View Full Version : Americans through out 40% of their food!
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-food-waste-nrdc-20120821,0,7810321.story
Very interesting short article about the amount of food we waste and cost of that waste.
I know we throw out a lot of food. Bananas, veggies, leftovers, stale breads, out of date & freezer burnt
items etc.
I have been trying to at least compost more of our food - so that makes me feel a little less guilty...
Do you find yourself throwing out a lot of food? What have you done to curb the waste?
I don't actually throw out food all that often. I do a lot of menu planning and make my own freezer meals for dh to take to work (made for left over portions from dinner). I also don't over purchase free food items and make sure to only get what we can eat in a week.
We are careful not to put ourselves in this situation. Both my husband and I are super-sensitive to waste, and so we do things like artist does. If there are leftovers that aren't going to work the next morning, it takes about 1 minute to pop them into a tupperware and into the freezer. Overdone veggies get put in a tub in the freezer too, for making stock. We have a pretty good idea of how many bananas we eat in a week, and if we overestimate, they can get peeled and put into the freezer too, for making smoothies. Tons of small, not-time-consuming actions have become second nature, mostly because we both feel so bad about wasting food.
I guess we've just developed some strategies for avoiding guilt! :)
But we rarely throw out food, any more than we'd leave dollar bills lying around the lawn.
treehugger
8-22-12, 6:44pm
I use similar strategies: we make sure to eat our leftovers (we plan for leftovers because neither of us want to cook every day), and freeze a lot of things before they have a chance to go bad in the fridge. Then I plan meals to use up the frozen items or make soup or stock with odds and ends.
Kara
Do you find yourself throwing out a lot of food? What have you done to curb the waste?
We throw out almost nothing, we don't overbuy, we make a point out of doing Iron-Chef-style challenge menus from whatever is in the refrigerator that is looking elderly, and we have goats, chickens, and guinea pigs that are happy to help out.
Sure, I throw out a lot of garden produce (compost it actually) but it's rare that I throw out food items that have been purchased from a store. Still, it happens.
But the huge proliferation of garden produce is not something I can keep up with nor will I be made to feel quilty. We offer a fair amount to people but there is a limit as to how much squash, zucchinni,okra, pumpkin, etc that can be placed with others, and then there's the stuff that I actually have to PICK to get it distributed. We have a couple of freinds who like to come "shopping" in our garden and that's welcome.
As I think about it, it's the tonage of garden prodcue around here that hides old purchased food and casues me to overlook htat latter. Yeah, I'll blame it on the garden produce, that's the ticket.
My strategy has been to live within easy walking distance to groceries :)
Currently I live across the street from a very nice neighborhood grocery about the size of a big Trader Joe's. I'll usually walk through it at least 6 days a week to see what's fresh, seasonal & a good price. Fruits & vegets sold in stores here are ripe and ready to cook/eat as soon as they are purchased!!! That has made the biggest difference in reducing my food waste.
My year in SoCal was living w/in 1 block of the Farmer's Market, 2 blocks from Trader Joe's & a Ralph's, and 4 blocks from Whole Foods. This was heaven!!
While I do have a stash of beans, quinoa, etc for when the zombie apocalypse happens I don't need to have a huge fridge/freezer for the other items or even much cupboard space. Not much is available anyway in my small Japanese apartment :P
ApatheticNoMore
8-22-12, 7:31pm
Some food gets wasted, I forget I dont' actually eat that much :). My strategy is to use the freezer (for meat, cut up for fruits, for citrus juice, for homemade sauces, for cheese) but now one apartment size refrigerator freezer is getting stuffed the the point of ridiculous. I hadn't thought of freezing stock veggies though, now maybe I will (more freezer madness ....).
domestic goddess
8-22-12, 7:56pm
We're doing better about not throwing out so much food. Times have been a bit tight here, so we're not just running to the store when the urge hits us. I have always planned on having left-overs. I love leftovers; that's another meal I didn't have to cook from scratch. The hard thing, sometimes, is catching the kids before they toss a half-eaten apple or other piece of fruit or veggie. If bananas get over-ripe, I make banana bread out of them, those partially eaten apples can be finished later, or cooked. If left to their own devices, my dd and her family would throw out a lot of food, but I snatch it off the table and save it. Sometimes I'm the one who finishes it, because they all think they don't like left-overs. Oh, well, they all think they don't like mushrooms, but I use them all the time and they never know it!
I saw that stat. We default to eating what we have and what is leftover, only cooking or shopping when there is literally nothing left for a meal. It's easy to do this now that the kids are out of the house. The only thing we sometimes throw out is moldy bread when we forget to freeze half the loaf. Good bread molds quickly ...
Blackdog Lin
8-22-12, 8:53pm
Well, as a member of these Simple Living forums, of course we're pretty good about not wasting food. Kind of a simple living imperative.
But we're not as good at it as I would wish. In our house it seems to be tied to my work schedule: less hours at work means more thoughtfulness with using up and preserving leftovers and fresh produce. More hours working = I get too tired and forget to think about what needs recycled and what's in the produce drawer and what needs put up in the freezer. Lately my work schedule has made me a slacker in the food-wastage department.
Last week I just plumb forgot I bought fresh lettuce - and a cucumber - to make a big green salad to use up some of our garden tomatoes. I was just busy and running around with errands and working and I slacked off and just forgot. I hate it when it happens.....but happen it does. The chickens got to enjoy the brown lettuce. The moldy cuke went to pasture heaven.
I think I shall retire from the working world (6 weeks to go, yay!); and then I will get back to my frugal thoughtful use-it-all-up ideal ways.
Not much goes to waste here. As a single person vegetables are probably the biggest challenge to keep fresh, but it still doesn't amount to much.
I saw the same figure on the evening news. I was wondering if restaurants, grocery stores, and industrial cafeterias account for a lot of that. I've worked in restaurants and the amount of food tossed from partially eaten meals, outdated produce, and other waste is amazing.
I saw that stat. We default to eating what we have and what is leftover, only cooking or shopping when there is literally nothing left for a meal. It's easy to do this now that the kids are out of the house. The only thing we sometimes throw out is moldy bread when we forget to freeze half the loaf. Good bread molds quickly ...
Oh my goodness does it! I was amazed when I made my own bread and it molded within a couple of days. The ww bread in a bag lasts for a couple of weeks! makes you wonder!
Cucumbers seem to be the thing I forget about - found another one at the back of the veggie bin yesterday. And I really wanted to make a cucumber onion salad so I'll have to buy another one today. And I buy the more expensive english kind.
I go thru the fridge most every day looking for treats for the chickens so most stuff doesn't get wasted as far as 'end of the line use' but since I bought most of that stuff for people use then maybe I should consider how much I'm buying for people and how much ends up with the chickens.
I keep bread in the fridge all the time. Never could understand the value of a 'bread box' because bread in a small dark enclosure molds very quickly.
We do many of the things others have described. I think the biggest changes we've made recently are closer attention to menu planning and shopping at the farmer's market only every other week. It's always such a temptation to buy all that wonderful produce, but we cannot eat it as fast as we can buy it.
Other things we do:
- I don't usually buy chicken or turkey parts; I cut up a whole bird. However, that almost always leaves gizzards and backs, and if the recipe calls for deboned chicken, there often are wings and what's left of the bones. All these "leftovers" go into containers. When I have to move the containers to find anything in the freezer, I know it's time to make chicken (turkey) soup. That's a few frugal meals because I make a big stock pot of it, add whatever vegetables are in the house which need to go, and freeze the leftovers once we can't look at chicken soup anymore. :)
- Some foods are portioned immediately and frozen. If I have to open a can of tomato paste, the rest of it is subdivided into tablespoon portions and put in a freezer container for use next time I need a tablespoon of tomato paste. Ditto for loaves of bread, garlic (you can freeze cloves whole), and other items (like coconut milk). I try to save in known quantities (8 ounces, 1/2 cup, etc.) and mark that quantity on the container.
- Stale crackers hit the freezer and later get whirled in the blender or food processor to make crumb coating for chicken, pork chops, fish, etc.
- I've discarded recipes which call for a small portion of a food we don't normally use, like a BBQ glaze that calls for orange juice. We don't drink it and even the little "kiddie" container of it contains far more than we'd use. And there are way too many other recipes out there to try that one and waste the food.
I think that restaurants must be factored into this number - because while many households throw out food, I suspect that it is nothing compared to what gets thrown away due to massive portions eating out.
We throw away hardly any food. Leftovers are a gift to the busy person, and we eat them regularly. If we have enough from previous meals, I don't cook more food until they are gone. When a meal makes too much for 2 meals, I freeze the rest. I prepare fresh produce for ready eating 2-3 times/week, and that results in a lot less waste of vegetables. Also, I have a really flexible idea of what constitutes breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We don't often eat "breakfast for dinner" as some do, but we very regularly eat "dinner for breakfast -" which is generally healthier than traditional American breakfast foods.
decemberlov
8-23-12, 10:08am
I think that restaurants must be factored into this number - because while many households throw out food, I suspect that it is nothing compared to what gets thrown away due to massive portions eating out.
We throw away hardly any food. Leftovers are a gift to the busy person, and we eat them regularly. If we have enough from previous meals, I don't cook more food until they are gone. When a meal makes too much for 2 meals, I freeze the rest. I prepare fresh produce for ready eating 2-3 times/week, and that results in a lot less waste of vegetables. Also, I have a really flexible idea of what constitutes breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We don't often eat "breakfast for dinner" as some do, but we very regularly eat "dinner for breakfast -" which is generally healthier than traditional American breakfast foods.
We stopped dining out as much as we use to. We maybe go once a month now but my favorite restaurant we visit will give you a 1/2 portion of anything on their menu for 1/2 price. We always choose this option! Restaurant portions are huge!!
I'm getting much better lately with not wasting so much food. I've found some plastic containers at the $1 store that I've used to organize food in the fridge (one for cut up veggies for snacks, one for dairy: cheeses & sour cream etc.) so nothing gets pushed to the back and forgotten about. Also made a designated spot in the fridge for leftovers. I'm also really bad at judging how much pasta to make and always end up with leftover that I freeze, just drop in boiling water for seconds and it's like fresh pasta! The kids always leave little bits of cereal at the bottom of the box and then avoid it like the plague lol we found out that chex made a great "bread crumb" for our eggplants from the garden.
I'll definitely be visiting this thread often for some tips! Some of you seem like masters at not wasting food!
I tend to plan our meals around what needs to be used up quickly. I make vegetable stock out of all the little pieces of produce that aren't quite pristine. The rest goes in the compost pile so doesn't really go to waste.
DH is in the food business and will vouch for the amount of food thrown out by groceries. They have to keep that produce looking good so there is daily loss. Also all the out of date items are tossed. We used to waste a lot of food but these days but are now very conscious of using it all up.
decemberlov
8-23-12, 10:29am
This thread reminded me of the documentary Dive. I really enjoyed it! You can stream it off netflix. Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HlFP-PMW6E
awakenedsoul
8-23-12, 3:07pm
I pretty much have a system that works for me. Like Rosemary, I eat leftover dinner for breakfast quite often. This a.m. I had fresh potatoes from the garden with grass fed beef in country gravy. I make a casserole or roast, and eat it the rest of the week. Most of the time, I can pick my produce from the garden. If I buy organic fruit in bulk, I stew it and store it in the refigerator, in canning jars. I also use my freezer for saving the chicken carcass, extra broth, etc. It's a constant discipline. I have glass containers and pyrex that help keep things fresh. When I make biscuits, I store the dough in the refrigerator. I bake a few at a time in the toaster oven. If the milk goes off, I use it for buttermilk biscuits. I also dry my garden herbs and store my pumpkins for months on my porch. The chickens love leftovers, and the compost pile helps, too. Most of my neighbors are happy to receive my extra home grown zucchini, tomatoes, and orchard fruit.
Our community garden just developed an interesting relationship with the local food bank, as part of the "waste not" scheme.
So our extra produce goes to the food bank, usually in the big harvest times of August and September. One of the other donors is a big local grocery store, but they donate year-round, anything that's about to be unsaleable.
Oftentimes, the food bank can't consume the volume of the big store's produce quickly enough before it goes bad. So they've started giving it to us, and we turn it all into rich compost, which we eventually put on the gardens, which.....grows more food for the food bank. Handy.
We also use discarded coffee grounds from the local coffee shops, horse manure from people who don't have a good place to put it, spoiled hay, and of course the usual ingredients of a compost pile. It closes a lot of loops to do things that way.
awakenedsoul
8-23-12, 6:23pm
That's great! I have a neighbor who lets me have as much of her horse manure as I want. She gives me the wood shavings, too. I've got a huge compost pile, and it feeds the vegetable garden and orchard year round. I save my leaves in the fall and put them around my fruit trees in the backyard. The rest are composted.
This thread motivated me to clean out my refrigerator. I was sad to see I had forgotten to finish up the macaroni and cheese I made a couple of weeks ago. I used raw cheese and raw milk....what a waste! I need to keep the leftovers on the top shelf so I don't forget about them. Otherwise, I composted an eggplant and some beets. Everything else was in good shape. I need to get back to cleaning my fridge once a week. Stewed the rhubarb I grew and had stored in the fruit bin. Food storage takes a lot of time, but it's worth it.
I just gave my compost pile an english cucumber that I'd bought and forgotten completely about. It had turned into a baggie full of jelly. Eeew. Well, the earthworms will love it. Next time I'll not try to shove so much onto the shelves in the fridge that things fall behind.
awakenedsoul
8-23-12, 9:43pm
I just ordered a new veggie bin drawer for my 15 year old Kenmore fridge. I ordered the piece of plastic that goes above the drawers, too. Mine was cracked. The parts will cost $173.00! I was shocked. The whole refrigerator was only $400.00. But, it's been perfect...no problems for all this time. Since I use it every day, it will be nice to have those things working properly.
I dream about getting a new refrigerator. I truly believe the design of our current 12 year old model hinders being able to see what is in there. I wonder if a bottom freezer model would be better? At least then I wouldn't have to squat to see what's on the bottom shelf of the fridge or in the drawers.
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