Jill Lightner
food & sustainability
writer & editor
My grandfather knew how to dress when
he'd take a steer for a walk through town.
BOOKS
Manage your kitchen for less waste through practical strategies, tips, and advice on food purchasing, prep, composting, and storage.
Topics and features include:
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70+ recipes
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Money-saving tips
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Three levels of action for every topic, to help you figure out what's doable
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Portioning to avoid leftovers on the plate
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Meal planning vs. freestyle cooking
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Grocery shopping and dining-out tactics
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Storage strategies and how to read expiration dates
Winner of 2018 Gold Nautilus Book Award: Green Living and Sustainability
ARTICLES
Samples
How to adapt vintage recipes for modern kitchens (and my great-grandmother's sugar cookies )
5 common mistakes to avoid with your first kitchen garden and how to make the most of your space
My work for Seattle Times' Pacific NW Magazine
I also get written about! Here's a fun one where I helped Bethany Jean Clement of The Seattle Times get her pantry organized after Marie Kondo inspired her to de-clutter. It's true, pinenuts are expensive little jerks.
ABOUT JILL
My first piece of food writing coincided with the first Krispy Kreme coming to a Seattle suburb. John T. Edge kicked off his book Donuts: An American Passion with excerpts from that story. My strong opinions about doughnuts led to a career: two years at Seattle Weekly, six years as editor of James Beard-winning magazine Edible Seattle, and three years in the marketing department for the largest member-owned food co-op in the U.S. Along the way, I've edited two books, and written three and a recipe app, and more books are in the works.
In April 2022, I opened Seattle's second Little Free Bakery, a box that I fill with fresh-baked goods several times each week. It has made me extremely popular with the neighbors. I wrote about little free bakeries for Sound Consumer; it includes information on starting your own.
I write most often for The Seattle Times and Pacific NW Magazine, and PCC Community Markets' Sound Consumer newsletter. I also speak about food waste issues and solutions, serve as a journalism judge for the James Beard Foundation media awards, and sat on the board of the NW Cider Association for six years.