5 Ways to Reduce Food Waste
In the U.S., we waste around 40 percent of all edible food. And much of that food is discarded for aesthetic reasons. For example, in the new documentary “Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story,” HMC Farms owner Harold McClarty says that anywhere from twenty to seventy percent of his peaches get thrown away due to looks alone.
The documentary will have its U.S. premiere tonight at 10:00 pm ET on MSNBC. In it, Canadian couple Grant Baldwin and Jenny Rustemeyer challenge themselves to live off wasted food for six months. And yes, there is some dumpster diving involved. Throughout their journey, Baldwin and Rustemeyer examine how much food we waste and the resulting costs to our economy, our climate, and our health.
Here are some other startling stats from the film:
* Globally, 1/3 of all food produced is not consumed.
* The average American throws away anywhere from about $1,365 to $2,275 worth of food each year.
* Savings associated with wasting just 15 percent less food would be enough to feed 25 million people.
* A study performed on one New York county showed that more waste came from households in than restaurants, supermarkets, or farms.
* About 4 percent of all U.S. energy consumption is embedded in the food that we eventually toss.
“If we’re wasting a third of the world’s food supply, and we need to increase food availability where it’s needed, then cutting food waste is is one really quite simple place to start,” Waste author Tristram Stuart says in the film. During an on-air discussion following the documentary, Tom Colicchio will be joined by a group of experts to address how we can all cut down on food waste. We have some tips, too:
1. Use the funny looking stuff! Bruised tomatoes, overripe bananas, misshapen cucumbers — what looks better doesn’t necessarily taste better.
2. Just because it’s the last apple in the bin doesn’t mean it’s bad, so don’t shy away from it. “If I had 30 bunches of chart all bursting out, I’d probably sell 25 of those bunches of chard,” Delaney Zaya, owner of Ice Cap Organics, says in the film. “So what does that day? People are totally impulse sopping, and they think if there’s one left, there’s something wrong with it.” It’s all presentation.
3. If you’re moving homes or going on vacation and you know something will expire, see if your neighbors will eat it.
4. Ask your supermarket if you can take a peek at the fruits and vegetables that they aren’t going to put on the shelves. Plenty of it is perfectly fine — and tasty.
5. Reinvent your leftovers instead of throwing them away. Here are 16 ways to do that.
News to know on Earth Day:
There might be a shortage on avocados
