The first week of June marked the official launch of our Upcycle Kitchen‘s new baking product line! It had been in development for a few months, with lots of taste testing as we created our recipes.
We are so excited to now offer ‘Makeover Muffins’ on our online store for delivery on Fridays. We bake them fresh every Thursday, using upcycled ingredients from our own warehouse that would otherwise go to waste!
What’s better than freshly baked muffins?
… freshly baked muffins with a purpose! Our goal is to reduce food waste and provide people with affordable access to delicious baked goods.
Makeover Muffins are available to the public at Groceries from the SEED. We offer sliding-scale prices (33-50% off) for about 650 households in Guelph-Wellington. This means people of all incomes can access the same delicious treats!
On our first day of baking, we produced over 230 muffins using 43 cups of rescued bananas, apples, carrots, and zucchini- and we sold out! Adding veggies and fruit to baked goods increases the amount of fibre and vitamins inside, plus they are delicious.
In keeping with our waste reduction and circular economy philosophy, the muffins are packaged in reusable/ refundable containers from Friendlier, with six muffins per pack.
Volunteer Leadership
Jennifer Maddock and Ingrid von Cube, two long-time SEED volunteers and champions, have led the recipe development and beginning stages of this pilot. This dream-team duo have put in countless hours planning, sourcing ingredients, and perfecting the recipes. They are backed up with a small team of volunteers, who have also been instrumental in successes so far.
A day in the Upcycle Kitchen
by Sage Sibanda, SEED Assistant
First thing Thursday morning, we pick up our diverted ingredients from the Community Food Warehouse and Groceries from The SEED and take them to the Upcycle Kitchen at the Shelldale Centre. These bananas, zucchini, carrots, and apples are just-past-their-prime, but are the stars of our show!
The groundwork for the baking has been laid the day before. We have our packaging prepared, labels printed, ingredients organized, and recipe cards laminated.
As soon as we get into the kitchen, it’s go time! We grate fruits and veg, fire up the ovens and get out the seemingly hundreds of mixing bowls, measuring cups, and whisks. We each pick a recipe and work in little groups, carefully measuring out the dry ingredients, cracking eggs, and watching our browning butter like hawks . And of course, we’ve got our throwback 70s music playing in the background.
It doesn’t take long for people start popping by to see where the incredible smells are coming from. We have already sold muffins on the spot thanks to the smells!
After several batches of muffins have been baked, cooled, and packaged (and several rounds of dishes done) we deliver the goods back to the Community Food Warehouse and start preparing for our next week . The muffins will be quickly turned around and gotten out to people who ordered them to be consumed over the weekend!
What’s next?
We are planning on expanding our selection of fresh baked goods based on what seasonal produce is available to upcycle. We might get into batch-freezing ingredients to be used out-of-season as well.
The best way to get involved for now is to just buy muffins! Baked goods are available through Groceries from The SEED every Friday. Thanks for helping us reduce food waste and increase food access.
The muffins are fantastic my son and I love them for breakfast or anytime of the day.