I talked last week about how something that I struggle with as the cook/kitchen manager/stocker of our household is food waste–buying things with the good intentions of using them, only to find them two weeks later covered in mold or past the expiration date: food waste. Interestingly enough, the New York Times ran an article this weekend on the excessive food waste that happens in American households. With the cost of food skyrocketing, they’re not the only ones.
To be honest, the idea that we as a nation waste more food than some countries consume in a year is nothing new. Freegans have made a point of living off others’ perfectly-good “waste” for quite some time now.
Green Options has discussed reducing food waste before; Jessica Jane French talked about food audits last year, Apartment Therapy’s The Kitchn has tips and tricks for avoiding food waste, and readers there contributed several great tips of their own. Author Jonathan Bloom is writing a book on food waste and is documenting his research on his site, Wasted Food. Even the UK is looking to The UK government has funded the “Love Food, Hate Waste” campaign to educate consumers on how to eliminate food waste.
What are your tips for reducing food waste?
Kelli Best-Oliver
A former high school teacher, I'm currently a part-time writer/full-time doctoral student at the University of St. Thomas in the Twin Cities, studying leadership in education from a critical pedagogy perspective along with public policy. On the green side, I'm interested in local food and agriculture (Iowa girl, born and raised), sustainability education, DIY projects, and grassroots activism. I'm slowly turning my South City, St Louis home into an urban farmstead. On the hoping-to-be-greener side, I love reading, yoga, soccer, music, backpacking, knitting, pop culture and trivia, my Tuesday Night Dinner Club, traveling, Guitar Hero, dive bars, and sitting on front porches with my husband and a cold beer. I came to Green Options via a post on Sustainablog,working the St Louis angle to get Jeff to let me in. I have a personal blog chronicling (what else?) life in South St. Louis. Follow me on Twitter!
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