Again, thanks so much for sharing your wonderful idea.

[@onestopplus1]

We use an old retired dish pan that gets emptied every couple of days. It can smell a little but it’s great incentive to get exercise by carrying it out to the back of our acre. The trick is to only use raw vegetable scraps. All the other stuff gets put in a garbage bag in the freezer that’s only taken out on trash day to avoid rats, dogs and other varmints raiding the bin

[@tootsgrant3534]

Excellent idea. Why have innever thought of this !!!

[@Saltalotl]

The composting thing is a little self-defeating for points I've already seen raised, but also because - and for me it's the key point- Dehydrating your waste like that kills off or puts to sleep the microbes that will break it down, which means even if you are adding it to a composter - it's going to take longer to release those nutrients. Lots of councils in the UK at least have gotten better about doing food waste collections. I live in a pretty small flat with students, but we've never made more food waste than the black tub they take out every week, and they give you a little bin with a lid to keep in your kitchen. Even if not, there's an allotment down the road with a compost bin who are hardly going to complain at getting more compost. These technical solutions rarely actually solve the problem - even before you consider how much they cost. Additionally, the cost of producing the plastic, electricity, components, metal and so on probably contribute more to climate damage than the food waste will ever recoup.

[@Heavenesque]

Exactly! Not to mention the energy required in turning it into the dried format. Also please be mindful of any microplastics in products you might think are "just paper" as some are reinforced with plastic to provide the durability that consumers want (e.g. paper towel, tea bags)

[@myname-mz3lo]

mixing dry and wet compost actually gives the best compost .

[@inkquillition]

I know I'm late, but Mother Nature gave us the perfect composter...chickens! My little farm has about 20 chickens. Neighbors give me buckets of their foodscraps, (less money on buying feed and grain for me), and in return they get a fresh pack of a dozen eggs every week! It's a beautiful cycle!

[@AuraQueenDraconis]

Not everyone can have chickens, unfortunately. I would love some for this exact reason, but city living in most areas prevents this

[@starlatownsend2202]

I agree with this one we have chickens and all of our scraps go to them or on our garden

[@thenovicenovelist]

​@@AuraQueenDraconis I agree. My family used to own chickens and it's not something everyone can do. We live in a rural town and the town ordinance says we can't own roosters...only hens. Also, chickens are social animals, so you're required to buy at least 6 at a time even if you already own chickens. And we're not allowed to let them run around, so my dad built a large coop with a large fenced-in play area around the coop. Plus, a separate, smaller, fenced-in mobile coop to let them roam around the yard a little so we can legally let them explore the yard and eat fresh grass, bugs, etc. The eggs were great, but it's an enormous amount of work. Unfortunately, a raccoon found it's way into the fenced-in coop and we ended up giving away the rest of the chickens to a neighbor's friend who has a farm outside of town limits so they could have a safer life. So, between local ordinances, land access, work, and safety of the chickens...not everyone can own one. And in order to handle the colder Appalachian weather, we had Rhode Island Reds.

[@wizzzard999]

Hey lads, just a question about the sidekick app: is there a way to blacklist ingreedients, which then removes all recipes with those ingreedients from the recommended/search? It would obviously help with allergies, but also with people (like me) living in places where you can find about 60-70% of the ingreedients seen in your recipes?

[@TehXana]

I don’t have the app, so I don’t know if they already have this. But to expand upon this, listing alternatives to some harder-to-find ingredients would be very helpful. That way, the recipes that would otherwise be blacklisted would have a sort of “second chance”.

[@furrantee]

On that note as well, a small definition of each recipe would be ideal. I notice a lot of "coronation" this and that as well as Indian or other nationality dishes. London is very multicultural metropolitan and my area of the world is far less diverse. Why coronation this or that, what is a biryani or something similar? Also why are so many of your 'salads' so complicated? Salad where I'm from is fresh veg usually with lettuce/spinach and a dressing and maybe some croutons. A small dictionary or something would be similar so we don't have to keep going back and forth between the app and Wikipedia. Thank you!

[@ValeTam]

I use the app and this is not an option. But I have the same situation as you and I just try to replace.. I can't have orzo (gluten), then I use rice. I can't find watercress in my country, then I use baby spinach! But indeed it is hard sometimes and the recipe is not in the end the same. As it is designed to use the same set of ingredients along the three recipes of the week.

[@averyeml]

I downloaded the app around Christmas but didn’t have the time to actually plan the shopping for it and stick to it. The comments were FULL of replacements and suggestions if you can’t find the British version (at least there were for Americans like me who don’t have some of those things). To be honest though that was one of the things that stopped me from using it- I didn’t want to have to mark down all the replacements and make sure I didn’t need to buy/use a different measurement of them.

[@bryanbartlett5637]

It would certainly be helpful if every ingredient had a link to where you could see what it is, what other names it has in different countries, and good substitutes. I remember first coming to Australia from US, and could not figure out why they did not have cilantro anywhere.... Turns out, thats Coriander! In the states we use coriander for the seeds, cilantro for the leaf.

[@MrLunarlander]

My council provides small food waste bins, collects the contents every week alongside the other recycling, and sends the whole lot to a bioreactor that burns the methane for electricity and produces fertiliser with what's left over. Despite this service being free, less than half of households in the borough use it - so no chance persuading those holdouts to spend £400+ on a machine that'll increase their electricity bill!

[@SortedFood]

The cost is definitely off-putting on this one, and there are cheaper ways you can do it.

[@djpmirris]

I'm not sure where you are but its the same in North Wales, the little green bio bags

[@AlexGaffney96]

We have the same in Glasgow. Think all of Scotland actually has a food waste recycling bin.

[@jenncampbell8537]

Toronto, Ontario has an organic waste collection program. We get a tiny lidded bin that goes under the sink and a large, wildlife proof outdoor bin that's collected weekly.

[@StonedSpagooter]

​@@djpmirris Its the same in Caanda, taxes raised in order to buy bins and create a prgram in which we still have to pay to buy the pales and bags I'm not paying thousands of dollars over my life just to throw banana peels and egg shells in the same coloured garbage while a city bus blows diesel through my window as it drives by

[@jackybraun2705]

A small town in Germany. When recycling was introduced some 20-30 years ago, we were given the option of a garden composter or a brown bin for garden and food waste (collected every other week, weekly in summer). We plumped for the garden composter. Can't throw leftover meat or meat/fish bones in it, but it takes everything else. Once or twice a year, the resulting grainy brown stuff gets spread over the garden. Wouldn't have room in my kitchen for that huge bin.

[@ReNeyer]

@Evi1 M4chine Thats what the garbage disposal is for in US households, chops up bones and flesh and then you just lump it in the compost.

[@CCHAWC717]

@@ReNeyer What kind of garbage disposal lets you take stuff back out of it? I'm from America and every disposal I've ever seen is in the sink, you drop stuff in, it chops it up, and it goes right down the drain with the waste water.

[@Mehaara]

Also Germany. We have a brown bin and also a compost pile in the garden. Although we *also* have a black labrador and she loves the compost pile a bit too much, so we mostly use the brown bin.

[@noorahmedi]

In korea they freeze the food waste as it as it squashes down and then does not smell

[@nettack]

Luckily no Grüner-Punkt-Beschiss

[@alicemary7913]

4:30 hot tip for eggshells and onion skins. dry and finely grind the eggshells and put a hand full into the hole when planting tomatoes. this boost of calcium wards off blossom end rot and is a simple alternative to commercial calcium sources. the shells can also be crushed and sprinkled around plant bases to prevent slug and snail destruction. onion skins are excellent for adding a golden hue to chicken stock. both can be stored in the freezer until there is enough to process them.

[@geoffpritchard7298]

As I understand it, dried eggshell is not a bioavailable source of calcium unless you break it down a bit with acid like vinegar. Simply dried and ground up it can improve soil but it takes forever to break down and do so. Regardless, I also sometimes do this. ::Shrugs::

[@laartje24]

Correct. Simply grinding them is not enough to make the soil and plant be able to absorb the calcium. It is a multi step process. Besides I eat way more eggs in a year then I could use egg shells for tomato plants. But it helps a bit I guess.

[@geoffpritchard7298]

@@laartje24 If you're familiar with the process, would you mind spelling it out for any who do want to do this? I'm only really aware that there is a process lol.

[@alicemary7913]

@@geoffpritchard7298 i think that would depend on crushed vs finely ground eggshells and I imagine it also depends on the pH of your soil. nevertheless, using the no dig approach or 'lasagne' gardening, eggshells would be beneficial in the long run. also good mulch!

[@Paputsza]

The composter thing is the definition of greenwashing. It's very carbon negative, even compared to just throwing things in the trash because drying food for several hours takes a lot of energy, and it's technically not decomposed or compost, just dried and it takes up less volume. It looks nicer than normal trash, but it's bad for the environment.

[@andreastyrberg7556]

Especially since many communities (like mine) collect the compost and first use it to produce biogas that local busses run on and after that use the scraps of the scraps to make fertilizer for local farms. (yes, I know I commented 9 months later)

[@aggese]

Can't decide whats stupier the "compost" machine or the guy that decided to compost in a bucket in a community kitchen

[@meganberk6072]

I just compost at home. I keep a bucket, but my food scraps in it, and sprinkle a little soil on top. Give it a shake before you add more. When the bucket is 75% full, top it off with potting soil and plant something. $3 for a bucket and $6 for a bag of dirt last about 3 months.

[@SortedFood]

Super useful, thank you!

[@jettnash5217]

Yeah, it also feels like having an electric powered composter is defeating the point. You're using up potentially fossil fuels to power something which could be done in a garden easy enough without using energy. On the other hand, not everyone has space to compost so it might be good in that situation!

[@konradpenttila9748]

@@jettnash5217 Indeed... The energy required to evaporate the water is a lot, and furthermore you will most likely dispose of the waste into a biobin anyway. I think this whole electric composter hype is a big hoax.

[@whyme6742]

​@@jettnash5217 Not even if you have no space. The point is, what will you do with this dehydrated waste. If you have a compost, put your food waste there. if you have food waste collection system in your town, put it there. If you have the spave to plant things i.e. a balkony, do the above. No need to dehydrate your waste. If you can't do anything of the above, throw it in the bin, where you would put it after dehydration anyways.

[@altejoh]

I was thinking something right along these lines. You can buy these composting buckets from like Wal-mart for $10 that even can be sealed and come with a filter to keep the smell down, small enough to fit perfectly on the window sill above the sink.

[@safiremorningstar]

I like the fact that Jamie realizes the people who aren’t rich can’t afford a composting bin of that expense. There is a man whose head is screwed on right. It might be a wonderful machine but if you can’t afford it there ain’t no point to eat your fashion Waze probably the best way to put it in a big bucket and let it fill up put a lid on. So what I do with my food scraps we have pussy cats you know stray cats and giving them our leftovers is the treat for them my husband has a habit of saying they live better than we do…lol

[@chanelm6146]

It is an investment but for folks in apartments who want to reduce waste, it is definitely worth it. Not debating you, giving you my review after having one for 3 months; for anyone considering it. I love mine. Before I was doing the bokashi method but it was hard because I didn't have yard space. Now I only have to bug someone to bury my compost every 3 or 4 months instead of 3-4 weeks.

[@purplecat4977]

I'm wondering whether the environmental impact of the mining of the materials, the making of the machine, the making of the packaging, the shipping of everything, the disposal of the packaging, and the energy use of the machine impact how environmentally friendly it is. This feels like a very over-engineered solution to the problem that might not really be a solution at all.

[@Southpaw535]

@@purplecat4977 True, but depending on the life the machine I could see that being offset by the reduction in waste collection. Of course for the to work everyone has to have one, they won't cut down the collection dates just because 'you' have less bags after all, but if its long lasting I could see that being an argument.

[@The_Yukki]

@@purplecat4977 it's not environmentally friendly at all. It wastes energy, and only thing it really does is grinds and boils off water from what it ground, and then you'll likely throw it into the waste bin anyway so it just goes into landfill like it would anyway. So you just spent energy to do so. Thunderfoot has a great video about it.

[@Cecil_578]

@@Southpaw535 Each machines energy usage equates to roughly 1.3 liter of diesel per month, this will not be offset by slightly reduced waste collection. And as Yukki pointed out, all this machine does is dry and chop your waste - there is 0 composting going on.

[@TheJensPeeters]

Honestly I had a different reaction to the fish fingers. I think there is a pretty much inherent problem to fish because it mainly presumes that the global marine ecosystem can bounce back from 8 billion people eating fish on a semi regular basis. We don't think that with any other wild animal. With the consumption of cheap wild meat comes the problem of scaling that up on a commercially viable basis and that always so exploitative. I don't live near coast and I am sure I couldn't find any seafood that I could say with confidence are sustainable, because who would sell that. Big companies don't have a genuine interest in being sustainable and as long as there aren't very well enforced fishing standards that guarantee actual sustainablity i pass. Maybe there is such a thing, but I am not yet convinced. And Quorn is produced in Britain as far as I know, with wheat protein and fungal protein which both seem like pretty environmentally friendly options.

[@rebeccas2801]

They also seemed to forget that 75% of ocean plastic is fishing gear, as well as the fact that eating fish is still dead animals. Like so many vegans and vegetarians are doing it for the animals aka not killing or harming them. I think they really missed the point on this one

[@eloisejrg26]

👏🏼 we have already overfished, it’s a known fact, so I don’t ever understand where these “sustainable” fish come from 🤔

[@t.l.]

@@eloisejrg26 the whole "sustainable" label is just a made up buzzword that big companies pay money to other corporations to put on their packaging. It has literally zero to do with their fishing practices. Much like the "organic" label. It's just meant to make consumers feel better and keep buying stuff.

[@philpem]

@@eloisejrg26 Unless they're farmed, they're not going to be sustainable...

[@saar9639]

This is exactly what I thought! I really like these guys but they’ve clearly not thought that one through and have not educated themselves on that topic.

[@Taholdz]

The only issue I have when discussing meat/fish alternatives is that it’s seen from a meat eaters point of view of its trying to solve a problem. There is such an attraction to them from vegetarians and vegans that all have their own personal reasons for their dietary requirements that might be more than the environmental issues. I do love the food trend videos as they always open up good discussions

[@lydon1200]

I was thinking the same thing. I looked at it as a fish alternative - the fishing industry issue didn't really enter my mind as a pro for that product.

[@uweschroeder]

My "beef" with all the replacement alternatives is that I consider them not necessary. If you don't want to eat meat or fish, don't. There isn't a single reason to eat meat or fish from a nutritional point of view. If you're a vegetarian and eat the occasional egg or some cheese every now and then you can easily skip all the nutritional supplements and the replacement products. Cheaper and healthier because ironically the nutritional supplements many have to use because they go on a extreme diet are made without any respect for the environment - they're excellent business. I have a creeping suspicion that the food industry loves all the recent vegans who think they save the world - it allows them to produce and sell very expensive replacement products made from very cheap ingredients.

[@chriswilliams-px3ul]

@@uweschroeder nutritionally sure, but just because someone has gone vegetarian doesn't mean they don't enjoy the taste of things like fish and meat, I feel like a lot of people overlook this when they say things like "if you're vegetarian why do you keep looking for things that are like meat" and it's because meat is delicious, they are looking for that taste and texture without having to eat an actual animal

[@uweschroeder]

@@chriswilliams-px3ul Well, I always thought that's a really poor argument mostly because there are very few replacements that actually taste like the real deal. The only way why something like BeyondMeat tastes like "Meat" is because the majority of people compare the flavor and texture to really poorly raised industrial feedlot meat - which doesn't even taste good to begin with. The other problem I've always had with replacements is ingredients. Most people who turn vegetarian or vegan do so for environmental or health reasons and/or because they don't want to harm animals. They don't account for the harm they cause by industrial production of a 40 ingredient Mozzarella replacement that tastes remotely like artificially cheese flavored chewing gum. Yes, the environmental damage is less, the harm to animals is less but it would be a lot healthier and a lot less environmental and animal harm if they just ate plant based food that isn't highly processed like half the population of India has done for thousands of years. For me replacement products are like buying an electric car thinking it will make a big impact on the environment. It will not, it just makes you feel better. I call those the "kicking the can down the road" solutions. We replace something that's completely unsustainable with something that's just unsustainable because we don't want to sacrifice any little bit of convenience - or in case of food - flavor and texture. I'd say get used to a different lifestyle and you'll be fooling yourself a lot less.

[@amandaingelsson422]

@@uweschroeder Vegetarian here! I am really glad of the options that are our there. I would say that 80% of my diet consists of non processed foods because it's cheaper, allows a lot of freedom and creativity in cooking, which I enjoy. But sometimes on the weekends, at my parents, or out grilling with friends, or at a restaurant with limited options, I will enjoy a veggie hot dog, burger, schnitzel or what have you. It's a great convenience to have those options available, same as all meat eaters do. If I'm at a dinner with meat eaters, it's a great convenience for them to be able to serve a veggie chicken filet or whatever, instead of having to research a bunch of veggie dishes that take knowledge and time to make. And to say that the vegan/veggie options would impact the environment more than animal products is simply false. Mixing a bunch of fats together with some cheese aroma to create a vegan mozzarella won't have as much of an impact on the environment as feeding a cow with soy for its entire life, giving it litres of water a day to consume, milking it industrially, storing the cheese in a facility etc etc. I know that some people love to bring up the soy/deforestation argument to vegans, but only 7% of the world's soy production goes to human consumption, and the majority is harvested to the feeding of live stock. Take tempeh as another example: frozen tempeh burgers (slightly processed) I sometimes buy have a carbon print of about 0,61 CO2e/kg. Meat, unprocessed, has a footprint of 26 CO2e/kg. So the footprint of the same amount of food is about 42 times higher, even though the meat isn't "processed". Lol sorry about the rant. I really mean no disrespect, and I respect everyone's choice to choose their own diet. But I think that a little bit of education and research into the dietary choices we make can make a big difference on the impact we have.

[@jens256]

Fairly sure those "home composter machines" are flim flam. They obviously do not actually compost anything, since that would take way too long. At best, they dessicate/dry the material. This costs energy. Thermodynamically you have to use a certain amount of energy to vaporize the water contained in the organic waste. This costs a certain amount of energy. Is it really better or the environment in any way?

[@zoemiddleton6378]

Think you have missed the point of those fish less fingers. They're not replacing a fillet of fish, they're replacing an also fairly processed fairly heavily packaged not exactly healthy fish finger. Which also has those 'other' problems that you were referring too.

[@hannahdancy4508]

Not to mention that most vegetarians and vegans don't seek out fake meat products. We typically just find our protein from other sources. These fake meat products are typically more for meat-eaters who want to reduce their footprint.

[@mosherguy]

Yeah they are so out of touch on that point.

[@mikekuppen6256]

@@hannahdancy4508 You must move in healthier circles than I do: plenty of junkfood vegans around still.

[@hannahdancy4508]

@@mikekuppen6256 a lot of the veggies I know don't have the money to regularly buy vegan junk food 😅 we're in a big American city and food is way more expensive here then it is in the UK

[@sbo3]

@@mikekuppen6256 Yeah, I was still overweight as a vegan because my weaknesses are things like bread (with houmous) and crisps

[@ojmit32gaming]

Really appreciate that almost all of the videos from this team discusses world issues especially food waste and sustainability. Entertaining and educational.

[@RalfStephan]

No food waste anymore in Germany since food prices are up 100%.

[@edubilibio]

Spices get so many uses and combinations that the mill trend could do with it's own episode, maybe even a series trying out combinations!

[@mumbii_sun]

That whole big hunk of meat interaction between Ben and Jaime and the literal lack of reaction from anyone has me actually screaming because how did everyone miss that especially the wink and the I do 😂😂

[@chillynewberg2652]

Ceasing?

[@mumbii_sun]

@@chillynewberg2652 it was supposed to be screaming but autofill and zero proofreading got us here

[@chillynewberg2652]

Ahh I thought you meant seizing, like a seizure! Hahaha all good, glad I asked since my assumption was wrong

[@SortedFood]

They're all immune to it now! 😂

[@mumbii_sun]

@@chillynewberg2652 Oh no no no I'm perfectly fine although I was definitely out of breath from all the laughter 😊

[@NetanelKleinman]

I'm highly dubious that the environmental impact of bin lorries (which service large areas) is higher than the continual electrical output of every household having one of those home composters (I could run the maths theoretically but I don't think it's even particularly close). Using fewer bin liners would be good too but I just don't think this is the solution to that problem.

[@carlangelo653]

Honestly i think it would be great, but it needs to be at a larger scale. If it were a bit bigger it would be great for food establishments. Or maybe for an apartment building, one on each floor. Gather scraps into a bowl, drop it into a community compost machine and one person just turns it on at night. It seems like a good idea, but I'm not sure how well it is in practically.

[@Coentjemons]

Assuming a bin liner is a trash bag, i have a question. Where i live, the green bin (garden, vegetables recycling etc) doesn't have a liner. The bin stands at the back of our backyard and we put all our biomass waste there and it gets collected every three weeks. Is it normal to have a green bin in your house in Engeland?

[@NetanelKleinman]

@@carlangelo653 Two separate things here. 1) For food establishments - maybe - though there are regular composting heaps and many already use those, but this might be efficient for somewhere working on such a large scale. 2) For buildings - only if they are maintained and kept clean. Otherwise they will attract flies/maggots. I can see a lot of issues. Also they're expensive and could get stolen fairly easily (I've lived in enough rough buildings to know anything left in the open is prone to disappearing). That plus how many people will walk down to the bottom floor every time they finish making food? Also green bins solve this problem on a wider scale without people spending a small fortune on home composters.

[@NetanelKleinman]

@@Coentjemons It depends on your council area and their collection rules but it's not uncommon. We have a green bin, so do my parents, but my previous flat building didn't.

[@kenziescout2343]

@Thunderf00t on YT does a great job breaking down the math on a NUMBER of these home composters. They're essentially trash ovens/grinders & are awful for the environment, w/o excpetion

[@themagicknightress7132]

I’ve seen people review these mini home “composters” saying they’re just food chopper/dehydrators and once you toss it into your garden, it rehydrates and stinks

[@SC00pTRX]

So I don‘t really comment on videos, but the compost made me smirk. My girlfriend got us a Bokashi composting bin, mainly because she too wanted to reduce the foodwaste. Bokashi basically is a bin that you fill in with your foodwaste and apply bacteria too; this helps with the decomposition and the smell too. We are left with compost and bokashi „juice“ which is basically highly potent fertilizer and needs to be watered down. Now because we maintain a garden we are able to reuse the entirity in our gardening allotment and even have a fertilizer to go with it… would love to hear your thoughts.

[@jessicazaytsoff1494]

I guess my only comment is, I live in a medium rise apartment building. Your solution is great for people with gardens! I'll stick with the municipal compost pickup. The electric compost bin was interesting to me but many for a lazy factor.

[@SC00pTRX]

@@jessicazaytsoff1494 Yeah, I suppose we do get the most out of the Bokashi as it has the added benefit of generation compost that can be used to fertilize the ground, as well as fertilizer that can be used to water throughout the gardening season. However, I suppose the Bokashi could supplement as a "green bin" in the appartment. The bacteria component does help a bit with the smell, one of the aspects that I find rather nauseating with regular green bins. But I suppose this is more geared towards people who are able to make the most out of the actual compost along with the Bokashi fertilizer "juice". Fair point though about "needing" a garden for it to be a handy solution.

[@stone5against1]

"in our gardening allotment" Ben's secret account detected!

[@vidm96]

In the Netherlands, compostable waste is (usually) collected separate and then brought to a big industrial composting facility. One thing my family also does is, we have chickens. So when we have cooked pasta, potato or other veg left over (without seasoning and sauce), then we feed it to the chickens.

[@lostsock9852]

Same here, in Switzerland. Compostable material is taken for processing. We end up buying it back at the garden centre. I found half a blue, plastic clothes peg in one bag! :)

[@uweschroeder]

That's why people had pigs in my childhood: they uses the edibles and after a year you got to re-use the edibles 🙂

[@Flareontoast]

In Vienna we have bins for compostable/organic waste, but depending on where you live they might be less accessible to you, some districts have few to none for whatever reason. They're usually with other recycling stations near parks or similar large public spaces. But recycling regulations change every once in a while, and also depend on the federal state.

[@vidm96]

@@uweschroeder That's one of the benefits of chickens, they produce eggs. (Although we mainly keep them for fun)

[@uweschroeder]

@@vidm96 I get my eggs from my neighbor - I hand over some fresh baked sourdough bread and get eggs and the odd chicken in return. Good deal.

[@antoniettav8940]

Very interesting how composting works differently around the UK - in my county our food waste is collected weekly ( small brown bin) along with our normal bins. Compostable food bags are supplied and the fermentation of this waste results in biogas, that can be converted into heat or electricity!

[@lillarosagrisen]

We have the same thing here in Uppsala, Sweden! Our biogas is used to power our buses, so that's a win-win! You can also get more compostable bags in the fruit and veggies section in all stores here now, so you don't have to get plastic ones :)

[@lmille32]

This happens in some council zones in Australia but it's up to individual local councils to implement so it's woefully underutilised throughout the country.

[@lifeisbutadreamsodreamon]

Yes... and the size of that costly compost processor isn't great for small kitchens... though must admit was thinking of other uses for it (cooking wise) haha

[@mokko759]

In my city in Canada, we have a big wheelie green bin. City collects weekly during the warm months, bi-weekly in the winter. From start to finish, it takes 60 days to compost, cure and test the resulting compost before it can be given to the public. Every household is limited to 100 litres of finished compost just to make sure there is enough compost for everybody's garden. This green bin program has reduced landfill waste by 50% so far. I'd say that is a resounding win.

[@kawawangkowboy9566]

From this day forward, when discussing sausages with those in my family who eat meat, I shall *only* refer to them as, "pork fingers"

[@JohnDoe-hj9fh]

Nah call em pig fingers

[@poisonzombii]

In regards to the cost of the fancy Kombucha, I watched a video recently that explained how some manufacturers have to buy an extra super expensive machine to remove the alcoholic content from their drinks to be able to sell them in more countries and this is obviously passed down into the cost to the buyer, another interesting point to think about

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Jamie: “What happened to Kush? Is he not here anymore?” Chef Kush: (laser eyes activated)

[@Miquelodeon87]

Here in Belgium, the city council garbage service comes at home once a week to collect the organic food waste. We citizens simply have to gather it in green, council approved, "compostable plastic" bags, that are available for purchase in most supermarkets. That's it. I don't know what happens to the waste itself in detail, but I'd assume they'll probably take it to some big composting facility and then sell it to local farmers to enrich their fields with nutrients again.

[@smahhah]

it's similar here, we have food waste tubs that are collected, time of collection really depends on local council though

[@drakenfolk]

Sounds good! Here in Germany, "compostable plastic" bags are also sold - but they actually can't be used for organic food waste. They don't compost quick enough for german composting facilities, so they end up in the trash in those facilities. :( So it's a case of false advertising / green washing. Many people use them for their organic waste, thinking they do something good for the environment, only for the bags to end up as additional plastic in the general trash.

[@orangedealer6931]

It's the same in Denmark 😁 but our green bags is free we get them once a month

[@Agamemnon2]

@@drakenfolk Yeah, I've also heard those bags can actually gum up the compost chopping and grinding devices, because they're quite stretchy and tough for their thickness. These days we use paper bags for biowaste.

[@JLoDucky]

I don’t know why they didn’t mention it but in the uk most councils have provided food waste collection bins to houses that you used the compostable plastic bags in. Possibly because there isn’t complete coverage? I live in a flat and while the area has them they haven’t provided them to flat blocks possibly due to it being more likely you’ll get wild animals scavenging so I collect mine and take it to my mum and dads for their collection. When it gets collected it goes off to be ‘baked’ in a bio waste centre that makes inert soil. The end product isn’t as nutritious as regular compost as the convenience of putting all your table scraps, veg peelings and raw meat trimmings in the one collection means they have to process it to kill the bacteria. It’s useful for landscaping though I made a raised bed and the majority of it was the recycled soil product because it’s cheaper and then I used more nutritious planting soil on the top three inches with home compost mixed in.

[@jaredfulcher4890]

Jamie "Fish don't have fingers!" Ebbers: "well, moving on"

[@karensmart3675]

Jamie's face when Ben mentioned grinders, 🤣🤣

[@taheera8849]

From Ontario Canada. We have a great composting system that was ramped up a few years back by limiting the amount of garbage people could put out for collection. Obviously that resulted in pushback and complaints, but it has made people like my family more aware of how much we threw away. And once we started composting, we were amazed at how little garbage we had and how much of our garbage had been food waste. And because of the compost program, those of us who are gardeners are able to collect up to a certain amount of free compost for us gardens from various pickup points, which is fantastic. Mr. Insightful, aka Spaff-man, nailed it. That is an amazing solution that is financially out of reach of so many people. However, I think it's a great conversation starter to make us think of small and large ways we can reduce our waste on all sides. Loved all the gadgets and food trends today, I think many if not all of them are only the start of the conversation in those areas and I'm excited to see if we can delve into them more!

[@jenncampbell8537]

I'm from Toronto and live in a house split between two, unrelated families. We're limited to a single garbage bin every 2 weeks (and tags for extra bags are like $6!). With organic waste being separate, our garbage bin isn't even always full on garbage day. It definitely makes a huge difference.

[@debeeriz]

there was a big scandal in our council as a lot of paper and plastic drink bottle recycling has now gone into landfill as the only value is in glass, metal and plastic milk bottles, they tried to start up a plant to burn it for electricity but its not green so we cant do it

[@Terri_MacKay]

I live in Ontario, as well (Hamilton). My daughter and I are the supers for our 9 unit apartment building, so we put out the garbage and recycling every week. Unfortunately, we have nowhere to use as a composting area, but all the residents are very good about using the green bin, and it's full every week. Everyone in our building is really good about using the blue bins as well. We have six large bins that are always completely full by pickup day, and we rarely have more than 3-4 garbage bags for the whole building. Taking into account that every unit has at least one cat or dog (which means dirty litter from scooping/cleaning litter boxes, and doggie poop bags), and there are 2 families with children in diapers, I think that we all do a good job keeping our garbage waste to a minimum...each unit generates an average of less than half a garbage bag's worth of garbage per week. (To keep things from getting too stinky, we have a separate bin outside, with a charcoal filter, just for litter, poop bags, and diapers.) One way that we cut down on our own garbage was to buy a VERY small trash can for the kitchen....it's seriously tiny. This has made us much more conscious of how we dispose of our waste. Whereas before, we may have gotten lazy, and just thrown a can or box or teabag in the trash, now that we've limited ourselves to one small bag of garbage a week, those things end up in a blue bin or green bin.

[@MsBellyFlopBounce]

In Denmark we have a separet trash bin for all food/organic waste, so the municipalities collect and use it. Of course we can still home compost for our gardens as well.

[@kates7277]

Same in my province in Canada 😄

[@arynnsprague9494]

The compost machine makes me so grateful that we have compostable refuse collection weekly here. Our city composts it, uses it in all the city gardens, and sells it too. The city uses less chemicals on gardens this way too, so it's a win-win.

[@cosmicmousse]

I do like fish alternatives. It's the only thing I miss from before I was vegetarian.

[@rebeccas2801]

Same! I’m vegan and fish is the one thing I actually missed!

[@xLothCat]

That’s so interesting because I’ve never tried the fish alternatives and I’ve not really missed having fish! However companies are bringing out “scampi” now and I am very intrigued

[@acidfruitloops]

Just eat the damn fish then. Jesus.

[@erikkennedy]

@@acidfruitloops Having a bit of trouble understanding the concept of vegetarianism, are we?

[@ancient_orchards]

​@@acidfruitloops If current fishing trends continue, the ocean will be more or less completely empty of fish by the year 2050. And this estimation did not even factor in the effects of ocean acidification and warming due to climate change. 90% of large predatory fish stocks (i.e. tuna, marlin, swordfish) are already fully depleted. Very soon, 'just eat[ing] the damn fish' won't be an option anymore, because the oceans will be dead.

[@MrYukon35]

It would cool to have each normal come up with their own blend to use for a cooking challenge/badge Or Food Team and Ebbers come up with a few different blends in grinders and the normals need to pick and use one in a creative cooking challenge

[@watchlistenwrite]

Great video as always! Although I would push back against the blanket statement that vegan fish fingers are “just as bad but in different ways.” We all buy processed food sometimes, which we should do less of, but I’d argue that the impacts of the fishing industry stretch much farther than the transportation emissions of soy or mushrooms to the UK for processing. Transportation emissions are typically so, so much lower than the emissions created by farming/harvesting the food product itself.

[@flytronica]

👏🏻👍🏼

[@D4rkKyur3m]

yes i was so annoyed at that! especially when quorn is in the mix and it's literally a British product

[@kenziescout2343]

@@D4rkKyur3m The weird stigma around veg*ism seems to rly taint the honest convo we should be having abt the enviro impacts of farming!! so frustrating on an ep where they feature an energy/plastic-wasting composter! Is enviro impact important to y'all or not???

[@katherinewilliams9574]

Birds eye fish fingers have the same carbon footprint as plant pioneers vegan fingers. The Plant pioneers have an overall worse environmental score due to soy, and the exploitative practices. Quorn “fish” fingers are the best but then children under 3 can’t have them and this is going to be a large portion of the consumer for fish fingers (and their alternates). Both can have a place in the diet but people need to make good choices with their diet for the planet.

[@ScarfmonsterWR]

@@kenziescout2343 Why are you censoring veganism like it's a curse word...?

[@patrikmarinkovic1704]

I had already thought of wanting to make personalised spice mixes, but I had never thought of having a grinder specifically for it! Great idea!

[@Jmr2urbo]

The carbon footprint argument for the composter is all wrong. Composting is a natural process that will happen no matter what, adding a machine that it self has a carbon footprint in being manufactured, shipped, then uses electricity during its life time, and then only to be thrown away at some point. It only adds to the carbon equation and literal does nothing to reduce.

[@JeffreyKelley]

That home composter thing is silly. I got one from a local auction about 8 years ago. It is nearly identical internally to the one you guys used. All it does is turn it into a powder. It doesnt compost anything. It uses a ton of power. get a compost bin for your garden and just add stuff to it. You guys really like to conserve food and not create food waste but this uses a bunch of plastic, uses a ton of electricity and will just end up as E waste.

[@olafghanizadeh]

Thunderfoot has a good video on theese kind of products

[@Robzooo7]

Yeah home composter electrical devices are usually ridiculously expensive, massive power draw and inefficient compared to just a bin.

[@fairygirl626]

I can maaaaaybe see a use when a) you live in a tiny apartment and b) don't have green waste pick up or a garden space, but as you say, how much electricity is unnecessarily being used, and how many "bin liners" would you be able to use before you had an equivalent amount of plastic to the machine?

[@matthewbutner8696]

I was going to say the same thing.

[@NullCreativityMusic]

^^ This, they are a waste of energy

[@darlouthia5153]

Great conversation starters. The grinder idea is probably the most useful / budget friendly. An honestly interesting idea for gifting.

[@kimkinlock5441]

omg! so excited to see the spice mill - I’ve been doing this for years!!! Mine is filled with a combo of rainbow peppercorns, coriander, allspice and lavendar. I use it in place of black pepper with everything, but the blend especially shines on seared meats and with creamy pastas 😋😍😋🥰

[@SortedFood]

Lavender? Nice touch!

[@kimkinlock5441]

@@SortedFood Thanks!! Excited to get your seal of approval 🤩

[@sharayalee3376]

Love the idea for making your own spice blends to have in grinders, next premade one I empty I can just reuse it Here in Seattle, the city picks up garbage, recycling and compost/yard trimmings

[@cody_codes]

Wow, that kombucha pairing experience looked absolutely awesome. I would love to try that kombucha sometime myself, I love the drink and it's fun to see it served in a more elevated and thoughtful manner!

[@hannahr5997]

We are part of a chicken co-op, collect all our scraps and gone-off things in buckets and give them to a friend with chickens, and we get eggs! It works out wonderfully 😌

[@kimmacinnis912]

In my city (in Ontario, Canada) we have a food waste program that is collected weekly. (Typically with our recyclables). We have indoor compost buckets, and can get biodegradable liner bags, and when they fill up, goes to a larger bin that gets taken to the curb. It takes a lot of food waste, pet waste, some paper waste.

[@kates7277]

Same here in BC…Canada represent!

[@jessica-mariegervais9800]

...We're so backwards here in Capital City, Alberta... I live in a rental complex that has four houses in it, and the city bylaws don't want us to have the black, blue and green communal wheely bins (we do have a dumpster that's privately collected). We have to throw EVERYTHING out, cardboard, plastic, food and yard waste included. I bought the "composter", thinking it was a way for me to "do my environmental part"; however, no matter what I do, I end up STILL being part of the problem. I. Can't. WIN. D':

[@noeliabaccaro1981]

All Sorted episodes are really good, but today's was particularly fun! I LOLed several times. Thank you, guys!

[@louisesiberry6289]

I have a vermicomposter, 2 bokashi composting bins, a garden tower that has a vermicomposter middle and our county has a green bin recycling program. This product is far too expensive for most people. I agree with Jamie that more needs to be done at affordable prices.

[@tricks.2661]

laughing out loud at half Bennuendo's, that became full ones because of the facial expressions of Jamie.

[@Molto_Benny]

Those custom spice blends reminded me of what my Dad used to do for grilling! When we were kids, my dad used to make us burgers on the grill all the time (I believe you call it a BBQ in the UK?). So he'd take an old dried spice shaker and he'd fill it with some basic spices we'd put on the burgers before grilling them. So those grinders are like that, but taken to another level because you're grinding them fresh instead of using the dried variations we used. On top of that, home composting is something my Grandparents do! My almost 80 year old grandmother is still quite active, and she loves gardening. She's got her own Allotment, but I'm not quite sure it could rival Ben's. They have a much bigger version of that composter, and they compost all their scraps. Very cool to see this kinda stuff that other people I know use in a Sorted video!

[@BlueGlow26]

New intro 👍🏼 7:04 when Jamie said carbon footprint, I expected and hoped he would mention the machine needing electricity, which definitely generates significant carbon footprint over time, depending on your region's energy source

[@doremiancleff1508]

This composter and a lot of those "go green" products pretty much exist to guilt trip people into buying an expensive product that has no actual benifit to waste reduction. I always had a gripe with those, since if you make a product that is supposed to change the world, why would you make it so inefficient or so expensive? I understand that first stage of any project is to get enough funding to start a mass production, but in vast majority of cases, they are pretty much designed around being inefficient in a first place and be a prestige item, so you can pat yourself on a back and think you are makign a change. And often those products are produced by companies that don't have any other products, which is probably so they can go public and just sell for profit, with no further development.

[@kenziescout2343]

Thunderf00t does a great job in a yt vid explaining why even with mass distribution these will ALWAYS result in a net negative for the enviro.

[@doremiancleff1508]

It doesn't even end with gadgets. There are many companies that do this exact thing, like making different useless bits and bobs out of recycled plastic or furniture made of chopsticks for 6x the price and all other things. A simple cheap linen bag does inifinitely more good, by reducing amount of shopping bags one person use, than any of those "prestige" items, made of recycled trash, since they still would use heavy machinery, raw materials or not so great practices in production of their product.

[@faithnfire4769]

@@doremiancleff1508 Though even those linen bags need to be checked (mathematically) as to whether they are efficient compared to plastic bags. Dunno for linen, but it's quite literally hundreds of uses needed to make a cotton tote and a plastic grocery bag equivalent. So if you don't use them enough they are worse (in terms of lifetime CO2), obv landfill volume and spread of waste is a separate issue. certainly, a repurposed bag you already had is always a good choice. lol lots of animal feed bags turned totes over here.

[@doremiancleff1508]

​@@faithnfire4769 I am not making a mathematical point of "which produce less" as more of a "less plastic = more good" with linen, canvas or what not being not that much more expensive to produce, while also being much less enviromentally harmful post use. It's a fairly low cost input, for an item that is practically useful and at very least reduces personal use of plastic or other potentially harmful for enviroment materials. As in comparison to purchasing a power hungry device that smells like hot decomposing garbage, which you still have to empty out into a trash bin, if you don't own a garden.

[@faithnfire4769]

@@doremiancleff1508 Sure, but the point is that you can't always say "less plastic = more good" if it is an oversimplification; in some cases farmed fibers are less efficient than synthetic, which does need to be remembered when trying to protect the environment. Nothing more, and definitely a much more compelling discussion than this device.

[@mudokin]

The composter i found takes 500w/h, meaning a run costs about 2kw. a good washing machine uses about 1.5kw. So running it once a week might cost you 20€ a year in electricity. Going down to the smallest legaly required composting bin in my area will save me 20€ a year. So I can run this machine for for "free" but I can't recoupe the 400€

[@mathisurien4031]

only until the energy prices rise again, then you'll be back to making a loss every time you switch it on.

[@chillynewberg2652]

Exactly, this product was absolutely insane to recommend. They did not use their brains

[@CthRyleh]

Using it as a "free" soil additive offsets that cost/benefit a bit.

[@ScarfmonsterWR]

@@CthRyleh Except what comes out of the machine is not fit as a soil additive, it's just the same thing but dried - you still need to properly compost it for weeks or even months. But then you don't even need the machine. It's just an absolutely pointless waste of electricity.

[@barnesmackay]

My tesla can travel 5+ miles on 2kw.

[@ZoltanHoppar]

Here in Hungary, the company called Kotanyi has a tradition to put many things into mills, and use it at different drinks and foods. Similarly, a good pump spray for oils here is a kind of perfect solution, if needed.

[@hippiesara527]

"fűszermester Kotányi" automatikusan elkezdtem énekelni :D

[@poniesgirl1]

I'm in Canada and we have a 'green bin' for food waste that gets collected weekly alongside one of paper recycling, plastic recycling, or trash (rotating).

[@JamesPotts]

As someone from the land of "fish sticks", I've always found "fish fingers" a bit odd.

[@Flareontoast]

Same. In German they're called Fischstäbchen (little fish sticks)

[@mengyingliao8024]

Definitely more of a fan of the sorted version of first trend, i.e. make your own spice mix in reusable grinders. The trendy coffee spice one is utterly unnecessary and a waste of resources, since people don’t always keep their old grinder bottles and will buy new ones. Plus sorted way makes it way more versatile, and I’m definitely gonna try that hack myself, instead of buying store bought premixes now

[@MarinaEariel]

I don't know that brand, but the one I use sells the refills much cheaper than the grinder, so buying the refill is the best option. I don't want to buy bigger bags of several spices to fill it myself

[@kenziescout2343]

plus the WHOLE point of milling is to bring out freshly activated flavors. The cinn/sugar mix is already ground and then pelletized again. save the plastic and just use a cinn/sugar shaker.

[@lillyess385]

In my municipality in Canada, we have a green bin where we put in food scraps and yard wastes. The city picks it up and then composts it all. It's part of our municipal taxes. It's great. But it still has large trucks pick them up each week. The gadget would reduce the volume.

[@JO-mz1bo]

Ben and his innuendos. Always the highlight of the video!

[@janmay3901]

The normal's reactions are pretty funny, too

[@barnesmackay]

The "composter" does NOT reduce food waste! It uses electricity to dry out your waste. The environmental impact of growing, transporting, distributing, and breaking down the waste is exactly the same but you wasted more electricity to the mix. You also created, transported, and distributed a wildly expensive dehydrator that is destined for a landfill. If you have your own compost pile, the extra steps are a waste of time, and you shouldn't put it in your containers because cooked food attracts vermin. Also, as was pointed out, IT STILL SMELLS! These things are a net negative.

[@OliverKlovdalAs]

Completely agree with this

[@matthewellisor5835]

THANK YOU! At least a few of us have a couple brain cells to run together to generate an independent thought and can see what a scam that junk is. Many millions of (insert your currency here) have been raised on the same kind of waste dehydrators over the last 30 years, yet people keep falling for it. I made a small, tiered vermicomposter for a friend I'm an apartment. It's the size of a suitcase, just smells like dirt and looks like just the stand for a potted plant. All the kitchen scraps except bones go in (Small amounts of meat, dairy or grease can be added, the advise to the contrary is similar to the advice to not put metal into a microwave oven, that is, "wrong" it's just that you have to understand how, when, why and when/why not.) AND he adds paper/cardboard that would have otherwise contributed to his landfill load. He uses the worms and larvae as fishing bait and gives me the excess, the compost goes to his mother's garden every few months when he visits and he now has even less going to the landfill. It does go dormant for about 3 months of the year but he just saves whatever he has space for in the freezer and doesn't worry about a few weeks of not using it. It uses no electricity, takes little space, has no unpleasant odor and turns 90% of his food waste and some portion of his paper waste into something useful. Total cost: $45 If I can make it, anyone can. If a guy in a 1 bedroom apartment can use it, most people can.

[@vampire847]

This is what i was gonna say.

[@PowerChannel88]

Exactly! Really dissapointed they chose to show case such a waste of energy.

[@jamescasto375]

Also, how does composting reduce carbon footprint? The organic material is going to decompose the same way whether it is in a compost pile or a landfill. I see that it is useful if you are going to use it as fertilizer, but I fail to see how it is going to reduce waste or pollution.

[@antimon05]

KOTÁNYI! Finally some Hungarian representation on the channel, even though with something that's not that representative of Hungarian cuisine. Still, bojler eladó! (By the way, there's a cinnamon grinder just like thatin the office I work at, and I always spice my coffee with it - even though I'd nevet buy it for my kitchen)

[@Flareontoast]

In Austria Kotanyi is also super popular. We have their cinnamon grinder in our cabinet, and we prefer their curry spice blend over all other brands. Generally their products, I find, are really good, and usually really worth the price compared to store-brand spices. Also hello neighbour!

[@jaybehkay2438]

When I lived in an apartment I got a bokashi bin. It started the breakdown process, kept it neat and non smelly and was easy to use. I then got the juice (similar to worm pee fertiliser) and gave it to mum for her garden and when the bucket got full (every few months) I took it to the community compost bin near by. Very useful and I only had to take my regular bin out every like month at a push because it didn’t stink of food scraps

[@EdinMike]

100% doing the Mill hack and I’m kicking myself for having never thought about it because it’s so simple !!

[@RecoveringSpartan]

I'd really like to see someone, preferably the supplier, do a full product lifecycle analysis and understand how much energy and waste the home composter creates vs eliminates. It seems possible for the home composter to have a larger carbon footprint than it is capable of offsetting.

[@barongerhardt]

I wouldn't trust the supplier, but with some basic assumptions and quick math it doesn't look good for the dehydrators. Assumptions: Majority of power used is from drying the food Majority of saved carbon is in less truck loads Our fruit/veggies mix is 90% water Some quick numbers: garbage truck can carry about 20 tons and get MPG of 3 for about 3kg of co2 per mile driven to boil 1 kg of water takes about 0.183 kwh US avg kwh is about .4 kg co2 nearest landfill/composting center for me is about 15 miles but several are within 30 miles Okay, so we boil off that 90% water and that will reduce the number of truck loads by 9. Case 1: don't use it 10 truck loads of 60 miles round trips comes to (60x10x3) 1800 kg co2. Case 2: boil off the water 1 truck load 60 miles round trip 180 kg co2 + 9 trucks worth of water boiled ( 9 * 20000 * 0.183 * .4 = 13,176 kg co2) If we reverse the boil cost to miles, we get a break even point would be a round trip well over 400 miles (>700km).

[@RecoveringSpartan]

@@barongerhardt first of all, thanks for being willing to do the math I asked for but wasn't willing to. Most of the assumptions seem fine for this type of estimate, but we don't have to "boil" the water to evaporate it. If I leave out a glass of water it will slowly evaporate assuming my relative humidity isn't close to 100%. Also truck capacity is volume limited not weight limited. But I'd be happy to Collab and try to come up with a better model, it's a better start than "I wish". Edit: my truck capacity statement is an assumption, I realize I stated it like a fact

[@barongerhardt]

@@RecoveringSpartan Thanks, I will take the criticism. I was trying to make most assumptions in favor of the dehydrators, but most numbers were based on a quick search for local/average values. I think boil is going to be a good description. The speed (a few hours/over night) is going to necessitate using a heat based solution. One plus kilograms (liters) of water in a bucket isn't going to evaporate over night in all but the most arid environments. Temperatures below boiling can be used and airflow can help, but the latent heat of vaporization is the same. I made a mistake and used the energy to go from 20c to 100c. It should be 0.628 kwh/kg just for vaporization. About 3.5 times more energy than used above. Heating, grinding and cooling the scraps is going to add to that. Vacuum or freeze drying could also dry in reasonable time, but I think they are less efficient than heating (by like an order of magnitude). Truck capacity has a max for both mass and volume, but for low density waste they are more likely to hit the volume limit prior to the mass. As I was assuming the scraps to be 90% water, hence mass / volume savings will be that of the water which has a density of 1. My local trucks have a capacity of 19.3 m^3. I rounded that up to 20 tons of water. I also assumed the dried scraps would have a similar average density to water. Significantly more dense product could favor the dehydrator and less dense would go against it. Different size trucks would also influence the results and MPG will very with truck choice. Actual percentage water doesn't seem to have a significant effect on results. As long as dry scraps are assumed to have an average density close to 1kg/l. 90% was chosen to keep the math simple of 10 trucks and 9:1. Full trucks and travel between my house and dump was to keep values simple and I think favor the dehydrator. The .4 kg co2 per kwh came from a 2020 EIA report: In 2020, total U.S. electricity generation by the electric power industry of 4.01 trillion kilowatthours (kWh) from all energy sources resulted in the emission of 1.55 billion metric tons-1.71 billion short tons-of carbon dioxide (CO2). This equaled about 0.85 pounds of CO2 emissions per kWh.

[@barongerhardt]

I think a case could be made in locations that would use the dry scraps in energy harvesting incinerators, combined with otherwise carbon free power to do the at home drying. By far the most efficient case is going to be to actually compost the scraps in a natural way in your own yard/garden.

[@The_Yukki]

Thunderf00t made a great video about similar machine but since this one does the same I suggest giving it a watch

[@JustSomePasserby]

I have a pepper grinder in my kitchen I filled with chipotle a few years ago. I always figured it was more pretentious than innovative, but I'm glad to see I was ahead of the curve.

[@rolfs2165]

I'm a bit surprised Ebbers said that you can't do anything with onion peels. Atomic Shrimp puts them, along all the other (good) vegetable off-cuts, in the stock bin in his freezer (and then cooks stock from it once it's full). Same with bones from chicken or ribs. I've tried it, and it gives a really hearty broth. And once you've done that, you can still compost it all. Probably even better, because it's cooked down and soft.

[@TaniaShipman]

In Australia in my state, we have a green bin to put all our lawnmowing and food scraps into. It gets collected every two weeks and goes to a special part of our tips for composting. It comes down to people putting all scraps into those bones or just throwing them into the "usual" garbage. We also have a yellow bin for paper, plastics etc and our red bins are for everything else.

I've had Ama kombucha at several of my favorite fine dining restaurants. Very much worth it.

[@GonzoDonzo]

Id like to know how stable the items in the grinders are over time. A grinder is a semi open container if it doesnt have a cap. The spices are fine but what about coconut nibs, or high fat content items. Do they go off after a week? I really like the idea though, especially for savory items

[@JTB312]

As a left handed person, I love that Ben remembered to leave the handle to Jamie's left, instead of turning it like he did for Barry

[@janmay3901]

Ben is very sweet and conscientious

[@Flareontoast]

It's funny how being left-handed makes you super receptive to other people's handedness. I work a tutoring job and I usually bring up the topic if I notice a student writing with their left hand, make a joke about how smearing ink is a pain in the butt or so. Right-handed people tend to notice it much less, like I've known people for years until they, one day, finally noticed I'm writing with my left hand. When others are considerate it feels really sweet.

[@phurinkosumapinun5363]

The sortedfood community has grown not​ as a channel only but also there content has evolved into something I find intruiging. Just watching the review of the Sage Composter, they are tackling the topics in sustainability and food waste on their platform. I honestly think it is such a great thing of them to expose and inform their audience​to these topics . Compared to other 'foodtubers' that are popular nowadays for primarily focusing on recipes and their food trend. I'd say that sortedfood is a top tier channel in terms of content and their ability to entertain AND inform their audiences. Much love ❤️

[@Aledharris]

With the sage machine, Jamie says we’re trying to reduce our carbon emissions etc - why use a machine to make compost? You can just make compost. Surely you’re wasting energy and thus creating more co2… I really don’t understand the machine’s purpose. (Or price tag.)

[@SortedFood]

Very good point. It didn't really seem worth the price tag to us.

[@chillynewberg2652]

@SORTEDfood yet you still promoted the item, for thousands to be confused and potentially INCREASE their carbon emissions. Great job being conscientious guys.. how about we promote items that don't make the world worse off.

[@Acadia26]

@@chillynewberg2652 Bit harsh! It wasn't much of a promotion - quite the contrary. I've seen those adverts and as someone who has a roof garden and spends the most money on buying potting mixes, I was getting rather interested in getting one. The end product was nothing like that advertised, so to me it was an eye-opener to not get one.

[@chillynewberg2652]

@Mary Ann Borg And you could make a small garden box a compost area as well, for much cheaper and using much less plastic and emissions. Just like the original comment stated, you can just compost, instead of buying something that only gets you halfway.. Just get some extra soil from an old garden box and start composting into a bin, then upgrade to a box when you can

[@stormangel]

Love the new intro! And hard agree with Jamie: paying over £400 on a machine to to grind down and dessicate food scraps is way out of reach for most people, especially with rising energy prices right now - who needs another costly electric item running up the bills? The idea itself I think is fantastic, as like Ebbers said the dried mulch can be mixed in with soil to return nutrients to it without drawing pests like rodents into your garden that would normally be attracted to rotting/discarded food, but the cost of the machine puts it waaaaay out of most people's budget. I think the best use of it would be in a larger scale community setting - maybe in a school where all the scraps go into the kid's gardening projects, or a restaurant who give away the mulch (there's a coffee shop near me does something similar, they bag up their coffee grinds and leave them for anyone to take for free for their gardens, I think the same could be done for this machine's mulch so people aren't taking rotting/nasty food waste home)

[@kenziescout2343]

except that baking the food scraps (all the machines do this) kills the useful microbes. these machines are $400 wastes of plastic & energy

[@stormangel]

@@kenziescout2343 Ah beans, I didn't know that! You might as well just compost the normal way then and save yourself the energy bill, haha.

[@Bxr12]

Love the cold opens these days as it’s difficult to be exposed to the 3-basil-leaves era of intros 😂

[@shllybkwrm]

We bought our first house last year (DC area) and it's a townhouse so we don't have enough yard space to compost ourselves. So, I signed up for a composting service last year. They pick up every week and return finished compost to me for gardening twice a year. Plus, I can skip a pickup any week and they'll comp be for that week. I'm really into it so far!

[@calummcgee4122]

I have to say that, as someone who used to eat meat and is now a vegetarian, the Quorn Fishless fingers are a great alternative when you want a fish finger sandwich 😄 I’m fully behind this trend!

[@12pking]

Why/when did you become a vegetarian/homosexual?

[@Hanzeeeee]

@@12pking lame

[@JohannaInTheCorner]

Like the idea of the spice mills but let’s remember not all spices are the same size. Large items tend to settle on the top when shaken a lot (think big raisins on the top of Allen) so the spices will end up unevenly distributed. Different hardness of spices will lead to one being cut by the blade more than the harder one that offers resistance and moves. You either need uniformly similar herbs and spices or be ready for an inconsistency in each time you mill. I personally love the idea and wouldn’t mind incomplete blends… but I suspect the refined palate would notice.

[@pearlscraftcorner]

I am in the east coast of the US and we keep a bin in our kitchen that all scaraps go in and once it is full it goes into our larger compost bin the backyard. My dad uses the soil for planting and gardening plants. We bought both bins 10+ years ago.

[@loribriggs3346]

I put mine in the green bin for yard waste. Been doing it for quite awhile and no problems as of yet. Our green bins in Grants Pass Oregon go to a yard where it is further composted and then sold for gardening and ground cover.

[@SnoobleNooble]

Love me a Sorted Wednesday upload, makes the week feel great!

[@ericvaninwegen6384]

Jamie, confused by the term "fish fingers". Nobody tell him about buffalo wings.

[@freyaporter99]

Here in Australia a compost heap or bin can be quite a challenging thing to have around - my mother loves gardening but refuses to create a compost bin because warm, smelly, soft places are perfect snake hideouts. That machine would seriously revolutionise her view on composting. And for people who live in small spaces/with other people and don't want to deal with the smell, it would make composting so much more accessible. I hope they can bring this to multiple different price points so the people who'd really benefit from it can access it!

[@benmcnutt223]

My family have a composter in the garden which we put veg/fruit waste, tea bags, ground coffee and egg shells in. Also the bags which line the compost bin in the kitchen are fully compostable. Its all rotated every year or so and eventually is used in growing fruit and veg and for other plants.

[@FinnMcRiangabra]

I would not trust mixed spices/herbs in a mill. How do you control the mixture? Different sizes and densities of the various components could easily end up with un-even distribution in the grinder.

[@organicgrains]

If ever anything can be described as "bespoke" you automatically add 10 to what you would pay. That being said, I think I'll have to try that kombucha.

[@debbiefigures9323]

We have food scraps bins in Renfrewshire, we have compostible bags for it and we fill tie them up and they go in the garden waste bins 😁

[@marilynalvarez9951]

WAIT! Ben customized the spice blend in the grinders and DIDN'T put labels on them!? What is this world coming to! 😁

[@nathanly8761]

You guys should look into cell cultured meat! A few companies are coming to market soon, especially one based in Cambridge, Higher Steaks

[@advent1688]

I forgot how much I love watching SORTED!

[@tahliahart5438]

Baz got so quiet during the kombucha section. He was feeling it!

[@MisNorm98]

Ben said you've never talked about fish alternatives but both Ben and Jamie were in a video where James made vegan fish and chips

[@balbarith45]

Jaime: interested in alternative food options. Also Jaime: "Why are we still calling them fingers?!?"

[@RogueSmithers]

I have a home made plant waste digester from an old Gatorade cooler, an open compost pit in my garden and also have a dedicated compost tea pitcher for my Vitamix. Oh, and I have 4 small breed dogs that love to do their part in making less food scraps for the trash bin.

[@johnnytaranto7262]

We have a SMALL back garden I use to grow herb and veg. Most of our organic compost (onion peels, garlic peels, coffee grinds, egg shells, and raw or boiled veg goes in an ikea rubbish bin with worms and the composting speed is great. It stops in winter is the thing, but I’m on NY and we just got composting publicly in my neighborhood so that’s my winter plan for scraps

[@19billdong96]

That “banoodle” 5:11 threw me back Ebbers! Are you boys going back on GMM?

[@ascendancy425]

I wasn’t the only one who noticed!

[@iluvcallie48]

Love the discussion this video is bringing. My take: I feel like the fact that the burden is being put on to the consumers to fix such a large problem is the main issue. WE are the ones who now have to find solutions to food waste, sustainable eating, and reducing our carbon footprint. When the real problems could be fixed by large corporations (who are the ones causing the majority of CO2 emissions), it’s instead flung onto us to fix our way a living. Incredibly backward and frustrating imo.

[@0rcd0c]

Most countries in Europe have separate bins for biological waste which is further processed in huge composts. The natural gases and the fertilizer are then sold.

[@NightFighterDK]

Corporations only exist because people consume - limit consumption = lower emission/footprint.

[@katiem3536]

its all supply and demand though. I completely get your point with composting, but in terms of the foods we choose to buy and eat, we have control over what we vote for with our money

[@invisblemouse]

Where I live in Canada we have a green bin picked up at the curb for food waste, a town composting pickup. We use a small container in the house with compostable liners that we then being outside to the larger bin. At this point it is for residential use only but would love to see it expand to commercial spaces. We also have a compost bin in our back yard for personal use, but it does tend to fill faster than we can use it on our small property

[@mrbear1302]

Doing a homemade rub grinders for meats as they suggested is a great idea! Especially when needing to control your salt intake is important. Pre packaged rubs are mostly salt.

[@tsnap4]

To answer Jamie's question about the term "Fish Fingers," The name's history depends on who you ask. (tl;dr at the end) Commercially speaking, the packaged, processed food was commercially introduced to the UK in 1955. The Guardian article "Fish fingers turn 60: how Britain fell for not-very-fishy sticks of frozen protein" by Felicity Cloake give the date 1955 for the term's introduction. They, as well as the Independent article Cloake references, both focus on the "No bones, no waste, no smell, no fuss" marketing which Birds Eye used to introduce the fish stick. In addition, Cloake goes on to speculate on the overall un-fishy and inoffensive nature of fish fingers as a potential cause for their success in the UK and lack on in other, more fish-ready countries. The Foods of England Project's website gives a slightly different story. They also list 1955 as the first time a business used the term in marketing. They also include newspaper clippings describing the benefit to the British fishing industry. However, they also include a note that the term had been used for homemade recipes. They list a 1900 article in the Tamworth Herald (which I found it in newspaper archives under the Wells Journal) that described “Tasty Fish Fingers” as flaked, minced fish mixed with rice; seasoned with pepper, salt, and parsley; formed into cakes with egg white; and fried to golden brown. Overall, it seems fish fingers seemed to just be fished formed vaguely into the shape of fingers, and the name, as well as the inoffensive taste/presentation, has stuck at for a while. Curiously, the OED’s earliest listed use of the term was in 1962 in the BBC program The Listener. tl;dr: The term’s been used at least since 1900 for the homemade dish, but it was codified (no pun intended) by Birds Eye in 1955, when they introduced the commercial product.