The Big Picture: Curbing Food Waste
By: Jen Mueller,
DailySpark Blogger
8/15/2008 11:41 AM
: 83 comments
I'm sure we're all guilty of it from time to time: buying items at the supermarket that we never end up using and eventually end up in the trash. I know I'm to blame. Usually I have the best intentions, thinking I'll use something as an ingredient in a recipe I never end up making, or buy a snack that looks good at the time but I never end up eating. Whenever I do go through my periodic "purge" of the refrigerator and cabinets, I always feel guilt over the foods I end up throwing away.
U.S. research estimates that at least 14% of the foods we purchase end up in the garbage (about 96 BILLION pounds of food a year). I think it's safe to say that in many other countries, that number is a LOT lower. I remember a friend telling me about a mission trip she took to Mexico. She was helping prepare meals in a very poor community, and she couldn't believe how little they threw away. They used every part of every piece of food they possibly could, throwing away almost nothing. In the U.S., food waste makes up about 12% of landfill material. As organic materials like vegetables and grains decompose in landfills, they release the greenhouse gas methane into the environment.
So what are some of the reasons we throw away so much? One is that we tend to buy more food than we need to, especially when we shop without a grocery list or become tempted by sales and "buy one get one free" specials. I know that the majority of my food waste comes when I start to deviate from the list I've brought with me. So maybe before you start grabbing items, think twice about whether or not you're going to be able to use it before it spoils, and whether or not you really need it. You'll reduce waste and save money at the same time. Making a list before you head to the store really helps with that. (Find out how to prolong the life of your produce!)
If you constantly find yourself with leftovers that you never end up eating, you have a few options.
1. Make less food. Scale back your recipe to serve two instead of 10--that way you'll have less to worry about finishing later.
2. Freeze the leftovers for later use, or plan to use them in another dish this week. For example, you could use your leftover chicken in a soup or on top of a salad.
Reducing food waste is better for the environment and your wallet, so think before you shop! Do you feel like you keep food waste to a minimum in your household? If you're not from the U.S., are things different in your country?
U.S. research estimates that at least 14% of the foods we purchase end up in the garbage (about 96 BILLION pounds of food a year). I think it's safe to say that in many other countries, that number is a LOT lower. I remember a friend telling me about a mission trip she took to Mexico. She was helping prepare meals in a very poor community, and she couldn't believe how little they threw away. They used every part of every piece of food they possibly could, throwing away almost nothing. In the U.S., food waste makes up about 12% of landfill material. As organic materials like vegetables and grains decompose in landfills, they release the greenhouse gas methane into the environment.
So what are some of the reasons we throw away so much? One is that we tend to buy more food than we need to, especially when we shop without a grocery list or become tempted by sales and "buy one get one free" specials. I know that the majority of my food waste comes when I start to deviate from the list I've brought with me. So maybe before you start grabbing items, think twice about whether or not you're going to be able to use it before it spoils, and whether or not you really need it. You'll reduce waste and save money at the same time. Making a list before you head to the store really helps with that. (Find out how to prolong the life of your produce!)
If you constantly find yourself with leftovers that you never end up eating, you have a few options.
1. Make less food. Scale back your recipe to serve two instead of 10--that way you'll have less to worry about finishing later.
2. Freeze the leftovers for later use, or plan to use them in another dish this week. For example, you could use your leftover chicken in a soup or on top of a salad.
Reducing food waste is better for the environment and your wallet, so think before you shop! Do you feel like you keep food waste to a minimum in your household? If you're not from the U.S., are things different in your country?
 You will earn 3 SparkPoints |
NEXT ENTRY > Want to Eat Less Meat? Here's How.
Comments
I am in college, so I try to make my every food dollar count. It drives me crazy when something goes bad. - 3/22/2010 9:20:10 AM
sometimes when i watch a foreign movie and i see how food is wasted eg, a cafeteria fight or smashing a pie into someones face or a car running over a food vendors cart; i just cringe. i cant help it. in my mind I'm like "see food wasting chei chineke!" - 3/12/2010 3:30:13 PM
Since the switch we plan our meals 2 weeks in advance and only buy whats on the list.
Also, since we now mainly eat fresh fruit and vegetables we buy on a weekly basis so its rare that we have too much food that ends up going off.
- 2/28/2010 1:09:08 AM
Haha, we keep bread, bagels, anything of the grain variety in the freezer for the most part so it doesn't spoil. We also try not to overbuy while at the grocery store, and will only do a big fresh produce run every couple of weeks. I hate throwing out food and hope to be able to start composting once we move into a real house. - 10/24/2009 2:31:03 PM
~Ang - 8/3/2009 7:33:27 AM
We rarely waste food.
I go through my shelf-stable foods pretty often (canned beans, soups, grains, etc.) and if I see something that I know I'm not going to use, I donate it, rather than letting it sit there until it expires.
That said- IF, for some reason, there are leftovers and they won't get into a refrigerator before they go bad (from a trip to a restaurant far from home, or the rare BBQ when I'm not anywhere near a fridge and the cooler's out of ice, etc.), I will happily throw them away if the only other option is overeating.
I used to eat all the leftovers in situations like that (or at least TRY to eat them all, no matter how full I already was), because of my aversion to wasting foods. Eventually I realised that filling my body with foods I don't want or need just because they're on the way to the trash anyway doesn't help anyone.
Overeating *IS* wasting food. - 7/9/2009 11:50:28 AM
But we usually eat our leftovers so I don't feel wasteful. - 6/6/2009 10:16:46 PM
I do all the grocery shopping in our household and I only need to plan for my boyfriend and myself. I've been trying to cook as healthy as possible and I often cook in batches so we can have leftovers. The problem with that is my boyfriend barely ever eats leftovers. If he knows we might have a leftover night, he will most likely opt out for a pizza ot something of that sort. Sometimes I end up eating leftovers for a whole week and what other fresh ingredients I bought planning for meals ahead end up being unused. However, I always try to use whatever we have even if it looks to be in a bad shape.
I was born in Ukraine and lived there up until I was 16. We never had much money and I still remember having only a can of fruit jam in the fridge for months at a time. My mother would often buy something just for the day because that's all we had money for, so we never ever wasted anything. I think that if a person or people in the household are all on the same page about reducing waste and eating healthy it's really not that difficult to get on the right path. We do have to be commited though. - 6/2/2009 11:26:47 AM
Making stocks from vegetable trimmings is one way to use what would otherwise be wasted. Same thing applies for meat "trimmings" (other than fat, for me) - bones make very good and healthy stock. Save those little wing tips from your chickens - just keep them in a freezer bag and add until you have enough to boil into a stock. Veggies - same thing. Shrimp shells make great seafood stock.
I understand that in other countries people are MUCH better about using every portion of every bit of food they have. Perhaps America should be called "Land of the Waste" (or waist?). - 5/30/2009 9:48:14 AM
I recycle, donate to the church, economy centers, neighbors, if I prepare something and get ill and am unable to eat it.
I can honestly say that I have not wasted over $5 worth of food in the past 25 years!! I am a coupon queen, use a shopping list, only buy what I can afford, eat in the alloted shelf life, and never go shopping hungry. I batch cook using a crock pot as much as possible to save energy, bake apples or pears that get wrinkled, and grow some of my own fruits,, will get more this year,,it is just the responsible thing to do and Native Americans have been doing it since the beginning, so it should not be that hard. THe $ I save goes toward home renovations, healthier foods that cost more than the junk I USED to eat, and I donate some to our church or related charities. - 3/15/2009 6:11:04 AM
Now that I'm more educated about health and nutrition I buy organic, healthy foods for a week at a time. I make my own grocery list and by the end of the week everything is usually gone.
My biggest issue is getting enough fruit. I'm a big fruit eater and have to plan carefully so that I don't buy too much fruit but also so that I can have my weeks worth.
I'm proud to say I barely waste anything anymore and I also want to start composting. - 9/27/2008 6:41:22 PM
Thanks for sharing this article! - 9/23/2008 4:18:44 PM
Please Log In To Leave A Comment: Log in now ›