How to Control Food Wastage: A Comprehensive Guide to Reducing Food Waste

Food wastage is a significant global issue with far-reaching environmental, economic, and social consequences. Learning How To Control Food Wastage at home and in your community is crucial for creating a more sustainable and equitable food system. This guide provides practical tips and strategies to minimize food waste and maximize the value of the food we consume.

Understanding the Impact of Food Waste

Food waste contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. The graphic below illustrates how different stages of the food supply chain contribute to this problem.

Practical Strategies to Control Food Wastage at Home

Controlling food wastage begins with mindful planning, preparation, and storage. Here are some actionable tips to help you reduce waste in your household:

Planning and Shopping Smart

Effective planning and smart shopping are the first lines of defense against food waste. Here’s how to be more strategic:

• Create a Meal Plan: Plan your weekly meals ahead of time. This allows you to buy only the ingredients you need, reducing the likelihood of excess food spoiling.

• Inventory Before Shopping: Before heading to the store, check your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. Make a list of what you already have to avoid buying duplicates.

• Shop with a List: Stick to your shopping list and avoid impulse purchases. This helps you focus on buying only what you need for your planned meals.

• Consider Meal Frequency: Factor in how often you’ll eat at home versus dining out or consuming pre-made meals. This will help you accurately estimate the quantity of food to buy.

• Note Quantities: Include specific quantities on your shopping list to avoid overbuying. For example, “salad greens – enough for two lunches.”

• Be Cautious with Bulk Buys: Buying in bulk only saves money if you can use the food before it spoils. Assess whether you can realistically consume large quantities before they expire.

• Embrace Bulk Bins: Buying from bulk bins allows you to purchase only the amount of food you need, reducing both food waste and packaging waste. Store bulk purchases in airtight, labeled containers.

• Choose Imperfect Produce: Don’t shy away from imperfect produce or upcycled products. These items are just as nutritious and often available at discounted prices. Upcycled products utilize ingredients that would otherwise be wasted.

Optimizing Food Storage

Proper food storage is essential for extending the shelf life of your groceries.

• Fruits and Vegetables: Store fruits and vegetables correctly to maximize freshness.
  • High Humidity Drawer: Use the high humidity drawer for veggies that wilt easily, such as leafy greens, carrots, cucumbers, and broccoli.
  • Low Humidity Drawer: Store fruits and vegetables that tend to rot, like mushrooms and peppers, in the low humidity drawer.
  • Ethylene-Producing Fruits: Separate fruits like bananas, apples, pears, stone fruits, and avocados from other produce, as they release ethylene gas, which accelerates ripening.
  • Delay Washing: Wait to wash berries, cherries, and grapes until you are ready to eat them to prevent mold.
  • Specific Storage Needs: Store produce like potatoes, eggplant, winter squash, onions, and garlic in a cool, dry, dark, and well-ventilated place.
• Refrigerator Organization: Properly organize your refrigerator to maintain optimal temperatures.
  • Door Storage: Use the refrigerator door for condiments, but avoid storing milk or eggs there, as it’s the warmest part of the fridge.
  • Lower Shelves: Store meat, poultry, and fish on the lower shelves, where it’s coldest.
  • Temperature Setting: Ensure your refrigerator is set to maintain a temperature of 40°F or below.
• Grain Storage: Store grains in airtight containers, labeling them with the contents and dates.
• Freezing Food: Utilize your freezer to preserve food like bread, sliced fruit, meat, or leftovers. Label all frozen items with the contents and dates.

Mindful Cooking and Preparation

Creative cooking and preparation techniques can significantly reduce food waste.

• Repurpose Leftovers: Use produce past its prime, ingredient odds and ends, and leftovers in soups, casseroles, stir-fries, frittatas, sauces, baked goods, pancakes, or smoothies.
• Edible Food Parts: Utilize edible parts of food that you might normally discard. For example, use stale bread for French toast or croutons, sauté beet greens as a side dish, and make soup stock from vegetable scraps.
• Understand Date Labels: Know the difference between “sell-by,” “use-by,” “best-by,” and expiration dates to avoid discarding food prematurely.
• Portion Control: Aim to cook and serve the right portions for the number of people you are feeding.
• Preserve Surplus: Freeze, pickle, dehydrate, can, or make jam/jelly from surplus fruits and vegetables, especially during seasonal abundance.
• Timely Refrigeration: Don’t leave perishable food at room temperature for more than two hours.
• Label Leftovers: Refrigerate or freeze leftovers in clear, labeled containers with dates.

Community-Level Initiatives

Beyond individual efforts, community initiatives play a vital role in reducing food waste. The EPA offers several toolkits to help communities implement effective strategies:

• Preventing Wasted Food in Your Community Toolkit: This toolkit assists states, local governments, and organizations in launching behavior change campaigns to prevent food waste. It focuses on identifying barriers and motivators to tailor campaigns to community needs.
• Food: Too Good to Waste Toolkit: This toolkit helps individuals and communities measure food waste and implement strategies to reduce it. It includes an Implementation Guide for local governments and community organizations.

Diverting Food Waste From Landfills

If you can’t reduce food waste, divert it from landfills through composting.

• Composting Food Scraps Toolkit: This toolkit helps communities launch or improve food scrap composting programs. It assists agencies offering curbside collection or drop-off locations for residential food scraps.

Conclusion: Taking Action Against Food Wastage

Learning how to control food wastage requires a multi-faceted approach, from mindful planning and shopping to creative cooking and community engagement. By implementing these strategies, you can significantly reduce food waste, save money, and contribute to a more sustainable future. Start today and make a positive impact on the environment and your community.

Resources

• Save The Food: https://savethefood.com/
• Natural Resources Defense Council Infographic – The Refrigerator Demystified (pdf): https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/dating-game-infographic.pdf
• LeanPath Infographic – 10 Tips and Tricks to Help Reduce Food Waste at Home (pdf): https://f.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/416759/Homejpg.jpg
• The Scraps Book – A Waste-Less Cookbook (pdf): https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/files/pdf/02/fa/02fab6b6/scrapsbook-april.pdf
• U.S. Department of Agriculture: Information for Consumers: https://www.usda.gov/foodlossandwaste/consumers
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration: How to Cut Food Waste and Maintain Food Safety: https://www.fda.gov/food/consumers/how-cut-food-waste-and-maintain-food-safety