Sheltering at Home and Food Waste

Today’s world is certainly challenging and one of those challenges is managing food and managing food involves finding and buying the right food, eliminating food waste and hopefully trading or donating any excess food for those in need.There is no doubt that we at least in the USA will have a recession and employment will not drastically improve in a few months. Ergo.. one can and should get in the habit saving money by eliminating food waste.

In Fact

• 1/3 of the food produced around the globe is lost or wasted.
• 95-115kg of food per person, per year are wasted per person per year in America.
• 66 tons-thrown of food are away-every-second
• 2 billion people a year could be fed on the world’s food waste.

For many like myself there is a lot of guilt involved when I throw away food. For many others. they throw away food all the time. You should see the wasted food littering the beaches! Right now the beaches are closed, but they will open again.

Here are some steps to Help you save guilt, money and food waste.

Before thinking about what you WANT to eat, take a look at what you HAVE to eat. There’s an infinite number of ways to turn good ingredients into great dishes, and just because you’ve become accustomed to specific combinations doesn’t mean that your next favorite meal can’t include that lonely tomato, that wilting leek or that cheeky carrot!

Check out websites such as Supercook who can help you find recipes for the ingredients you have. Or even try adding a new spice or ingredient to your favorite.

Buy in season and from local sources. This saves food on a global level. You are not only supporting local farmers and saving the cost of transportation. Plus the food is fresher.

You might consider asking for their ‘seconds,’ This is the not so pretty products that might be thrown out. Potatoes with ‘eyes’ are still good, brown bananas can be made into smoothies and banana bread. Same with older fruits and vegetables. Relook at the broccoli, it is more than just the florets.

Soups are a great way to use up bits and pieces of onions, celery, carrots, broccoli. For instance I keep a ‘rolling’ stock of vegetable-chicken soup, in which I keep adding pieces of meat and vegetables. All is frozen in smaller containers which can be taken out and ‘updated’ with new bits and seasoning.

I also compost. It is amazing what grows out of compost. My tomatoes are a neighborhood event, the potatoes go to friends. Onions, zucchinis, melons and more can be grown just from composting. My old compost was a plastic trashcan with holes drilled in the side. Finally, I opened up a bench and put FREE Dirt (Craiglist) in it. I also salvage pots and pans from alleys and FREE Stuff on Craigslist. It is amazing what you can grow just from compost.

Composting serves a purpose and there are companies such at RTS  that can help businesses draw up effective composting and donation plans and provide collections. For individuals, there are numerous platforms available online designed to help find a home for your compost or your surplus food.

Right now, during this time, many people who have fruit trees are putting boxes on the street with excess fruit. Much of the fruit in people’s back yards just fall to the ground and go to waste. Several weeks ago, we picked up all the limes from neighbors off the ground (brown and all) squeezed and made lime juice. Now have refreshing limeade for the summer. Just because it looks bad, doesn’t mean it is not tasty.

If you have neighbors, ask them if they are using all their fruit?

Now is the time to save.. food. If you have extra food, there is plenty of people who do not and consider donating.