Did you see
this article in the New York Times last week? I just discovered it myself, and it addresses something we've been working on for awhile now: reducing the food that is thrown out (wasted) in our household. At some point we realized that it was just ridiculous, and embarrassing, to be throwing out food that we had let languish in the fridge until it was no longer edible. Either because we forgot about it, or didn't "feel" like eating it that night, or whatever. I'm sure you all have been there at one time or another. It seems almost a given in the food-rich environment in which most of us live.
If you find the topic interesting, you might like
this blog, WastedFood.com. And if you're reeeally into it, why not join the
Food Waste group on Flickr, where you can post pictures of...erm...wasted food?
(At the moment, it appears there is only one member. But don't let that stop you).
(Update: I got an email from Jonathan. They're up to 14 members as of 5/28/08. Way to go!) Here's a sample:
In the meantime, here's what we've done in our house. Over the past couple of years, we've implemented the following steps, and they've made a big difference:
- No more massive, we're-set-for-the-next-two-weeks! grocery outings (a habit I have to admit I got into in Tokyo, where food shopping was a bit of a deal. You either lugged a bunch of bags home in a taxi (expensive) or had it delivered (free). But either way it was just easier to do big shoppings a few times a month);
- Writing the date it was opened on certain items that are used intermittently, which means it becomes too easy to forget if they're fresh or not, which in turn means they ultimately wind up being thrown out by default after one or two uses (big jars of spaghetti sauce, mayonnaise, salad dressing, cereal). Keep that red Sharpie handy!;
- Only buying 2 or 3 days worth of fresh fruit and vegetables at a time, so there is no huge backlog we have to get to but inevitable never do;
- Keeping fruit out of the fridge and in a bowl in the center of the kitchen table so we know what we have, and we eat it before it spoils;
- Buying nifty storage containers, so we're motivated to use them.
- Never buying a loaf of bread until the last loaf of bread has been completely eaten. And, by association, only buying those little hoagie-size loaves of French bread (if they're available, which often they're not) when we need French bread to complete a meal. No more buying the full size loaves that you can only eat a piece or two of before the proverbial midnight, when the rest of it turns into a loaf of French cement.
- Ironically, in one area, I've found that making more actually leads to less waste. When we prepare rice, it's in a rice cooker (natch). So I found that if I tried to make exactly enough for one meal, I'd always overshoot by just a little. The result was that I'd have too little rice to save, but enough that throwing it out felt wasteful. So instead, now I make more rice each time, in the neighborhood of 1 to 2 cups total (after cooking). This leaves enough leftover that it is worth saving. We reheat it and use it in another meal, where it gets finished off (I know this is probably sacrilegious to those who live in rice-based cultures (Japan), where freshness is held at a premium. But I'll address these sorts of bad-Westerner habits of mine in another post I intend to write, scheduled to be called Bad Gaijin).
With just these changes, I'm proud to say we now almost never throw away uneaten or rotten food. Of course we can't be perfect, and things escape our notice from time to time (like that shriveled half an onion in a soggy baggie I threw out yesterday). But all in all I think we're doing good. Really, awareness is the first step. As usual.
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