Have you ever thrown away left-overs with fuzzy green fur on it or forgotten about those baby tomatoes you bought on impulse hidden in the back of your fridge? Or can you remember a time when you didn’t eat everything on your plate and someone admonished you and said, “Don’t you know that there are starving people in the world?” But, how exactly do our food habits help starving people? Besides the fact that our country produces too much to begin with, we throw away a lot of food and what is more – “good food” that could actually be eaten. These are not your table scraps or peelings – I mean food that was once good and edible is either forgotten about or we can’t finish the helping we have served ourselves.  

According to a national survey, if we total the amount we waste in “good food” it equals almost one billion pounds a year. One billion pounds! This food, prior to landing in your bin, could have been shipped to your local food bank or favorite organization to help the needy. It all adds up.  Avoiding wasting food significantly impacts the environment and can earn you more money in your bank account at the end of the day.  

Shopping

1. Make a shopping list before you go to the store cuts your bill in half as you buy only what you need versus what you want.
2. On the shopping list, indicate exactly how much of each thing you need and make a quick note on what you’re going to use it for. For example, “I need five bananas for my banana bread.”
3. Go to the grocery store on a full stomach (not before). Going to the store hungry fools your eyes (and stomach) to buy more.
4. Support your local produce stores. There is always a deal on fruit and vegetables. Some local produce stores also sell smaller quantities in a bundle.
5. Be aware of the 3 for 1 gimmick. Just because the store is selling three bundles on green onions for $1.00 doesn’t mean you have to buy all three. You can tell the cashier you only need one and they will most likely charge you just for one. If they charge you the full amount, skip out or give them away to your neighbour.

Cooking

1. Plan out a weekly meal. Write out what you will eat based on what is already in your fridge, not on things you have to go out and buy. (Tip: A whiteboard on your fridge works well.)
2. If you are cooking for two, think you’re only cooking for one and it will end up being more than enough for two. Have plenty of fruits on hand. Thus, if you’re not full, you can fill up on fruits rather than have left-overs rotting at the back of your fridge.
3. Get creative and experiment with ingredients you already have.

Eating

1. Try not to eat alone. The more mouths to feed, the less goes to waste.
2. Start with a small serving of food on your plate and then go back if need be.
3. When it’s time to eat, just eat. Try not to multi-task.
4. Eat with reflection. (Tip: Look at your hand as it moves around your plate.)
5. Eat in mid-pace, not too fast or not too slow. (Tip: Listen to your mouth chewing the food in your mouth.)
6. Eat from the same plate with another. You will eat with more awareness knowing others around you are also trying to get their fill (it also saves dishes).
7. Eat simple foods on a weekly basis and save your grand meals with all the garnish for one day of the week.

Left-Overs

1. Are veggies about to turn? Put them all together in a soup or mix it with orange juice and fruit for a blended energy drink.
2. Invest in tupperware, especially for those who cook in large quantities for lunch the next day.
3. Share. Have close friends or neighbours that don’t mind coming over spontaneously when you know you’ve cooked too much or give it away in your tupperware.

Eating Out

1. Find restaurants that give you small portions that you can actually eat. Or share the main meal (order only one) and get a mini appetizer, instead.
2. Order less than more. (Tip: Keep a menu at the table to re-order.)
3. Bring your tupperware to the restaurant (if you don’t want the styrofoam) and bring your left-overs (as small as it may be) home – make a sandwich out of it.
4. Choose a restaurant with a peaceful ambience. Places with loud noises and crazy music takes away your full concentration on your food.
5. Peek in to see who is preparing your food. Food prepared joyfully is more likely to taste good than food prepared grudgingly. (Tip: If applicable, strike up positive conversations with people making your food to put them at ease and happy.)

Tip: Try not to find fault with food served to you. If you like it, eat it. If you don’t like it, simply leave it. Complaining doesn’t help anybody, especially if someone took the time to make it for you. It just gives bad feelings to everyone.

Fruits and Veggies

1. Try to not buy food that you only need a little bit of to begin with like celery. We only use one or two stalks in our recipes and the rest turns to mush.
2. Cutting up cantaloupes, lettuce, broccoli, spinach etc and placing them into clear bags or tupperware or glass bowls, right when you buy it, makes snacking easier and more likely that you’re going to eat them (also place at eye-level).

Dairy

1. Buy the smallest possible size. If you save more money buying something in bulk (like the long thing of cheese) skip out if you know that the other half of the cheese is just going to go bad. Or if you really want the deal, freeze it.
2. Ever left with just a little bit in your yogurt containers or milk carton just about to go bad? Add it into those blended energy drinks (of course check if it’s already bad.)
3. Place milk cartons into the side of the fridge so it doesn’t get pushed to the back.
4. Cut cheese up into small slices (or how you like to have it) for easy use.

Water

1. Invest in a water filter system for your tap or one you can put in your fridge and skip out on the plastic water bottle insanity that is filling up our landfills. Invest in an aluminum water bottle and fill it up with your water filter system.
2. Instead of running water for cold water (wastes up to 10L of water a day), store water in a jug (although most doctors warn that cold water shocks your system especially on a empty stomach and makes your food slower to digest). Leave the jug on the counter or take it out an hour or so before you know you’re going to drink it. (Side note: Drinking hot water or warm green teas help you digest easily.)
3. Fill a bowl with water to wash fruits and vegetables instead of letting the water run. Pour remaining water into your plants.

Composting

1. Put your banana peels, egg shells, and other fruits and vegetables in a compost. It’s easy to have a small bin in your backyard. Take it to your local drop-off or add it to your garden as a rich free fertilizer.
2. For people that live in apartments/condos you can start an urban compost too under your sink (and avoid those fruit flies dancing around in your house).

Secrets of the Fridge and How to Maximize It

Did you know that fridges were never as big as they are today? Fridges were small, like those ones they have in hotel rooms. People’s belief systems have changed in the last century. People used to take a lot of pride in their natural simple diets and in cooking as much as they took pride in hospitality. People relied on local produce or their own gardens. They ate fresh food everyday versus our recent TV dinners and pre-packaged ready-to-eat meals to suit our busy 21st century lives.

1. Don’t fill it up!
2. The freezer is your best friend if you do cook in large quantities.
3. Place fruits and veggies on the shelf rather than in those cooler bins so you see them.
4. Place ketchup and soy sauce etc in the bins instead.
5. Place pasta sauce (once opened) at the back of your fridge (it’s the coldest part) it will keep a little longer than usual.
6. Clean out your fridge every week (at least) and make note of what you throw away the most and stop buying it!

Raise Awareness

1. Read stories of famous people who went hungry for several days because of the lack of food in their houses.
2. Reflect on your habits and try to change a habit every 40 days. Tell someone what you are doing. Share your goals.
3. Try fasting to feel hunger pains.
4. Volunteer at your local food bank or organization.

Just a few tweaks in your shopping, eating, cooking and general food habits can have huge local and global benefits. Start with a few goals from this list you haven’t tried yet and keep striving to implement more and more every week or month. You’ll start seeing that your household garbage will reduce significantly and you’ll save lots of money too.

An Invitation

What are some ways you have saved money while preserving food?  How else can we try to avoid wasting food?  Share with us your ideas in the comments below and let’s try to actively save our food and our wallets.
image credit: clairity