One way my family and I help protect the environment is by reducing our food waste. Reducing wasted food helps to conserve resources and energy that went into producing, processing, transporting, preparing, storing and disposing the purchased food. It also helps to cut down greenhouse gas that is emitted from food decomposing in landfills. Not to mention we also save money by buying only what we need! By reducing food waste, we can build a sustainable food future together, especially if we act now.
Here are a few ways my family tries to prevent food waste:
- We plan how many meals we will eat at home for the week ahead and how many times we will eat out
- We try to make a shopping list of only the things we need with the quantities specified
- At the end of the week, if we still have food that we didn’t use up, we like to make hearty soups or rice bowls – recipes that let us use up as much as possible yet still taste delicious
- We also label and freeze our food, like bread or fruits, when we know we might not finish them in time
We are also learning how to store food properly to prolong their freshness! There is now a separate place for storing bananas in my kitchen because bananas tend to spoil the other produce they are around
