I have stopped complaining about inflation for the past couple of weeks because it seemed so pointless to complain about something we are all going through. But while we complain about inflation, food waste is still rampant. I read two articles yesterday and this got me thinking about food waste.
This article talks about a new trend in the food industry. Since transportation and production costs has risen so much, producers have one of two choices: they can raise prices or they can sell smaller amounts for the same price. Some producers are taking the second approach. They are using the exact same packages and selling their products at the same price but they have decreased the amount in each package.
On the other hand, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that the people should cut back on food waste. It saves food and saves money for individuals. According to a recent study, families in the UK are throwing away a total of 4.1 million tonnes of perfectly good food every year, costing each around £420 annually.
So, how are these two articles related? Well, maybe people need to buy less – and selling things in smaller amounts would prevent food waste – or at least cut it down.
Personally, here is how we try to avoid wasting food:
I shop twice a week but buy just enough to get through till the next shopping trip. This is best done by planning meals beforehand.
I cook only once a day (if you do not count the oatmeal in the mornings) – lunch in always leftovers. This makes sure that leftovers are always consumed.
Fruits, veggies, meats and fishes are always bought in small quantities so that they do not go bad before they are consumed.
We try one creative meal a week – to finish anything which may go bad soon.
These are the things we could improve on:
We buy/make a loaf of bread per week but sometimes a little of it goes bad. I have been trying to put it in the ‘fridge to prevent that but it takes the freshness out.
We have some cans of food (turkey gravy etc) which we have not used. I think they sit on the shelf because they do not go bad quickly. I have been trying to use them up but I could be better at it.
What do you do to prevent food waste and what could you improve upon?
3 comments:
We eat a lot of leftovers. I prefer to cook bigger portions so it can last over several days instead of cooking everyday. During the times when I had a 9-5 job, I would cook for the week on Sunday. I've been thinking of investing in a nice vacuum sealer so that I can keep the leftovers fresh in the freezer.
I stock up on things when they're on sale, especially meat. I sent this to Jill already but related to the issue of inflation, I found this article kind of interesting - http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/07/13/abc-recession-all-your-head and the related follow-up on instapundit.
We've been trying to do better about food waste since high inflation hit. Before then, we'd waste a ton.
I do buy in produce in bulk because of the quality and value. So, I tend to freeze what will probably go bad. As a result, I drink a lot of smoothies.
Also, I used to overestimate how much food we'd need to get through the week. Now, I tend to err on the side of 'we could probably get by without it.'
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