Food Waste Is Both Costly and Not Green

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jebatty

jebatty

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Jan 1, 2008
5,796
Northern MN
This puts food waste into the big picture perspective. [URL="http://grist.org/food/how-buying-in-bulk-actually-wastes-food/"]Food Waste[/URL]
Which brings us back to food waste. As much as 40 percent of America’s food supply gets thrown away every day, with perishable items like dairy, breads, meats, fruits, and vegetables leading the way. The total annual bill of food waste for consumers is a whopping $162 billion, which works out to about $1,300 to $2,300 per family per year....

But even that huge sum doesn’t factor in knock-on effects: Wasting food means we’re throwing away money, but we’re also throwing away 35 percent of the nation’s fresh water supply and 300 million gallons of oil each year. That makes tackling food waste the low-hanging fruit amid growing concern over drought and climate change. Next to paper and yard trimmings, food takes up the biggest share of the nation’s landfills — and contributes about 20 percent of the country’s methane emissions.
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My wife and I pretty much follow the maxim on food that "If it's not crawling or not morphed into something unknown, use it as is or eat the leftover." Now, is that spaghetti or worms that I am about to have for breakfast?
 
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There is huge waste at every step of our food production/consumption chain. Part of the issue is that we ask more for eye-candy and beautiful food rather than emphasizing quality and accepting irregularity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=373&v=k8TDfjbpSBE
 
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In rich countries waste/uneaten food is the issue.
In poor countries, rot, spoilage and transportation delays are the issue.
Either way, globally the wastage is enormous.
I am reading and observing that bulk purchases can be a big part of the problem. Cheaper per kilogram, but not if 1/2 the potatoes or lettuce or whatever gets pitched.
I am wondering if processed food might actually have an advantage, in this instance, over the whole food movement.
 
My BIL won't eat leftovers which is nuts. Some dishes taste even better the second day. Most of the apples we eat from August thru Sept. are from our trees. If there is a blemish, scab or wormhole you just cut it out and eat it all the same. But many of these apples would never make it to the grocer's shelf in spite of being very good tasty, fresh apples. Oh well, at least most of the imperfect apples can go to making juice and cider. For veggies the stuff that won't make it to the grocer's shelves just because it isn't perfect is really crazy. We get oddball veggies all the time from the garden. They still taste great.
 
There is about 1% food waste in our house. What is still food, even moldy bread goes to our chickens. We have 5 egg layers. They leave nothing but the bone . Even the egg shells go back to the chickens.
 
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I also read that Americas food waste is the 3rd biggest carbon producer in the world.
 
The good news is that some grocers are doing something about this problem. I hope to see this as a growing trend.
Canada's largest grocer is stepping up to the plate:
(broken link removed to http://secondnexus.com/ecology-and-sustainability/canadas-largest-food-retailer-to-cut-food-waste/?ts_pid=2)
Trader Joe's ex-CEO has started a low cost food store in MA.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt...t-opens-store-with-aging-food-and-cheap-meals
 
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ihookem said:
There is about 1% food waste in our house. What is still food, even moldy bread goes to our chickens. We have 5 egg layers. They leave nothing but the bone . Even the egg shells go back to the chickens.
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I've got 19 chickens.... they are quite efficient at disposing of food wastes. I don't give them the shells though... those go into the garden compost pile...
 
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dougstove said:
I am wondering if processed food might actually have an advantage, in this instance, over the whole food movement.
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Processed food has it's own set of problems .... many of the food preservatives and colours create huge problems for myself and some of my children. Have you ever noticed soy (oil, lechithin, etc) is in many of our processed foods? It is a goitrogen. Little or no processed foods in this house without reading labels as it took us a while to figure this out. Would be nice once in a while to make an easy meal or go to a restaurant, unfortunately, just not worth it.:(
 
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... and not mentioned is the incredible waste of water to grow and process the food that is waste, and add to that ... (I just ate a "perfect" pear, probably US No. 1, that had turned brown in spots while sitting in my refrigerator, and with the first bite the pear was screaming "past my sell by date," which I ignored and then enjoyed an incredibly sweet and delicious expired pear) ....
 
I work high end conferences in NYC hotels and you would not believe the amount of good, quality food that is wasted. Chicken and beef just never touched. Not to mention the calorie overload. They start with breakfast buffet style of eggs and bacon and home fries. Then lunch which is a three course meal of salad, followed by the main entree, followed by dessert and coffee. Then at night there are drinks and another three course meal. The appetizers alone have enough calories for one person for the day. And most people don't eat the full course because it is not healthy to eat so many calories - but it still gets served just to look good.
 
begreen said:
The good news is that some grocers are doing something about this problem. I hope to see this as a growing trend.
Canada's largest grocer is stepping up to the plate:
(broken link removed to http://secondnexus.com/ecology-and-sustainability/canadas-largest-food-retailer-to-cut-food-waste/?ts_pid=2)
Trader Joe's ex-CEO has started a low cost food store in MA.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt...t-opens-store-with-aging-food-and-cheap-meals
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Not necessarily a new trend ... I have been able to buy day old baked goods and over-ripe bananas in the past. The whole concept is a no-brainer. The local safeway has been known to donate left-overs to the local bear sanctuary.
 
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vinny11950 said:
I work high end conferences in NYC hotels and you would not believe the amount of good, quality food that is wasted. Chicken and beef just never touched. Not to mention the calorie overload...
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Years ago we took our 6 children to Disney. After the first meal at the park that was mostly thrown away, we started buying the baked potatoes they sell. Far cheaper and healthier option that could be divided appropriately. Same deal when travelling now as most places provide a continental breakfast ... just have to figure out the second meal of the day;)
 
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