Ways to Reduce Your Food Waste & Why it Matters

As long as humans consume food, they will also produce waste. However, the amount of waste that we currently generate is extremely alarming...

In the United States alone, over 70 billion pounds of edible food are wasted every year. To break it down, the average person wastes about 30 pounds of food every month. This equals one-third of the total food produced and adds up to roughly 30 billion dollars worth of food wasted...every. single. year.

Read that again. Notice that this is just edible food. 70 billion pounds doesn't even cover the food that spoiled on the shelf of a grocery store, or the food that didn't even make it off the farm because of crop disease or pests. How is it possible that people all over the world are going hungry and meanwhile, the amount of food waste produced globally is more than enough to feed the starving population? With the population expected to reach over nine billion people by 2050, our current consumption and wasteful practices are outright unsustainable. The good news is...small changes in your daily food consumption habits can make a big difference!

So what is food waste?

Food waste is defined as any uneaten food or food preparation residue that is generated by a residence or commercial establishment. This essentially means that food waste can occur inside the home, or along points of the food supply chain such as restaurants, production facilities, or farms. Food waste comes in many forms, and it's important to know how you can reduce your own personal food waste since we aren't always able to control what happens before the food reaches our tables.

Why is food waste a problem?

Aside from the food itself, consider all of the resources it takes to actually grow the food. Water, land, labor, and fertilizer to name a few. Here are some numbers:

• 21% of our freshwater supply is wasted which is the equivalent of  $172 billion in wasted water

• 19% of our fertilizers are wasted

• 18% of our cropland (the size of 3/4 the state of California) is wasted

• 21% of our landfill volume is filled with organic matter (food waste) resulting in 16% of all U.S methane emissions

• Food that decomposes in a landfill produces methane, which is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to warming the planet

• $220 billion is spent annually on growing, transporting, and processing food → 1/3 of which gets wasted

• If food waste were a country, it would be the 3rd largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions behind the USA & China

All this waste adds up to one mighty large footprint...

By reducing our food loss by just 15%, we could feed more than 25 million Americans every year... at a time when 1 in 6 Americans lack a secure supply of food to their tables.

How can I reduce the amount of food I waste?

1. Shop smart. Think wholesale stores like Costco & Sams Club are helping you save on things like fresh produce? Think again! Most households don't go through 4 pounds of spinach before it goes bad. Try making more frequent trips to the store to buy exactly what you need rather than doing one big trip. Before you make another trip to the store, use up what you already have, or plan to purchase things that will help you use items that are already in your fridge/pantry.

2. Show the "ugly" produce some love. Your fruits and veggies don't have to look perfect. Farmers often have a hard time selling food that doesn't meet the physical standards of retail grocery stores. Examples include scarred almonds, off sized eggs, and bumpy bell peppers that simply "don't look good". Misfit Market and Imperfect Foods are two companies that have started a movement to help "ugly" produce get eaten. They offer subscription boxes delivered straight to your door and you can customize them for your current food needs. Below are some examples of things you might find in your subscription box that would've otherwise been thrown out ↓

3. Know the correct way to store food. Here are some tips to fix common mistakes that are made when storing food:

• After a grocery shopping trip, take the older food out, and put the new food toward the back. That way, you see the older food first and remember to eat it before it goes bad.

• Store your onions and potatoes away from each other. Both should be stored in a cool, dark, dry place, but never in the same produce bag.

• Leafy greens will become slimy when stored in plastic bags. Instead, pat them dry, and store wrap them lightly in paper towels. Same goes for herbs...they prefer to be stored in a jar of water, covered by a paper towel or produce bag.

• Melons, tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, citrus fruits, and onions spoil faster in the fridge. Keep them out on the counter.

• Bananas, avocados, pears, and peaches shouldn't be stored in the fridge either...unless they're about to become overripe. Banana peels will turn black in the fridge, but the inside will actually stay edible!

• Store bread in the freezer, not the fridge. It will stale in the fridge, but the freezer will keep it fresh, allowing you to thaw it when it's ready to be used.

4. Understand what expiration dates really mean. People tend to see the date and assume the food is bad if the date has passed, but this isn't always the case.

• "Sell by": This is the date at which the food item reaches its peak freshness, and the store will pull it off the shelves if it's not sold by then. It's still safe to eat for a few more days, so go ahead and buy it, especially if you plan to eat it right away!

• "Best by": After the best by date, the food item might lose some of its quality as far as taste goes, but it's still safe to eat for a few days.

• "Use by": This is the most accurate term for knowing when something is truly spoiled, but even then, it's usually still safe to eat for a few days.

In conclusion, expiration dates really don't tell you exactly when the food will spoil. Most of the time, you can use your sense of smell and your best judgment (look for mold or discoloration).

5. Organize and de-clutter your fridge often. Keeping your fridge neat & tidy will help you know exactly what's in there, and what needs to get eaten before it goes bad. This will prevent you from finding month-old salsa in the back of the fridge after you just bought a brand new jar.

6. Use every edible part. While most people don't eat the stems of their leafy greens, they are still edible and packed with lots of good vitamins & nutrients. Toss them into your smoothie instead of into the trash!

7. Use the inedible parts too! Make your own chicken broth using the bones, or vegetable broth from the un-used parts. Another way to use inedible food parts is to put lemon/lime and other fruit peels in your water!

8. Be mindful of portions. Ignorance is bliss, and for most of the people reading this blog post, you probably walk into the grocery store accustomed to the abundance of food. Because we see it every day, we don't have a sense of feeling like our food supply is ever going to run out. Take into consideration how much you'll actually eat when you're shopping or ordering food.

9. Speaking of leftovers...save & eat them! Don't want to eat the same thing every night for dinner for a week straight? Leftovers can always be frozen and eaten at a later date.

10. Compost!!! Check to see if your city has a composting service that you can sign up for. If they don't, you can also compost your food waste yourself at home (post coming soon on how to do this!!) and dispose of it in a designated area ↓

• Your yard or garden as a fertilizer

• Your city's compost facility (if they have one)

• Check with a local organic farm in your county...you can likely find one to contact online, or ask vendors at your local farmer's market.

• Ask your local university's agricultural extension program where you could take your compost.