How To Not Waste Food

Back in 2018, I wrote about ways to not waste food.  Today I’m updating the information.

I have always believed that throwing away food is a sin. I know that is a “religious” word, but it seems appropriate to me. It’s an action against our neighbors, community, and world as we waste an essential that everyone needs. I really can’t accept the fact that someone is hungry while I pitch food that I let go bad. Did you know that between 30 to 40 %  of the food in the U. S. is thrown away?  This figure is based on studies of both retail and consumer levels.  The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimated in 2011 that approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption worldwide is lost or wasted.

Does it matter?  There are hungry families worldwide and even in the United States.  According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, from 2012 to 2014 there were about 805 million hungry people on earth. They predict that by eliminating food loss and wasted food we would have enough food to feed all the chronically undernourished. A vast amount of food ends up in landfills. Food waste, which is the single largest component going into municipal landfills, quickly generates methane, helping to make landfills the third largest source of methane in the United States. The nutrients in the food never return to the soil. Greenhouse gases generated from food rotting in landfills could be reduced to help mitigate climate change.

Just think of all that plastic generated and used in food processing.  I still don’t understand why grocery stores spend $ and time putting fresh produce in a styrofoam container covered in plastic sheeting.  It increases our misuse of the environment and raises the cost of produce. Food Tank has an informative post about a new spray on wrapper for food packaging that has NO PLASTIC, is based on an edible fiber polymer with non-toxic solvents. It washes off with water but still prolongs the shelf life. It sounds amazing and I hope to see it in grocery stores soon. We’ve filled our world with plastic garbage and we have to stop.

Let’s look at ways we can reduce wasted food in our homes.  Save money and the environment while feeding our families more wisely. USDA and EPA created the food recovery hierarchy to show the most effective ways to address food waste.

I. USDA Food Lost & Waste Champions

September 16, 2015, the first-ever national food loss and waste goal in the United States was launched, calling for a 50-percent reduction by 2030. USDA and EPA will work in partnership with charitable organizations, faith organizations, the private sector, and local, state and tribal governments to reduce food loss and waste in order to improve overall food security and conserve our nation’s natural resources.  Schools and other organizations can sign up and make the pledge to work to reduce thrown away food. The waste in school cafeterias is extreme. Launched by USDA and EPA in 2016, U.S. Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions are businesses and organizations that have made a public commitment to reduce food loss and waste in their own operations in the United States by 50 percent by the year 2030. 

II. Inventory Your Refrigerator & Pantry

The first step for you is to inventory your refrigerator and pantry. Know what you have right now. Shop your refrigerator, freezer and pantry before buying.  The Rule: cooking and eating what you already have before buying more.

III.  Revive Food

Don’t give up on droopy celery. A quick fix in the kitchen can often transform would-be throw-aways into healthy, hearty meals. Even if it’s a bit stale, burned, or questionably seasoned. Save This Food has 5 tips to extend the life of your food.

A. A quick soak in ice water for 5 to 10 minutes is often enough to reinvigorate wilted veggies.

B. Veggies are a little tired but won’t revive? Add them to the freezer bag in IV. or if they aren’t freezable, make stock before they’re non-edible.

C. Is your dish too salty? Add vinegar, lemon juice, or brown sugar to fix the problem — or dilute with water, crushed tomatoes or unsalted broth. You can also pop a raw, peeled potato into the pot to absorb some of the salt. Remove the potato before serving (and combine it with another boiled potato to make a not-too-salty mash).

D. The next time you burn a dish, don’t just toss it right away. You can remove burned beans or stew from the heat, scoop the un-blackened portion into a new pot and cover with a damp cloth for 10 minutes. This removes much of the burned flavor. And, if the dish still tastes unappetizing, try adding barbecue, sweet chili, or hot sauce.

E. Overcooked? When in doubt, puree. Overcooked vegetables and dishes that disappoint can always be transformed into soups or sauces. Just toss them in the blender with some soup stock, milk, or cream. Broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes and even leftover stir fry are excellent for this.

Another approach is to find ideas for dishes. How about instead of pitching wilted greens, Spoon University suggests using it in a dish:

• Make it into pesto.
• Add it to your favorite pasta dish.
• Toss it in a green smoothie.
• Sauté with garlic and oil.
• Use it in vegetable stock.
• Toss it in a green slaw.

Try Food & Wine’s Garlicky Spaghetti With Mixed Greens. Who will know the greens were slightly wilted?

IV. Plan Your Menu

Make a weekly or even monthly plan for meals to use what you have and base any shopping on the menu. Cut impulse buying in the grocery store by only shopping with a list after a meal. Shopping when hungry greatly increases impulse buying. Need help? Iowa State University has information at Menu Planning, Plan Smart Eat Smart. Or check out Taste of Home‘s Menu Planning guide with planning ideas, meal prep tips, and recipes.

V. Rotate Food in Refrigerator/Pantry

The rule is called FIFO – first in, first out. First in first out (FIFO) means moving older foods to the front of the fridge or pantry so they’re used up first. Place the newest foods in the back. This technique is used in grocery stores, commercial kitchens and restaurants, but works really well at home too.

VI.  Freeze Your Veggie Scraps

Save the ends, peels, and leaves of carrots, onions, celery, and potatoes; stems/stalks of herbs, broccoli, etc. and store in a freezer safe bag or container. You can save anything that’s edible (you wouldn’t want to put moldy or really dirty peels or ends in it.). Once you have a few cups worth, make a pot of veggie stock. Then freeze the stock for use in soups and sauces. By doing this you’ve not only saved parts of the veggies that you’d typically throw away, but you’ve also reduced the need to buy something new because you’ve already made your own stock.  I have a friend who has been doing this for decades. He also saves little bits of leftover beef or chicken and makes a flavorful stock from scraps. When freezing your stock, use ice-cube trays. When frozen, remove cubes of stock and place in freezer container. You now have small amounts that can be used instead of bouillon cubes.  Have a dehydrator? Dehydrate your stock to use it for an even longer time.

VII. Use Leftovers

When making a menu, factor in leftovers which makes meal planning easier while reducing food waste and energy usage in your home. Think cook once, eat 2 or 3 times. But, if you don’t end up eating the leftovers, stop making more than you need to eat in one meal. I know some folks don’t like leftovers. If you do use leftovers, factor that into your shopping plan so you don’t over-buy. Unfortunately we’ve all been guilty of making garbage in the refrigerator.

Be creative and plan your leftovers. My sister has traditionally made a large pot of spaghetti sauce with meat. She would divide  it and freeze half for another time.  Then when she was overwhelmed at school (she taught high school for over 40 years), she had spaghetti for her family’s dinner.

VIII.  Share or Donate

I am retired now and live alone. Cooking for one can be a challenge when making something like stew or soup. My answer is to share with my neighbor and friend. When I make a pot of soup or a large bowl of salad, I often call my friend next door. Are you in the mood for soup/salad? She comes over, we share time, and she goes home with a container.  No waste. I really feel it’s a sin to throw out food.  Many of my soups are loaded with veggies and the truth is I don’t like the veggies in soups after freezing. Tried it and wasn’t thrilled. Solution was to share while fresh. Works for me and Vickie. When I was growing up, neighbors shared food often. Behind us was a family with a fishing father. Their freezer was packed with fish from his many trips. Sometimes the wife would call my mother and say “Want some fish?”  She usually cleaned and fileted the fish and shared.  Several times she cooked a large fish fry and shared a plate of fresh fried fish, hush puppies, and homemade tartar sauce with neighbors. We loved the fish and the truth was our neighbor was tired of fish. My mother was glad my father wasn’t a big fisherman. She didn’t like cleaning fish.

If you are involved in an organized event, plan ahead for the disposal of left over food. Restaurant owners can work with local charities to prevent food in garbage cans. Donations to homeless shelters and even animal rescue groups or zoos is a preferred method of disposal. For centuries farmers have fed food scraps to animals.  With proper and safe handling, anyone can donate food scraps to animals. Food scraps for animals can save farmers and companies money. It is often cheaper to feed animals food scraps rather than having them hauled to a landfill.

Every spring I start stocking up on canned goods for the upcoming hurricane season. Remember planning for emergencies involves having food with a shelf life. Then in the fall after the season ends, I start to consciously eat that food or donate it.  Waste not, want not.  Fall and pre-holiday season is the time for many food drives.   Check your pantries and get rid of the oldest canned goods. Rotate your stock. Use it wisely.

IX. Be Creative

Be creative in food preparation. Think of new ways to use the edible parts of food that you normally do not eat. For example, stale bread can be used to make croutons or French toast and beet tops can be sautéed for a delicious side dish. Broccoli stems can be used for cream of broccoli soup.  Don’t waste them.  Don’t eat celery leaves? Cut them off and stick in that freezer bag for stock. You can find recipes online or in cookbooks to use up food on the brink of being past its prime. SaveTheFood.com is a fantastic source of information on food management in the home. The site even has recipes for everything from overripe avocados to cheese rinds. The Spruce Eats has 30 Recipes To Use Up Food Scraps. How about cooking corn cobs and other veggies for Corn Stock, a rich broth?

X. Eat Seasonal and Local

Many of you have thought me crazy for posting all sorts of strawberry recipes in January, February, and March.  Remember I am trying to eat local and winter is when Florida grows strawberries. I eat very few fresh strawberries in July as they come from California. (I always have frozen organic strawberries in the freezer for smoothies.) Save the strawberry recipes you like for local strawberries in your area this summer.

If you grow your own and have an abundance in the summer, save it for the future.  Freeze, preserve, or can surplus fruits and vegetables – especially abundant seasonal produce.  Have bags of apples in the fall? Dry apple slices for snacks. DON’T WASTE FOOD!

XI. Grow Your Own

Grow your own vegetables and fruits.  Anyone, even an apartment dweller, can have a potted strawberry, lettuce, or tomato plant. Try microgreens or sprouts on the window sill. Eat them fresh or freeze, can, and dehydrate for future use.  Onion and green onion bottoms, celery, and lettuce cores can be replanted to generate a new plant.  Check out The Farmers’ Almanac‘s Regrow Vegetables From Kitchen Scraps.

XII.  Compost Leftovers

Compost is organic material that can be added to soil to help plants grow. Food scraps and yard waste currently make up 20 to 30 percent of what we throw away, and should be composted instead. Coffee grounds, used coffee filters, egg shells, and many other food waste can be composted. Making compost keeps these materials out of landfills where they take up space and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas.  You also are making incredible food for your garden. Plants love compost!  Check out the EPA’s Composting Basics for more information.

A Note on Kitchen Safety

Just a reminder to protect yourself and your family from cuts, burns, slips, and fires while cooking. If you’ve done a lot of cooking, you know that the kitchen can be a place where accidents happen. I remember as a child when something my mother was cooking almost created a fire. I was young and don’t remember the details. I do remember how frightened I was. Thankfully the fire was averted and repair from fire damage was avoided. My mother scrubbed the walls to get rid of the smoke marks. The lesson I learned was to be careful and diligent. 5 rules for safety are:

1. Keep an eye on your cooking and stay in the kitchen.
2. Wear short or close-fitting sleeves.
3. Watch children closely in the kitchen.
4. Clean cooking surfaces regularly to prevent food and grease build-up.
5. Keep curtains, towels and pot holders away from hot surfaces.

State Farm has an informative article on Kitchen Safety including sections on knife safety, heat safety, fire prevention, and spill clean up. The tips are concise and easy to review for reminders.

I hope I’ve inspired you to consider your kitchen management practices in a new light and expand your waste prevention efforts.

Food Usage Resources For More Information

The Food Tank has multiple posts on what can be done to avoid food waste at home, college cafeterias, etc. and how food can be distributed effectively.

EPA A Guide to Assessing Food Waste at Schools

EPA Composting at Home

EPA Sustainable Food Management

USDA Food Safety

USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning

USDA Leftovers & Food Safety

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