Out of every good idea comes another. Particularly when it comes to creativity with a purpose, like Donate the Difference, a campaign that Second Harvest initiated this summer that challenged Canadians to find creative ways to reduce their food budget by 10 percent and donate the difference to help Second Harvest provide nourishing rescued food to communities in need.

The stories of creative hacks for leftovers, helpful hints, and food preservation ideas were not only empowering and educational but also a lot of fun. 

Throughout the summer, Second Harvest shared a variety of tips, recipes and suggestions for reducing food waste and saving money, like freezing and eating leftovers, turning overripe fruit into gelato, buying only what’s needed and using smarter storage.

Along with the generous support of Diplomático Rum and Whole Foods Market, we brought this conversation to the forefront and offered webinars to share ideas to start the process towards lasting change. If you missed the mini-series on food preservation (or would like a refresher), see the video below.

The Donate the Difference campaign was so successful that it has now become a permanent fixture in our Fundraising Ideas Menu. Stay tuned for updates in the future.

Did you know: Canadian households toss 2.3 million tonnes of perfectly good food every year, costing us an average of $1,766 a year! 

Diplomático ‘zero-waste’ Cocktail recipe

Diplomático Rum served up a few mixology masterpieces that use strays from your fridge and pantry to make refreshing (and zero-waste) cocktails. See below for an exclusive recipe – and tasty beverage! – created during our Donate the Difference campaign.

Bolívar Cocktail

This daiquiri-style cocktail uses Oleo Saccharum, which is a bartender trick using older citrus to make a key ingredient in cocktails. It refers to extracting the oil from citrus peels by using sugar. Peel a lime and place the peels in a bowl along with a handful of mint leaves. Sprinkle a few ounces of granulated sugar on top, muddle it lightly into the peels and mint. After a few hours, the sugar will have extracted the oils from the peels, leaving you with a slightly messy yet delicious syrup. Juice the remainder of the lime.

In a cocktail shaker with ice, add:

✅  2 oz. Diplomático Mantuano
✅  1 oz. Lime and mint Oleo Saccharum
✅  1 oz. Fresh lime juice

Shake and strain into a coupe glass. Optional: garnish with lime peel. Makes one zero-waste cocktail. Legal drinking age only. Please enjoy responsibly.

A big thanks to the Donate the Difference sponsors:

And a thank-you to our media partners: