Three bags of garbage today and it’s the third time this week I’ve taken at least two, 35 litre bags of rubbish to the communal bins – and the week’s not over yet. I didn’t analyse what was in the bags but my guess is that about 50% was packaging and most of the rest was food. I’m feeling ashamed to admit it but this was food I’d either bought and not used in time or I’d cooked and not eaten.
Partly a post-Christmas phenomena but mainly it’s because I’ve built far too much waste into how I live my life and I want to change it.
I don’t think I’m unusual. Most of us are unaware just how much food we throw out. I read that, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, around 50% of all food production is wasted. It’s hard to find comprehensive data on this but the financial cost alone amounts to, not millions, but billions of dollars every year.
The Food We Buy
Mona just came back from the local bread store. It’s a holiday tomorrow and the store will be closed. She said the store was crazy – full of people buying 10 loaves of bread as though they wouldn’t be able to buy anymore for weeks.
I know myself that whenever I go to the supermarket I’m always tempted to buy things I hadn’t intended. Supermarkets are in the business of selling as much as possible as fast as possible. It’s not good business to throw out food and it’s not good business to take up large areas of costly storage space. They make more money the faster they can move product so they want to entice me to buy a trolley full.
Money is reasonably tight in our household, but still I rarely know how much I’m spending on food until I reach the check-out.
Displays, positioning of product, pricing, special offers, selection and store design are all aimed at one thing – to make it easy and attractive for me to buy as much as possible.
They’re doing their job very well.
What are some of the things I buy I don’t need?
- Snacks – I enjoy eating chocolate and cookies but I couldn’t say I need them
- Vegetables and fruit – I often throw out things that looked great in the store but start decaying once I get them home
- Baked products – things that go stale before I have a chance to consume them
- Dairy – we eat a lot of dairy and don’t throw so much away but even so the odd carton still goes in the bin
- Jars and bottles – jams go mouldy, sauces go off before they’re finished
- One off items – ingredients for a particular dish and, even buying the smallest quantity possible, the rest goes to waste
- Meat – no longer an issue as I don’t eat it anymore – but when I did I often threw it out when it went it’s use by date was up.
None of these things are unavoidable!
From a simple economics point of view, the less I buy, the less will be produced – or it may be diverted to other places where it’s more needed. Waste is waste – not just the food itself but everything that’s gone into getting it into my kitchen. The less I buy, the more resources available for other things.
Cutting back may be a small drop in the ocean – but every ocean is made up of small drops.
The Food I Prepare
I was brought up as a child, as were many in the developed world, to eat everything on my plate. I’ve lost count of the number of times I heard,
Think of the starving children in Africa!
as I pushed aside an uneaten mouthful.
With more than 1 billion people estimated to be short of food that’s a lot of starving people to be thinking about.
I’ve heard people say,
Better to throw it away in the garbage than throw it away in your stomach.
Well, this is probably true. It’s even more true that it’s better not to throw it away at all!
I had a friend once who always left some food at the side of the plate. I asked her why and she told me that it was a habit – it was her way of making sure that she didn’t overeat. If she left some food then it was some kind of check that she hadn’t eaten as much as she could have done.
There must be better habits we can develop!
Why do I throw away food after I’ve made it:
- Misjudging how much to cook – I often cook more rice or pasta than I need, for example
- Misjudging how much I want to eat – often I’m not as hungry as I thought I was when I started cooking
- Overeating – yes! I eat more than I need to
- Variety – especially when entertaining guests I tend to overcomplicate and make different dishes
- Bad cooking – sometimes I over-cook something or just mess it up.
All of these are avoidable.
Of course, this food is also stuff I’ve over bought – so there’s a kind of double waste.
How To Waste Less?
Here are 10 ideas that have worked for me or that I’m going to try:
- Never shop when hungry
- Have a shopping budget (take exactly the amount of cash I need and leave the plastic at home)
- Prepare a list of what to buy and stick to it
- Only buy things with a clear idea of which meal they’ll go into
- Don’t allow myself to be tempted by special offers – especially those products I know I tend to throw out
- Buy fewer things with a short shelf life – more often if needed
- When cooking, weigh things rather than guess
- Freeze leftovers
- Recycle waste food for compost
- Get more creative with cooking and use of leftovers (great ideas on this site).
This starts to deal with 50% of my waste. Now what about the packaging …. watch this space!
I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments about how to cut out food waste!
