Food Does Not Go in the Trash
It’s an epidemic. It’s a problem that has been spiraling out of proportion for 70 years. It’s called over consumption - or overeating. Americans are famous for it, as it shows in our obesity statistics year after year. What we don’t really consider about this issue is the other side of it - food waste. Overeating means we are consuming extra food. The average American wastes an absolutely insane amount of food every single year. The average person doesn’t even feel guilty about throwing away food, either.
I’ve been seeing people take a couple bites of something and toss it for far too long, and I need to just yell from the top of a mountain about it.
When people start complaining about the rising cost of food, I can only smile and reply “well it’s your fault.” That never gets the reaction in should. When I explain what I mean, people tend to nod their head but I can see nothing has stuck - they won’t be changing their ways. Imagine the money you would save if you only ate what your body needed. Imaging ordering only what you knew you would eat - that goes from lunch at the office to grocery shopping at a local Whole Foods (or other organic/trendy store).
So how can you help the Earth and your wallet at the same time and stop wasting food?
- Purchase only what you know you will eat. That means planning meals, or ordering food from a menu you know you will like, and be able to eat all of. If you DON’T eat it all, take the leftovers home and eat them as a snack or a meal.
- Don’t order food just because it is free. An example is I went to Rain Forest Cafe and I got a free appetizer. I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat it, so I ordered it but bagged it right away and ate it as a snack that night. Most people would just nibble at it and toss it because “It was free so who cares?”
- If you eat out more than at home and you keep tossing out veggies, just stop buying the things you waste. Don’t double up just because you think you MAY need it.
The benefits of wasting less food will come back to help your wallet and on top of it all stop the vicious cycle of throwing away Earth’s blood, food. A nice bi product of all of this is you’ll probably drop a few pounds if you start watching your food intake. So we really hit a 3 in one with this idea. So go do it!
A side note you should consider is that about 25% of all food produced is WASTED and sent to a landfill. This not only fills up our landfills but when the food decomposes it emits greenhouse gasses.
Also be aware that some of the food we consume such as SEAFOOD is not so easy to produce. Some of the stocks of seafood have been shrinking for a hundred years due to overfishing/catching. Who knows, maybe eating 25% less seafood would mean we’d end up having crabs for awhile which would be nice.
