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Forty percent of all food produced in the United States ends up being tossed, according to a report from theNational Resources Defense Council(NRDC). Think about that for a moment. That means 8 out of every 20 slices of bread, 5 eggs per dozen, a breast and a leg from every rotisserie chicken—produced with the same amount of energy, water, food and fertilizer as the 60 percent wedoeat—dumped into a landfill to rot.
A study examining whether people could change their behavior and reduce how much food they wasted found that providing a flood of information—Use veggie scraps to make stock! Preserve produce before it goes bad!—wasn’t helpful. What was: targeted, personalized recommendations based on people’s biggest sticking points.
Take a look at the scenarios that follow, see which resonate most with you, and use the advice to help reduce your food-waste footprint.
1. If you don’t think you waste a lot of food—or don’t have a feel for how much you toss.
2. If you tend to do one big grocery run and overbuy ingredients.
Shop for dinner (the meal that most often gets scrapped) several times a week. This was Ligon’s No. 1 tip for preventing overbuying in general. To make it easier, try ordering ingredients online from grocers with same-day delivery or a supermarket that offers drive-thru pickup-or swing in yourself on the way home. (It might sound like a hassle, but when you’re only grabbing a handful of items you’ll be in and out in minutes.) Or keep a cooler in your car and shop during your lunch break.
3. If you love trying new recipes.
4. If you often forget leftovers in the fridge.
Pack them in single-serving containers for lunches the night you make the meal or bring it home from a restaurant. If you freeze them, be sure to label and date the leftovers and put them on your list of planned meals for the week-so the freezer doesn’t just act as a food-waste halfway house.
5. If you frequently succumb to bargains (hello BOGO).
Make a pact with yourself to only go for a sale item if it’s nonperishable, like pasta or cereal, and something you would normally buy anyway. For things like meat or produce, if you have a specific meal in mind for it, fine—but if not, keep walking.
6. If you are a “good provider” who wants people to feel well-fed, but then make too much food.
Freeze the leftovers right away in individual lunch-size portions so they don’t have time to go bad in the fridge. For dinner parties, send guests home with the extras. Also handy: a portion planner (like the one at savethefood.com/guestimator) can help you more accurately figure out how much food to make.
7. If you chuck foods because you can’t remember when you put them in the fridge or freezer.
Get into the habit of labeling. Everything. Keep a permanent marker and roll of masking tape right next to your freezer bag orfood storage containerand jot the date you made that big batch of chili, when you opened that carton of stock or when you put those shrimp in the deep freeze. Also, organize your fridge with the newest stuff in the back and the oldest in the front where you can see it.
8. If your kids don’t eat all their food.
Be realistic, not blindly optimistic—and give them smaller portions. They can always have seconds. Or take less yourself, knowing you may be nibbling whatever they leave behind.
9. If you often buy things on the fly.
Meal-plan carefully (use the shopping lists and tools at eatingwell.com) and try not to deviate from the items on your list. “Be practical about whether you are going to have the opportunity to use it that week,” says food-waste expert Dana Gunders. Research shows that shoppers who stick to their grocery lists are less susceptible to impulse buys, spend less on groceries and—you guessed it—don’t waste as much.
10. If shopping at bulk stores makes you load up.
Be strategic. Stuff that can stick around a long time (boxed broth, kosher salt, steel-cut oatmeal) gets a green light, but that giant sack of grapefruit? Maybe not. Or try splitting purchases with another family.
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