Let's face it – we are all guilty of bad food management from time to time. It has happened to all of us that we opened our fridge and had to throw away that withered salad or a half-empty can of beans with a thick layer of mold on it. We tend to buy groceries thinking we will cook healthy, balanced meals throughout the week, but as we are running around, doing errands, and sometimes eating out, we forget about all the delicious food we bought. However, fighting food waste at home should become one of our top priorities. Let's review some of the reasons why.
Firstly, with hunger still being one of the major issues humanity faces, we really should find a way to use every little bit of resources we are privileged to have access to. Secondly, food waste has irreversible environmental consequences: it wastes the water and energy it took to produce it and generates greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming. It is estimated that wasting food contributes to as much as 11 % of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. The staggering fact that food takes up more space in landfills than anything else in the US should alarm us, to say the least.
To get to the bottom of fighting food waste at home, we need to understand where it is created in the first place. People often throw away food in perfectly good conditions for misunderstanding expiration labels and not wanting to risk the potential of food poisoning. Another thing to take into consideration is that the food in the western world is plentiful and less expensive, which contributes to a sense of not valuing it as other communities around the world do. Many consumers make food purchases impulsively. They buy more food than they need or buy it optimistically, thinking they will follow a healthier diet and end up not eating certain products.
The key here is a good organization. To prevent buying too much food or ingredients you already have, consider shopping lists as your best friends. Dedicate a certain amount of time to evaluate your eating habits and be realistic about them. A great piece of advice is to shop for food only once a week and use everything up until your fridge is empty. Do not fall into the trap of buying groceries when you're hungry – you'll end up buying way more with those hungry eyes. Plan your meals in advance – not only will you avoid food waste at home, but you will also improve your diet and eating habits.
According to this article, in the US, a shocking 43% of food waste comes from households and about 40% from restaurants, grocery stores, and foodservice companies. Due to food scarcity, our ancestors knew how to use food in its entirety, valuing every little bit and piece. Nowadays, we are spoiled to the extreme of refusing a banana just because of a few brown spots on it, and this mentality needs to change immediately. We are tossing away food scraps that can still be consumed or composted.
As a matter of fact, composting is another great way of returning precious resources to nature and following the principle of circularity.
Even in composting, we can improve things to fight food waste at home, and reduce the amount of garbage and the fees of managing it. If you haven't heard of bokashi composting by now, you must be living under a rock. This method of composting works on the principle of fermenting the organic waste in an anaerobic environment, thus reducing the amount of organic waste and turning it into nutrients rich organic matter, which can be used to fertilize the soil in your garden. With the use of the Bokashi Organko composter, you can reduce organic waste by 25%. Sounds incredible, right?