Reducing food waste from cities

No matter how much you ate Thursday, you probably had uneaten food remaining. Some of you will save and eventually eat what was left.  Much of the food will be tossed into the trash.  Tucked into the trash bag it is out of sight out of mind.  Your trash will get collected and sent off to a land-fill where the food will give off gases as it decomposes.  Waste from cities is a growing problem – more people live in cities (vs rural) and population is on the rise. We must learn to better manage our lives so the amount of waste we produce is significantly reduced.

I recently saw a TV report on a group in New York City collecting food left on restaurant plates to help feed those who are hungry.  Such an effort takes many individuals and coordination to pickup and deliver the food before it spoils. Others advocate re-plating the food so it goes back out again.  While that may be a bit extreme it hopefully gets you thinking about just how much edible food gets wasted daily.

Here are some tips I personally try to follow:

Eating Out:

• Order smaller portions — only what you can eat.
• Order dishes to share at your table.  Can two share one entree? Two dishes among three? Tip: can leave room for dessert.
• Take home extra food from restaurants.  I’ve taken home extra salmon to use cold on a salad the next day.
• Divide your plate before you start eating.  We’ve all been to places where the portions are ridiculously large.  A weight loss technique can be helpful here — when your plate arrives pull out your container you brought along and fill it with extra food leaving what you think is a reasonable sized dinner.
• Ask others at your table if they want any food you are not going to eat.  They may want it now or packaged to take home for themselves or a pet.

Home:

• Buy only what you can eat before it goes bad. I used to be bad about buying more food than I could eat.  If you buy too much, can or freeze part.
• Learn to use leftover food in new dishes.  This might be food in the doggie bag or extras from the night before.  Where do you think stuffing came from?  It was a use for stale bread.  Many dishes were created as ways to use an ingredient that was a bit past its prime.  Veggies & meat can be used to make stock for soup.  Some suggestions here.

The bonus to doing the above is you also save money.  Add your suggestions below.

– Steve Patterson