How to Stop Wasting So Much Food

Member

By Terria Fleming
User-Submitted Article

Article Rating: (13 Ratings)

wasted food

The most expensive food you can buy is the food that goes to waste. Food experts estimate that between 1/3 to 1/2 of all the food purchased in the USA, in homes, schools, restaurants, and many other places, is wasted. To put it another way, if you average $600.00 a month for groceries, between $200.00 to $300.00 dollars worth of that food is currently being wasted. Throwing away that much food is costing us all big bucks each and every month. Can we afford to waste this much food? How can we stop the tremendous amount of food waste that happens every single day, all across the country? Here are some ideas for cutting way down on your food waste.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

desire to stop wasting so much food
a plan

Step 1

food should not be wasted

When buying produce, purchase only what you can use right away, or what you can freeze, or can, for later use.

Share excess or unwanted food with food banks, friends, family, or neighbors.

Put less food on your plate, and then you can always take seconds if you want more. Most Americans eat too much anyway.

Use leftovers in next days lunch, or freeze for other meals.

Store food properly so it isn't wasted and lost through improper storage or handling.

Treat food with respect. Everything you eat passed through many hands before it reached your table.

Help feed the hungry in your town, or worldwide.
Step 2

composting food waste

Composting food waste from your kitchen is coming back in style. I remember how everyone did this during my childhood, and now composting is back in fashion. For good reason. Americans waste around 475 pounds of food, each, every single year. A lot of that wasted food could be composted and used on your garden.

Check out a book on composting from your library, for free, or go online and research composting if you don't know how to compost.
Step 3

love food, hate waste

Food waste is big news right now with hundreds of movements, here and around the world, dedicated to stopping or reducing food waste. When you think about the consequences of all the food we waste, the practice of wasting any food at all doesn't seem like such an innocent little habit anymore. So don't waste. Use it all up somehow.

An estimated 30 million people in the USA are going hungry on a regular basis, many of them children.

Food waste clogs our landfills, and harms the environment through the methan gas it produces as it decomposes. And it needn't be this way. Nearly 100% of that food waste is preventable, so do your oart and don't waste any of the food you buy.

Comments

dsarokin said

Flag This Comment

on 8/15/2008 As they used to say back in my grandma's day: eat what you can, and can what you can't. This is a good article on an important topic...thanks for the post.

LilacGirl said

on 8/13/2008 Good idea Susang6, I usually take my leftovers for my next days lunch though.

Susang6 said

on 8/13/2008 I don't do left overs, so if I make a big pot of soup, I always share with my neighbors...many are older. It's best to try to help someone each and every day. I enjoyed reading your article, thank you!