Food Wastage: A Universal Problem
Food wastage is also getting a makeover. Americans waste up to 40 percent of food each year. With rising awareness about the impact on the environment and wallets of consumers, food wastage is being reinvented and repurposed into by products. We can expect to see a lot more companies joining the cause in 2018 and beyond. Most recently, we have seen startup companies such as Froozer and Cerplus making headlines with their business models.
As time progresses, we will continue to see the changing demand of consumers and the emerging technological advances to go along with it. Right now, mobile is having its moment from reserving a table to meal planning (and purchasing). As both consumers and businesses focus on online platforms and availability, we can safely say the food industry is transforming before our eyes.
What Is Wasted Food?
There are two main kinds of wasted food: food loss and food waste.
Food loss is the bigger category, and incorporates any edible food that goes uneaten at any stage. In addition to food that’s uneaten in homes and stores, this includes crops left in the field, food that spoils in transportation, and all other food that doesn’t make it to a store. Some amount of food is lost at nearly every stage of food production.
Food waste is a specific piece of food loss, which the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS), defines as “food discarded by retailers due to color or appearance and plate waste by consumers.”
Food waste includes the half-eaten meal left on the plate at a restaurant, food scraps from preparing a meal at home and the sour milk a family pours down the drain.
Reasons Food Gets Wasted:
There are several macro-level drivers of the food waste problem globally. One is the difficulty of turning new consumer awareness into action. Public awareness about food waste in the world has improved significantly over the last few years. This is largely due to the efforts of organizations like WHO, FAO and their Save the Food campaign.
Another reason why food waste has become such a large problem is that it has not been effectively measured or studied. A comprehensive report on food losses in the world is needed to characterize and quantify the problem, identify opportunities and establish benchmarks against which progress can be measured. A study of this type by the Commission in proved to be an important tool for establishing reduction goals in the world and can serve as a model for policymakers.
Reducing Wasted Food at Home:
Most people don’t realize how much food they throw away every day — from uneaten leftovers to spoiled produce. About 68 percent of the wasted food we generated—or about 42.8 million tons– ended up in landfills or combustion facilities. By managing food sustainably and reducing waste, we can help businesses and consumers save money, provide a bridge in our communities for those who do not have enough to eat, and conserve resources for future generations.
Benefits of Reducing Wasted Food:
- Saves money from buying less food.
- Reduces methane emissions from landfills and lowers your carbon footprint.
- Conserve’s energy and resources, preventing pollution involved in the growing, manufacturing, transporting, and selling food (not to mention hauling the food waste and then landfilling it).
- Supports your community by providing donated untouched food that would have otherwise gone to waste to those who might not have a steady food supply.
Ways to Reduce Wasted Food:
Planning, prepping, and storing food can help your household waste less food. Below are some tips to help you do just that:
Planning Tips
By simply making a list with weekly meals in mind, you can save money and time and eat healthier food. If you buy no more than what you expect to use, you will be more likely to keep it fresh and use it all.
- Keep a running list of meals and their ingredients that your household already enjoys. That way, you can easily choose, shop for and prepare meals.
- Make your shopping list based on how many meals you’ll eat at home. Will you eat out this week? How often?
- Plan your meals for the week before you go shopping and buy only the things needed for those meals.
- Include quantities on your shopping list noting how many meals you’ll make with each item to avoid overbuying. For example: salad greens – enough for two lunches.
- Look in your refrigerator and cupboards first to avoid buying food you already have, make a list each week of what needs to be used up and plan upcoming meals around it.
- Buy only what you need and will use. Buying in bulk only saves money if you are able to use the food before it spoils.
Storage Tips
It is easy to overbuy or forget about fresh fruits and vegetables. Store fruits and vegetables for maximum freshness; they’ll taste better and last longer, helping you to eat more of them.
- Find out how to store fruits and vegetables so they stay fresh longer inside or outside your refrigerator.
- Freeze, preserve, or can surplus fruits and vegetables – especially abundant seasonal produce.
- Many fruits give off natural gases as they ripen, making other nearby produce spoil faster. Store bananas, apples, and tomatoes by themselves, and store fruits and vegetables in different bins.
- Wait to wash berries until you want to eat them to prevent mold.
- If you like to eat fruit at room temperature, but it should be stored in the refrigerator for maximum freshness, take what you’ll eat for the day out of the refrigerator in the morning.
Prepping Tips
Prepare perishable foods soon after shopping. It will be easier to whip up meals or snacks later in the week, saving time, effort, and money.
- When you get home from the store, take the time to wash, dry, chop, dice, slice, and place your fresh food items in clear storage containers for snacks and easy cooking.
- Befriend your freezer and visit it often. For example,
- Freeze food such as bread, sliced fruit, or meat that you know you won’t be able to eat in time.
- Cut your time in the kitchen by preparing and freezing meals ahead of time.
- Prepare and cook perishable items, then freeze them for use throughout the month.
- For example, bake and freeze chicken breasts or fry and freeze taco meat.
Thriftiness Tips
Be mindful of old ingredients and leftovers you need to use up. You’ll waste less and may even find a new favorite dish.
- Shop in your refrigerator first! Cook or eat what you already have at home before buying more.
- Have produce that’s past its prime? It may still be fine for cooking. Think soups, casseroles, stir fries, sauces, baked goods, pancakes or smoothies.
- If safe and healthy, use the edible parts of food that you normally do not eat. For example, stale bread can be used to make croutons, beet tops can be sautéed for a delicious side dish, and vegetable scraps can be made into stock.
- Learn the difference between “sell-by,” “use-by,” “best-by,” and expiration dates.
- Are you likely to have leftovers from any of your meals? Plan an “eat the leftovers” night each week.
- Casseroles, stir-fries, frittatas, soups, and smoothies are great ways to use leftovers too. Search for websites that provide suggestions for using leftover ingredients.
- At restaurants, order only what you can finish by asking about portion sizes and be aware of side dishes included with entrees. Take home the leftovers and keep them for or to make your next meal.
- At all-you-can-eat buffets, take only what you can eat.
Download, Read & Share:
- Food: Too Good to Waste Implementation Guide and Toolkit
- Keep Good Food from Going to Waste
- SMART STORAGE: Fruits and Vegetables
- Food: Too Good To Waste Toolkit – Presentation
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