These sustainable companies are repurposing leftover plant-based ingredients and combating food waste!
According to the USDA, 30-40% of the food supply in the United States is wasted. We’re talking hundreds of billions of pounds each year! With stats like that, solving this problem can feel like a hopeless battle. But we can absolutely do our part to make a difference. To start, we can be mindful of our own food practices. But we can also shop sustainable brands that are making headway in the reduction of food waste. Don’t know where to start? We’ve got you! Check out our list of nine vegan upcycled food brands.
Joolies
The California superfruits, aka dates from Joolies, are packed with fiber, copper, and potassium. In addition to other sustainable farming methods, this upcycled food brand is not wasting a thing! The brand upcycles low-grade dates for date syrup and sells imperfect dates at a discount. The latter are lovingly nicknamed “Ugglies” and can be used in baking, making smoothies, and solo snacking.
Joolies
RIND
RIND is fighting food waste one fruit snack at a time. This upcycled food brand utilizes whole fruits, including their skins. Not only do fruit skins and rinds pack extra vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber, but they taste amazing! That’s some serious peel power! These zero-waste snacks include chewy dried kiwi, coconut crisps, apple chips, and more. Seriously, we can’t put them down!
RIND
Renewal Mill
From carrot pulp to vanilla bean remains, Renewal Mill upcycles a variety of product leftovers. After harvesting the byproduct, the brand dries and mills the ingredients into a fine powder. The upcycled products are then used as key ingredients in cooking and baking. The eco-friendly brand offers baking mixes, baked goods, and cookie kits. For example, the Oat Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix contains upcycled oat milk flour and upcycled pea starch. Spoiler, this mix makes some killer cookies.
Renewal Mill
Blue Stripes
Did you know that the chocolate industry wastes a significant portion of the cacao plant during chocolate production? Blue Stripes is changing the way we eat cacao by using the underrated fruit to produce snacks, beverages, and treats. Nothing goes to waste here! Blue Stripes uses the entire fruit. Find sustainable, nutrient-packed products like Cacao Water and Whole Cacao Chocolate Bars, along with granola and fruit smoothies.
Blue Stripes
Pulp Pantry
These chips might just have you saying, “What the pulp?” Pulp Pantry takes the leftover fiber from vegetable juices and transforms it into snackable chips. These crisps are 100% vegan, gluten-free, and free from all grains. Find Pulp Chips in Jalapeno Lime, Barbeque, Salt & Vinegar, and Sea Salt varieties. Pair them with your favorite dip.
Pulp Pantry
Wholly Veggie
Level up your at-home appetizers with Wholly Veggie. Both the Mozzarella Style Sticks and Cheddar Style Jalapeno Sticks are made with rescued veggies. But, you seriously cannot tell. Add these tasty restaurant-quality appetizers to your weekly routine. Not only are these frozen apps totally delish, but they are also changing how we think about food waste.
Wholly Veggie
The Ugly Company
This company built a brand around repurposing ugly produce. We’d say, they chose a pretty fitting name. But the truth is, there’s nothing ugly about it. The imperfect fruits used by The Ugly Company are perfectly good to eat but contain minor scuffs or imperfections. Products include dried cherries, nectarines, and kiwis. While we can’t speak for you, this sounds pretty beautiful to us.
The Ugly Company
Chia Smash
We are jamming out with Chia Smash superfood jams. But these aren’t just any jams. Chia Smash uses four simple ingredients—chia seeds, berries, dates, and lemons—and forgoes any added sugar. How sweet! But, the best part about this company is that it uses upcycled fruits. We love to see it! Find Chia Smash Jam in raspberry, strawberry, and blueberry varieties. They taste great on just about anything.
Chia Smash
Confetti Snacks
Got ugly veggies? Confetti Snacks is reducing food waste by creating delicious veggie-packed snacks from unwanted produce. But you’d never guess that these veggies were once considered undesirable. Confetti Snacks makes crave-worthy crisps from vibrant, nutrient-rich veggie leftovers. From Summer Truffle Veggie Chips to Green Curry Mushroom Chips, the sustainable snack brand has something for everyone.
Confetti Snacks
Just launched: Laughing in the Face of Chaos by Rudá Iandê
Exhausted from trying to hold it all together?
You show up. You smile. You say the right things. But under the surface, something’s tightening. Maybe you don’t want to “stay positive” anymore. Maybe you’re done pretending everything’s fine.
This book is your permission slip to stop performing. To understand chaos at its root and all of your emotional layers.
In Laughing in the Face of Chaos, Brazilian shaman Rudá Iandê brings over 30 years of deep, one-on-one work helping people untangle from the roles they’ve been stuck in—so they can return to something real. He exposes the quiet pressure to be good, be successful, be spiritual—and shows how freedom often lives on the other side of that pressure.
This isn’t a book about becoming your best self. It’s about becoming your real self.
