How are you all doing with food waste in your home? There’s a good chance food waste isn’t an issue for a lot of you. Maybe you’ve always been conscientious about it or the budget is really tight and food isn’t wasted because there just isn’t a lot or enough of it. But I also am pretty sure that for many Americans, food waste is an issue. It used to be for us but with a few changes, we were able to cut down on a lot of our waste.
Clear containers– when you’re putting food into your fridge, putting them in clear containers is much more effective than a cottage cheese container you washed and are reusing. It’s important to know what is in your fridge so you can see what needs to get eaten.
Regularly clean out your refrigerator- Your fridge should look like the picture above on a weekly basis. Again, it goes back to being able to see and know what food you have at all times so you can eat accordingly.
Eat your leftovers- this seems easy but you’d be surprised what doesn’t get eaten. Take them for lunch or have a dinner each week devoted to eating them. Our leftover night is Thursdays.
Meal plan- I know this one can be tedious but knowing what you will make each week helps you plan what to buy, which leads me to…
Don’t overbuy- stop buying so much food. Just buy what you need.
Freeze food that is about to go bad- if you can’t get it eaten in time, throw it in the freezer. We often do this for soups and meat that have been sitting in the fridge for a few days. Freezing soup in jars is nice to then throw in the fridge on Sunday and you have lunch to take on Tuesday. And freezing leftover shredded meat is great to transfer to the fridge on Thursday and Friday becomes taco night.
Try to use the whole vegetable- Do a little research to see which parts of veggies you are throwing away that can actually be eaten. Sautéed beet greens are some of my favorite treats and mashed potatoes should always be made with skins on. For the love, please stop peeling your potatoes before you mash them! You’re losing all the good flavor.
If possible, dinner prep the night before- are you finding that you have to throw out veggies that have gone bad because you didn’t want to prepare them for dinner after you get home from a long day at work? If you can, the night before, after the kitchen has been cleaned and the chaos of the day has been put to rest, grab your veggies, a chef’s knife, and a cutting board and get it all prepped for the next night’s dinner. Chopping the broccoli or brussel sprouts won’t be so overwhelming when you’re doing it in the clean, quiet kitchen on the night before, while perhaps listening to The Sporkful podcast?
Feed food scraps to your animals- be smart about this one. If your dogs are overweight, this is not a good idea and obviously do some homework to see which foods are harmful to pets. But our dog and chickens often get food scraps and it’s a win-win-win for them, us, and the planet.
Compost- composting releases greenhouse gases so you want this to be a last resort but it’s still better than food waste getting thrown in the landfill. The positives of composting far outweigh the negatives.
These are a few specific changes our family made and it has had a big impact on our food waste. Part 2 will be about children and food waste because well, they waste a lot of food.