No Time to Waste: One Meal at a Time
Take a guess: how many kilograms of food does the average EU person waste every year? The answer might surprise you. According to the European Commission, households in the EU generate 53% of overall food waste, accounting for an average of 69 kg per inhabitant. Meanwhile, almost 42 million people cannot afford a quality meal every second day.
Why does this matter?
When we throw away food, we are not just throwing away what is on our plate or in our fridge. We are also wasting everything that went into getting that food there. Think about the journey from farm to plate: food needs land and water to grow, energy to produce and process it, fuel to transport it, labor to harvest and prepare it, and resources to store and sell it. Every time edible food ends up in the bin, all of these resources are wasted too, while contributing to greenhouse-gas emissions and pollution.
Food waste also raises an important social and moral question, since throwing away edible food conflicts with the responsibility to help the millions of people struggling to access nutritious food. And there is a more personal reason to care: we paid for that food. Reducing waste means making better use of what we buy, saving money, and getting more value from every meal.
So, what can we actually do about it? Here are four practical steps we can take at home to reduce food waste.
- Store food smartly
Learning how to store food properly can help it stay fresh for longer and reduce waste. While we can’t cover every product, here are a few simple rules to keep in mind. Some fruits and vegetables can make each other spoil faster, so it’s best to keep certain combinations apart: onions and potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers, and apples or bananas and leafy greens. Strong-smelling foods such as onions, garlic, cheese and smoked fish can also transfer their aromas to nearby foods, affecting their taste. Keep them sealed or store them separately.
Where you store food matters too. Berries, fresh herbs and cut fruits and vegetables generally belong in the fridge, while tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, onions and garlic are usually better kept outside. Fruits such as avocados and mangoes might not ripen well if not in room temperature. And don’t forget about bread: keep it in a bread box and paper bag for short-term storage, or freeze it if you want it to last longer. Finally, whenever possible, store food in transparent bags, zip-lock bags or containers so you can easily see what you have and use it in time, before it gets forgotten or spoils.
- Make the most of what you have
A few simple steps can help you get more value out of the food you already have. Pickles are not only versatile, tasty and able to elevate almost any sandwich, but they can also be made with almost every vegetable. Are your (half) vegetables starting to slowly look sad in the fridge, or did you buy more cucumbers than you can eat? Cut them, mix them, add them to a jar with some water and salt – and voilà – you’ve got your pickles covered for the next two weeks!
On the other hand, soups and broths will almost always come to the rescue when you have leftovers, providing your body with the comfort and nutrients it needs after a long day of work. And if life gets too busy to save those products, freeze them in time before they spoil. Bread, cooked meals, fruit, vegetables and many other foods can be frozen and enjoyed later. Unfortunately, not everything can be saved, and that’s life. Support the environment and nature by composting what cannot be eaten, and use your municipal food-waste bins when available.
- Grow it again
Some vegetables that are past their prime can be planted rather than thrown away. Sprouted potatoes, onions, garlic and ginger can often be planted to grow new plants, while scraps such as carrot tops, lettuce bases and spring onion roots can regrow fresh greens. You can also save seeds from certain fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers and pumpkins, and plant them to grow new produce at home. It’s a simple way to turn what might have become food waste into something new.
- Buy your food from food-waste initiatives
There are various websites and applications in the Netherlands that help you rescue food from waste:
- Too Good To Go: Save surplus food from local restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets. Its app lets you see available food nearby, reserve and pay a discounted price, and then collect it at the specified time.
- Foodello.nl: An online supermarket that gives near-expiry food a second chance by selling products close to their best-before dates at reduced prices.
- No Waste Army: An initiative fighting food waste at the source by rescuing surplus and imperfect fruit and vegetables directly from farmers. The produce is either sold fresh or transformed into products such as soups, sauces and juices, giving food that might otherwise be wasted a second life.
- The Wonky Box: A very recent initiative rescuing organic fruit and vegetables that are too irregular or imperfect to meet conventional supermarket standards. The produce is delivered in monthly boxes offering consumers a more affordable and sustainable way to shop.
Now that you know more about saving food from waste, what concrete steps are you going to take at home?
Are you interested in learning more about reducing food waste in your organisation, workplace or during your professional events? Get in touch with our investigative journalist and sustainability learning specialist, Dayana Al Alam!