She’s hungry for change. Seema Sanghavi is the founder of Cooks Who Feed, a socially conscious startup that’s providing hundreds of thousands of nourishing meals to people worldwide. It’s part of Seema’s mission to reduce both food insecurity and food waste, which currently creates about 11% of the methane gas in our atmosphere. And as 25% of all Americans face food insecurity this Thanksgiving, it’s more important than ever to learn actionable ways to help.

Here are Seema’s expert tips for reducing your own waste footprint, starting a business that gives back, and cooking Indian food for the first time.

How did you start as a food entrepreneur?
I’ve been cooking since I was about 6, mostly out of necessity. My parents were immigrants from India, and they worked all the time. My siblings had no interest in food, but I had so much interest, and I just started figuring it out and making dinners for my whole family. If I could have been a chef, I would have—but I have typical Indian parents who wanted me to get a “proper degree” from a “proper university.” But in a weird way, they were right, because now I own a business that helps people and deals with chefs!

How did you start?
On Kickstarter! I’ve been totally bootstrapping this! We’re about a year old but with COVID, we’ve definitely had to pivot…

How?
I noticed a lot of people buy aprons as housewarming gifts. I thought, “Who gives the most housewarming gifts? Realtors!” And one market that started growing during Corona is real estate. So I started cold-calling firms. I said, “What are you giving as gifts? Why not give a gift that gives back… Now I’m getting companies cold-calling me, like, “Our employees are cooking more because they’re all working from home. Can we send them your aprons as a present?”

Please don’t judge, but I still cook in my PJs. Why do I need an apron?
I was the same way! Part of it is practical: I’m Indian, and I love to cook Indian food, which has a lot of spices. The smell can really get through your clothes, but the apron will absorb a lot of it for you… And now that everything is on Instagram, an apron makes you look and feel more “official” while being practical. They’re getting really funky now… When I saw that Balenciaga was making aprons, I was really excited.

What do we need to know about hunger in 2020?
It’s everywhere. You think it’s in a poor village in India. But your neighbor could have food insecurity and you just wouldn’t know.

What about food waste?
Produce doesn’t make it to the store because it’s not pretty enough. Maybe the carrot is weird and curvy—you can still eat it, but it’s not getting sold. And that’s a huge amount of food… People don’t realize the resources we use to make food—water, labor, land— are extensive, and half the food on earth ends up going to waste.

What can we do?
Manage what you buy. Groceries stories order what they need based on demand. People buying in bulk really messes with that, because we buy so much food we don’t need, and then grocery stores order so much food to replenish their supply, and the cycle continues. Focus on meal planning for the week. Make a list. Don’t buy extra. And please buy “ugly” produce!

We all buy kale determined to eat it. And then it sits in the fridge…
Yeah, don’t buy what you think you should be eating! Go with your list and be realistic. And listen, it’s great to have “food waste recipes”—smoothies, energy balls, soups, chilis… if I have leftover avocado, I mash it into my kid’s boxed Kraft dinner. I call it “slime mac + cheese” and they love it.

What’s your advice for cooking Indian food if we haven’t grown up with the recipes in our family?
Start with tandoori chicken! You can buy the powder readymade, mix it with yogurt, boom, you’ve got a marinade. If you want to be fancy, you can do lemon juice too. And everyone likes it! I also roast a whole head of cauliflower in the oven, for vegetarian tandoori.

For more information about food insecurity and how to help, click here.