Waste

I've been hearing a statistic lately regarding how much edible food is wasted in America.  If you had asked me before hearing the number how much edible food is wasted, I would have thought 20%.  The actual number is 40%!  So almost half of edible food in this country is thrown out when it is still safe to eat.

Here is a link to a very informative article - it is an interview for NPR (National Public Radio) with two experts on the subject.  It is http://www.npr.org/2012/09/21/161551772/the-ugly-truth-about-food-waste-in-america.  In the article they also talk about how this wasted food also means wasted water.  That made me think more about the issue.  I try to conserve water by turning off the water while I wash my face, shave my legs, etc. so that clean water is not wasted while I am not directly using it.  I try to make sure I finish my morning glass of water before heading out the door so I don't waste it.  When there are so many places in the world struggling for clean and sanitary sources of water, I try to not take clean water for granted.  So when food is wasted, the water used to grow the crops or feed the animals that make our food is used in vain.  I never really thought of water being wasted when I throw out food, so this will make me think twice.

When I heard this, I looked critically at my own habits to see how I stacked up against this statistic.  How much food do I waste?  How could I improve?  Below are some things I am thinking about.

1.  Cooking for two (or one) is difficult.

There are only 2 people in my household.  Yet the packaging sizes for ingredients are often fore more than 2 servings.  So often times the meal ends up being a meal for 4 or 5 people because in the stores we shop there are not smaller sizes of things.  Some leftovers get eaten and no food is wasted; other times I do not want that item after it has been in the fridge so it will be wasted.  Or, sometimes I won't eat leftovers because I am trying to lose weight, and this means having controlled, small lunches at work.  Leftovers would be counterproductive to weight loss.  So what can I do to minimize waste?

I could first off try not to be so picky and eat leftovers.  Or try to see if we cook dinners that often have leftovers on a Friday or Saturday night so that I can eat the leftovers over the weekend, where I'm not as stringent on my diet.  I could also see if there are smaller package sizes for foods or ingredients.  I think the hardest thing of all will be to convince my husband (who is the better cook of the family whereas I'm the better baker of desserts and sweets) that food will taste just as good using less meat than more meat.  :)  Another option is to look for recipes that make smaller dinners - so dinners for two and not the whole family.

2.  Sometimes I buy things I don't eat.

Sometimes I buy canned fruit or veggies with every intention of introducing them into a healthy diet, only to find I've forgotten about them or ended up never making the recipe I bought them for.  So they sit on the shelf and expire.  I've gotten much better at not doing this at the insistence of my husband, but I still think it would be a good habit to go through cupboards once a month or so and find things soon to expire and use them up somehow so they're not thrown out.

3.  I'm afraid of "expiration" dates.

According to the article, foods can be safe to eat even after their expiry date.  There are only a few things I'll consume once it's past the due date, and those are milk (if it is not sour once opened) and soft drinks.  Tea and spices are other things because I'm not sure that anything can spoil in them.  Otherwise, I am leery to eat things past the date because I am afraid of harmful bacteria inside the unopened can or jar.  My fears may be a little out of proportion, so I will need to try to overcome the fear and learn about how to tell if expired foods could be harmful once I open them.  Some things I will not consume after expired dates are processed meat, as I have read that these meats can carry Listeria bacteria and I feel that going past the date increases the chances of contracting it.

So those are three areas I can be working on.  In the meantime, I will hope that locally there will be ways to recycle unused food, such as composting or recycling food for methane energy.  Unfortunately, one of the negative things about living in a rural area is there are fewer programs in the area to encourage new ways of recycling (but thankfully I can at least recycle aluminum, paper and plastic).