Minimize food waste

Minimizing food waste is important if you want to live a greener lifestyle. Why?

• It creates a general awareness surrounding waste. People waste a lot of items in life and often that means more junk to toss and more resources used when you don’t need to. Minimizing food waste is an easy change to make.
• It means money saved which means you can afford the organics you should be buying.
• Minimizing food waste means less packaging bought – a good thing since so much of the current food packaging you see is layered and excessive. Even if you can recycle, it’s still kind of over the top.

HOW TO MINIMIZE YOUR FOOD & FOOD PACKAGING WASTE:

Use it up: for example, most leftovers can be used to make homemade ice pops (use sustainable reusable molds), used in soups, used in baked goods, and more. Think up new ways to use all your food up before it goes bad.

Only buy recyclables: if you can’t recycle the package, just say no. Buy in bulk using reusable bags and containers to minimize your waste further.

Share it or freeze it: if you get a great deal, but the amount of the deal is large, split it with another family or freeze the excess. Don’t forget to use sustainable food storage.

Compost it: you can make food that’s old do double duty with composting. Turn your old food into healthy soil.

Quit cooking for a crowd: if you know that your family (or just you) has a bad habit of cooking too much and then forgetting the leftovers, stop. Cook what you need, not more.

Give it away: if you cook for an event or a large family dinner, and can’t eat it all, donate it to an elderly neighbor, a shelter, or another organization.

Grow some food: growing your own is a great way to cut down on food waste because one, fresh grown food taste way better, thus enticing you to munch them down. Two, you’ve stopped the packaging and transport issues cold when you grow your own. Organic gardens are highly sustainable.

What other tips do you have for cutting down on food waste?