2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
According to a report by the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) 30% to 40% of the purchased food is discarded. That alarmingly high figure is $ 161 billion spent on food annually. And although food waste reduction campaigns are being organized, many people still ignore this serious problem.
If you have decided to be smart and try not to throw away food by reducing food waste in your home, nutritionist Dana Angelo gives examples and specific guidelines on how to carry out this useful endeavor.
If you've decided it's time for you and your family to learn how to reduce food waste at home, here are some tips:
1. How to get started
It is normal to buy the same foods every week, but this can often lead to excessive purchase of productsof which you already have at home. Before preparing your shopping list, search the refrigerator and cabinets to see what foods you have left at home and what you can cook with them.
The next step is meal planning. Instead of rushing to the store at the last minute or ordering a pizza, if you decide in advance what you will cook, this will help you to reduce food waste.
2. What to eat
There are many dishes that we can prepare with leftovers from the previous week. Here's what:
- If you dig in the freezer, you can find things like ready-made pancakes for breakfast and bread for a sandwich - once the bread freezes, you can simply toast it or put it directly in the oven to thaw;
- If you make pizza every Friday night, homemade dough saves a lot of money. I used the leftover dough to make mini pizzas for the kids' lunch and garlic bites for an appetizer for dinner. Everything else in the fridge goes to the pizza - including all the sauces I have on hand;
"If I can put it in a quesadilla, my children will eat it." Another option is to put the ingredients directly in a baking dish - you have an impromptu dish of lasagna quesadium;
- Sunday dinner gets even better - roast chicken with vegetables from the local market. The leftovers turned into chicken broth for soup and sandwiches for the following week;
- We can turn old bread and a few eggs into a healthy breakfast pot (this is a great option for a quick meal). The residue is frozen and then heated in the microwave before eating.
3. What we learned
This whole experience of smart food use will seem a lot easier than you expect, plus it will make you feel so good knowing that you are reducing food waste. It will probably be like this every week, but here are some good strategies to use in the future. Here they are:
- We buy too many salty snacks - although children can easily survive without crackers. And yet we often buy a mix of crackers, hummus, olives and whole grains, which we quickly hide in the cupboard before being seen;
- The freezer is the basis of everything - from there you can get anything - from chicken, sausages and pesto, and put the overripe bananas. Using a freezer is key to reduction of food waste;
- Saving food saves money. This is very clear to us, but you will feel so good when you realize that you have saved more than $ 300;
"Breakfast smoothies are a miracle." Even ingredients that have started to dry out or become soft can be used with the help of a high-speed blender (if something remains, you can pour it into molds and freeze - this further reduces food waste);
- Whole chicken is a good investment - between soup, salad and sandwiches, we get more than six different dishes for my family.
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