5 Ways To Reduce Food Waste In The Kitchen

Is food waste a common thing in your kitchen? When you throw away or waste uneaten food, your money and efforts are wasted too. Did you know that food waste contributes to climate change?

A huge amount of the food waste goes to landfills, releasing greenhouse gases such as methane, that contribute to global warming, damaging the planet. Wasting food is also a waste of resources used to produce the food.

Benefits of reducing food waste

Reducing food waste everyday helps you make better use of the food, save the environment, and leads to financial savings too. Being mindful when you buy groceries, store food and cook, helps you reduce the amount of food you waste, which could save the planet, and benefit your family too.

The magnifying issues of malnutrition and hunger globally call for making an informed decision on buying, storing, cooking and disposing food. Food is a basic need and not everyone on the planet is able to afford sufficient food for one’s family. People struggle to earn their daily bread and enormous food waste is a disregard to the struggle and effort that goes into producing and distributing the food you receive on your plate.

What’s in your fridge?

• Organize your fridge, so that you don’t miss checking certain food or forget using it.
• Store food with low shelf life in the coldest part of the refrigerator.
• Rearrange things at times and decide what needs to be used first.
• Refrigerate leftovers if you can use them later.
• Do not overcrowd your fridge.

Plan before you shop

• Making a meal plan before going for grocery shopping keeps you from purchasing food that you don’t need for the day.
• Avoid over-purchasing by making a list of what you need in a week.
• Have a satisfying meal or snack before you buy groceries. This helps you avoid sudden hunger pangs that lead to blindly buy snacks poor in nutrition.
• Do not buy items close to their expiry date, if you will not use them soon.
• Be careful when buying things on offer. Buying bulk quantities can eventually lead to wasting the material.

Using Leftovers

• Pack leftovers in airtight containers and chill them. Keeping them out for a longer time could cause spoilage.
• Use them within 2-3 days to avoid throwing them away.
• Get creative with using your leftover food to make a new snack or dish.
• Plan a meal in which you can make use of the leftovers so that you make a different dish/meal with your leftovers as ingredients.
• When leftovers can’t be further utilized, you may use them in composting.

This article gives an insight into the uses of the peels of different fruits that could help you use those peels and not throw them away: Fruit peels

Plan your cooking

• Plan the amount of food you need to cook and do not cook in bulk when you don’t need to.
• If you have a plan to order out your dinner, be careful not to cook a large quantity of lunch that would result in leftovers that sit in the fridge or go to the bin.
• Cooking enough food and not making any dish in large quantity, saves your time, resources, and food.
• Check your fridge for any leftovers before you start cooking and plan your meal in a way that the leftovers can be used in cooking.

Right storage conditions

• All food items can’t be stored at the same temperature or humidity levels.
• Check the label and store the food as per the storage requirements, to avoid spoilage prior to expiry.
• Do not delay transferring perishable food items to the refrigerator after shopping.
• Keep your refrigerator clean to avoid the growth of spoilage microbes that could lead to food waste.

Do you agree that it’s our responsibility to reduce food waste to save the planet? Do share in the comments.