5 easy ways reduce food waste

This past summer our family visited the Spanish Balearic Islands and we realized the reducing waste has become one of their major goals. With a huge tourist population during the summer and few natural resources, almost everything (including food) needs to be transported to the islands by boat or plane (generating both financial and environmental costs). And then they are left with a ton of trash that has to be treated (and recycled whenever possible). 

So recently most hotels have replaced the traditional food buffets for a la carte lunch and dinner menus (which means that the kitchens prepare only the exact amount of food that will be eaten), have put in place water saving programs and avoid using any unnecessary packaging materials. 

I've been thinking about this since we returned from our vacation and the fact that, no matter where we live, food waste is a problem  - and that everyone of us needs to be onboard to reduce it.

So here are 5 simple strategies to reduce food waste:

1. Buy only what you need

Seems obvious, but the reality is that lots of us go to the grocery store and bring home more than we really need. Plan your meals, then make a shopping list and stick to it. 

For a free printable meal plan, click the image below: 

For a free printable shopping list, click the image below:

2. Store your food properly and keep track of what you have in your fridge and freezer

Proper storage helps food stay fresh for longer periods of time, both in your fridge and your pantry. Keeping track of what you store in your fridge is essential to make sure you use your vegetables and any cooked leftovers before they go to waste. In a similar way, you should ensure that what is in your freezer is also stored properly and doesn't "live" there indefinitely.  

For a comprehensive list of food and the guidelines to refrigerate and freeze them, you can check this page from foodsafety.org: https://www.foodsafety.gov/food-safety-charts/cold-food-storage-charts.

For a free printable freezer inventory list, click the image below:

3. Organize your pantry

By keeping an organized pantry and planning your meals around what you already have at home you are ensuring every item you bought is used before expiry date. 

For a free printable pantry inventory list, click the image below:

4. Use leftovers

Some leftovers can just be reheated and eaten like that over the following days (or frozen, if you know you'll not be able to get to them in time), but for others you can look for different ways to reuse them: vegetable leftovers can be mixed together in a soup, a quiche or a vegetable roast. Meat or fish leftovers can be added to rice or pasta to make new meals. Be creative and search for different recipes to use up all your leftovers.

 

5. Learn to cook in a way that reduces food waste

If this looks like a repetition of the point above, it's not. Cooking without waste is not only about leftovers - it's about using every single part of the food you buy - like making a cake with banana peels or a soup with carrot greens, for example (yes, both are possible, as are many others). 

There are great recipe books around for this, I'm leaving you two of my favorite below, but if you don't want to spend the money on books you can just google around and check what is really edible and how to cook it - there's a ton of free recipes on the web just waiting for you to find them.

   

Reducing food waste doesn't have to be difficult or time consuming, and it's not just great for the environment - it will also make you eat healthier meals and save a lot of money. 

Enjoy, and have a great week,

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