10 Ways to Reduce Food Waste
Nearly 30-40% of the world’s food is wasted, about 1.4 billion tons of food every year. How can we waste so much food with the rise of food insecurity in our planet? It fills our landfills, which is completely unnecessary, which wastes precious resources to produce this food, and further emits more greenhouse gases into our environment further promoting climate change. It’s so crazy to even think about! And while it all can seem overwhelming or that it doesn’t matter, it does. Here are some small steps you can take to help prevent food waste in your own home.
Composting. This is one of the easiest ways to reduce food waste, just don’t throw it in the trash bin! I am not composting expert, but I have been doing it for years and it’s super easy. It feels so good to not just throw scrap products away, and I swear I save money by buying less trash bags! Here is a great link on how to compost at home by the Farmer’s Almanac. Here is a link to my favorite indoor compost bin. It’s made from bamboo and super cute; it sits on my counter and I throw almost all of my scraps in there as I cook that I can’t use to make my own vegetable broth. It takes a bit of work to adjust to this, but to be frank with you… Just don’t be lazy! This is a great step and adjustment towards reducing food waste and restoring the health of our planet.
Make veggie broth! Most of the food I buy on a whole foods predominant diet are yummy vegetables, in which I just freeze and save the scraps to make my own vegetable broth! It saves me money at the grocery store (veggie broth can be expensive!), tastes better in my opinion, and I know that I am avoiding the add gums/fillers that can come in the broths, as well as using less containers. Here is a great link to making your own veggie broth.
First in, first out. A clean and organized fridge will really reduce food waste. You need to know what you have, and then use it accordingly! When you buy mostly fresh foods, use the first in, first out rule. Whatever you made two days ago you should eat before you cook another meal or what you made last night. This keeps us from throwing food away and filling up our landfills even more, when it could have been prevented!
Freeze your herbs. Herbs are one of the things that I find hardest to use quickly, since you don’t need too much of them and they often come in large bunches. A trick that I use is to chop up my herbs and mix them with just enough water to where they fill the container you’re freezing them. I use an ice tray or a muffin tin. You can them store these herbs in the freezer for up to 4 months and toss them into soups and curries. The water melts off and the nutrients and freshness are preserved, and you saved money on a future recipe! You can also dry them! Here is a great article for how to do both.
Freeze your smoothie bowls. Oh yeah, beautiful. I’m all about this! If you make too much of a smoothie, you can freeze it just like you would freeze your dried herbs. Just pour the extras of your smoothie into ice trays or baking trays and freeze them. They stay good for a few weeks, and while the texture isn’t exaaactly the same, it’s close! Just add water or milk to the cubes and blend, or add a few into a smoothie that you’re making to bulk it up. This can be hard on your blender, so the smaller the frozen cubes, the better.
Plan out your grocery list and meals every week (and learn to love leftovers!). If you’re one of those people that says they don’t like leftovers, then you aren’t cooking great food! With the kitchen appliances that we have now, almost anything can be re-created the same. Plus, it’s a lot of work to cook every night! Instead of just opting out of cooking and ordering takeout, plan your meals that you are going to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each week. It doesn’t take much time at all. Once you have this plan, make your grocery list accordingly.
Only buy what you need! If the toilet paper COVID crisis taught me anything, it’s that we are absolutely trained to buy in anticipation of what we may need in the future. Once you make your grocery list for the week, stick to it. Don’t just buy something because it’s on sale (unless it’s a great deal and you’ll use it and it won’t go bad) or because you feel like you need it. Stick with what you know you’ll use that week. I can promise you that that item will likely be there next week, and if it’s not, you probably won’t have any trouble getting it.
Only buy things in bulk that aren’t perishable. Bulk is the besttttt! But only if you’ll use it! Things like rice, beans, and other legumes are great to buy in bulk, and you’ll use less plastic by using a large mason jar. Here is a great guide to the shelf life of most pantry items.
Canned things are great. I used to think of canned beans as gross, but honestly the cooking is already done and I can recycle the aluminum! Dr. Michael Gregor’s book How Not To Die (one of my favorites of all time) cited a study that stated the nutrition is not effected by canned versus fresh beans. If anything, just be cautious of the added fillers and sodium. Buy canned items that is just that food in the can. It sounds obvious to type out loud, but go look at your canned items…
Use the parts of foods you wouldn’t think you’d use. Again, I save EVERYTHING. Even my compost bin doesn’t see all of the things we would originally think of as “scraps”. Things like the bottom of broccoli, the leaves and bases of a cauliflower head, and even the pits of avocados can be re-used. Chop it, freeze it, add it to soups and salads, and be creative! It’s really fun to make it a challenge: get down to your roots and see if you can live like we used to, wasting nothing and taking nothing for granted.
Just try implementing ONE of these useful tools, then add on from there! Large system changes start with US and these “small” actions that we take.
We vote with our dollars, and we can only make change by being the change.
Honor your Mother Earth! She is so beautiful.
Xx, Bethany