Joel came over to my apartment with a bag of fresh clams and a recipe that would effectively use up the bread, carrot tops and anchovy oil: pasta with clams. I quickly learned that my hodgepodge of scraps weren't a limitation at all: The stale bread could be chopped up into crouton shapes and toasted in the anchovy oil, and the carrot-tops leaves could be used as a flavor enhancing herb.

The cooking part was easy. We simply threw the bread and anchovy oil into a pan with garlic and salt to taste. Next, we added the fresh clams, which only take a minute or two to cook, and a generous splash of white wine. When the angel hair was done cooking, we tossed that into the pan and topped our pasta off with the minced carrot-top leaves. Not only did we manage to use three ingredients that I normally would have thrown away, we created something way tastier than my pantry items alone could have made.

Joel didn't just bring clams and a top-notch recipe. He offered a handful of tips for "cooking scrappy." Here are a few ways to help you utilize your scraps, reduce food waste and save money: 1. Make a list before you grocery shop and stick to it. The easiest way to reduce food waste is to avoid buying more than you need at the grocery store. Before you shop, think about the meals you're going to make for the week and write down exactly what ingredients you'll need to prepare those meals. When you actually go to the store, stick to just the ingredients on your list. 2. Get a "scrappy bowl." This is a bowl for food scraps that's not your trash can. It's a place for all your edible scraps to hang out until you're ready to cook with them. When you're ready to use your scraps, check out savethefood.com, which provides recipes that help you use up all sorts of seemingly useless ingredients, like browned bananas, chicken bones, cheese rinds, potato peels and even sour milk.