Did you know that we waste about one third of all of our food every year according to the UN? It’s even higher in some developed countries. America wastes about 40% of all their food and about half (half!) of all seafood. Australians throw away nearly $10 billion worth of food each year! The biggest culprits apparently are us consumers, who collectively waste more than supermarkets, restaurants, manufacturers and farms combined.⠀
During the festivities try your best not to overcook (it’s hard!) and freeze the leftovers. We highly recommend meal planning throughout the year and it also counts in the holidays! You can shop to your needs, stick to a budget (many of us are pinching our pennies) and create way less waste.
You can also send everyone home with leftover goods where you know they’ll be eaten. Another idea is to do something special and learn to make a meal from the “waste”, place it on the table with a pretty sign and have a bit of a fun explaining how you did it; hopefully encouraging others to think about their waste too.
Replant your cut ends where it makes sense (i.e. spring onions) and use your pulp (oat makes for good cookies for example). Buy from your local folks where you can without the packaging where possible, and cut down on the meat & dairy if that’s accessible. There are a whole lot of recipes out there – cookies included!
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A lot of food also gets thrown out well before it’s gone off because it’s lost its crunch-factor. An easy fix is to fill up your vegetable tray or a large container in the fridge with water and keep all of your better-when-its-fresh-and-crispy food bathing in there (we particularly like to soak carrots, celery, grapes, cucumber, corgettes and beans). We keep loose greens in hemp bags damp. They will often last a couple of weeks with this.
And while we’re on the topic of food in the holidays, there are a lot of people who won’t have access to yummy meals let alone food at all. Can you donate to your community pantry? Volunteer for a day? Stock up your local refugee centre? Ask someone over to join you all?
What are your tips for reducing food waste?
