Food waste is a troubling issue in the U.S. Perfectly good food is squandered away each day, resulting in a waste epidemic. According to the National Resource Defense Council, up to 40% of the food in the U.S. is wasted. However, this isn’t because the food isn’t needed; one in eight Americans has a hard time getting enough food for their family. Instead, this is a moral and environmental issue—we are draining our planet’s resources by wasting food.
Additionally, we are wasting food that could go to hungry Americans who need it. This creates a need to reduce food waste both institutionally and in everyday homes. Not only does preserving food help to fix the problem, but it also saves money for you and your family.
So how can you reduce your food waste at home? Here are some tips you can use to be more efficient with your food.
Create weekly meal plans.
Before you go to the grocery store or farmers market, create a meal schedule. This will help you be strategic about what you buy and use. If you go shopping without a meal plan, it’s easy to buy more food then you’ll actually end up using that week. It’s also easy to buy a lot of ingredients that won’t necessarily work well together in a meal. As a result, this leads to only part of your food being used, and the rest being thrown out.
Not only does this waste your money, but it also contributes to the larger food waste problem. To negate this, each week estimate how many meals you’re going to eat at home and how many people you’ll be serving. From there, plan menus and ingredients that will feed everyone and reuse ingredients throughout the week. For example, plan to make potato soup for lunch one day and then serve roast potatoes with dinner the next night. This strategy helps you ensure that you can use everything you buy. If you don’t use all the products in one meal, you can repurpose it for the next!
Freeze overripe produce.
It can be easy to leave produce out for too long, as it often expires within just a few days. However, you can rescue produce that is about to go bad by freezing it. If you think your fruits or veggies are about to expire before you can use them, pop them into the freezer! Fruit can later be used for smoothies, jams, and pies, while veggies can be put into casseroles or soups.
Explore pickling and canning.
Pickling and canning are fun ways to rescue food that’s about to go bad. While it can take a while to pick up these skills, they are a lot of fun and will boost your reputation as a cook. Canning can help you preserve a range of things for later use, while pickling is especially good for produce. Furthermore, pickling isn’t limited to just cucumbers, you can also pickle anything from onions to carrots to jicama.
Make sure your kitchen is food-preservation friendly.
The air and temperature in your kitchen affect how quickly food goes bad. If your kitchen is too humid, your product will become soggy and will go bad faster. As mold thrives in humid environments, it poses an additional threat to your food. However, low humidity can also be an issue, causing produce to wilt faster. To prevent this from happening, try to keep your kitchen at a happy, balanced humidity.
Additionally, pay attention to temperature and air quality within your home. A hot kitchen or warm refrigerator will lead to products spoiling more quickly, while poor air quality will damage your produce. Ensure that you have good air filters installed in your house to combat this problem.
Compost.
If your food does end up going bad, you can still make a positive impact by composting your food waste. Not only does this reduce the amount of trash going into landfills, but is a much better environmental alternative than the trash. According to the EPA, a quarter of the waste in the U.S., largely food scraps, could be composted.
To start, food compost can easily be collected and stored in a container in your kitchen. This can then be used in your garden or potted plants, as compost helps plants flourish. If this is not a viable option, there are compost pick up services that go along with your trash and recycling. Additionally, compost can be donated to local farms, school gardens, community gardens, or to people for their personal use.
By using these tips, you can cut back on the amount of food you waste. This is beneficial for both you and your family. By preserving your food, you are less likely to spend as much, and won’t have to visit the grocery store as often. Additionally, you help to solve the larger problem of food waste in the U.S.
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Guest Author Bio
Amy Williams
Amy Williams is a free-lance journalist based in Southern California and mother of two. As a parent, she enjoys spreading the word on positive parenting techniques in the digital age and raising awareness on issues like cyberbullying and online safety.
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