How to Reduce Your Food Waste
I feel horrible when I throw food away. Not only is bad for the environment, it's a waste of money and it makes me feel like I'm not appreciating the fact the I've never ever in my life have gone a day withouth food. I've got more food than I need and I will most likely never starve or go to bed hungry. Here are some advice on how to reduce your food waste.
More than 4 million tonnes of food a year are being wasted, possibly 20% of all food that we buy.
- Chef, Kylie Kwong
Check the expiry date on the products you buy
Just do it.
Write down what you throw out
It sounds like a hazzle, I know. But write down what kind of food you throw out for two weeks and it will probably reveal some patterns.
Store the different foods in the best possible way
Fruits and vegetables are the types of foods that get wasted most. (souce). To prevent the fruit and veggie waste you have to make sure to buy in the correct quantity and also store it so that it will stay fresh as long as possible. Here's a nice cheat sheet for that.
Utilize your freezer
Almost everything can be stored in the freezer. Some foods just have to be cooked or prepared in some way before it goes into the freezer.
Use your leftovers in creative new dishes
If you have leftovers, see if you can use it at a pizza topping, as a base for a soup or throw it in an omelette.
Ask for a doggy bag at restaurants where it's appropriate
Here in Australia I've been offered doggy bags a lot of places when I can't finish my meal. I love that!
In Norway there's this app called Too Good to Go. It's an app where restaurants can sell their lefover food very cheap, and customers can pay through the app and come pick up the food after closing hours. I absolutely love this concept. It's a win win situation for everyone!
Do you have any advice on how to minimize food waste?
Susanne
that app, too good to go, is a very cool idea. If people have a yard and the space, chickens are awesome. They eat everything. I have read that our landfills would be drastically less if more people had chickens to consume all the waste. And, of course, we get amazing eggs from all that waste. At the moment, we don't have any as we are trying to find land to build. But we will again have them soon, I hope.
I agree. My family used to have chickens in our backyard. I loved it.
Are you looking for land in Patagonia?
Yes, my parents are always looking. The right piece has not opened yet, I guess.
Great post. Didn't know about the app in Norway. That's excellent. I wish the rest of the world would adopt it.
I used to work in a supermarket, and it would kill me to throw the food away at the end of the day. Bags filled with the stuff. And to add insult to injury, we were required to pour blue dye into the bags in order to deter homeless people from eating the food. They said it was a legal thing, but I say it was just an evil thing.
Thank you. I think the app can be used in several countries already :)
Wow, that is sad.. I also think that sounds a bit evil. I used to work in a restaurant when I was 16. They used to drive the leftover food to a homeless shelter in the end of every day. <3
Great advice and awesome post ! Thanks so much for sharing ! Upped steem on !👍😉
Awesome advice. I started making good use of my freezer these past few months because fruits and veggies in my house would go bad. I started freezing them and using them in smoothies that I made so that I wouldn't be wasting any of it!
We give our leftovers to city animals (bird, dog & cats).
Composting is also great to reduce the waste! Un-proper food can still be useful for plants, vegetables, etc.
So true! That's a very good advice.