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| We ate sweet potatoes for three months straight, because that's what we had. |
I was all set to write this month's post about eating habits— plant-based ingredients and farmers markets, and foraging, oh my!— but when I took a step back, I realized that when it comes to food, buying and sourcing eco-friendly options is not actually the first step.
The first and most important step, one with a massive environmental impact, is not wasting food.
If you're anything like me, you've never thought much about the environmental impact of throwing out that package of spinach that went slimy (I always cringed because it's wasted money, but that's about as far as I got). It wasn't until recently that I learned just how big of a negative impact food waste makes (this knowledge mostly courtesy of the wonderful blog Zero Waste Chef. You should go read every post on that blog— it is gold).
Some alarming statistics:
• In the US, agriculture accounts for at least 9% of our greenhouse gas emissions, although much more than that if you take into consideration manufacturing (of food-like substances, packaging, and so on) and transportation, not to mention the issues of clean-up from fertilizer run-off, concentrated animal feeding operation pollution, water rights issues, and more.
• In the US, 30-40% of food grown is wasted, about 160 billion dollars' worth per year.
• Of that percentage, nearly 40% of the wasted food is directly thrown out by consumers.
• Some studies suggest that Americans waste roughly one pound of food per day.
Each year, 30 million acres of land and 4.2 trillion gallons of water are wasted on food that goes uneaten.
• When food is thrown into a landfill, as 90% of food waste is, it emits methane, an extremely harmful greenhouse gas. (Proper composting eliminates this problem, but there is still the embodied energy of the food to consider.) In fact, if global food waste were a country, it would be the #3 emitter of greenhouse gases, only after China and the US. In terms of carbon emissions, food waste is often a bigger concern than plastic.
So before you look too hard at your diet, before you even try to change anything, the best thing is to start with a good hard look at what you might be wasting. Even little amounts of waste— a bit of rice here, a package of yellowed vegetables there— adds up over time, and practically everyone (including myself!) could use some improvement.
Let's dive in.
BEGINNER:
Make a "check the fridge" schedule. Set an alert on your phone that reminds you to check the fridge every two or three days (and any veggies or perishables in the pantry). Take stock of the leftovers, the bits and pieces of food, and anything that might go bad soon (veggies, dairy and meat are the biggest offenders here!). This will help you avoid losing things on the back of the shelves.
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| On the Pacific Crest Trail I earned the nickname "Leftovers" because I ate every scrap of food given to me. Easier to do when you're starving. |
Keep track of the food you waste. If you're fancy you can make a spreadsheet, but a simple bullet-point list will do: note what goes to waste, why it did, and what you could do to prevent it from happening. For instance: "Takeout leftovers, half a box. Reason: Forgot about it and they got moldy. Solution: Put it to the front of the fridge. Lentil soup, 2 cups. Reason: It tasted disgusting and I didn't want to eat it. Solution: Don't make again. Carrot peels, 1 cup. Reason: I peeled them out of habit. Solution: Scrub the carrots more thoroughly so you don't have to peel them."
Shop first from your pantry. Before you go to a grocery store and buy a bunch of ingredients for a recipe, take a look at what you have in your fridge and pantry. Pretend that you're on an episode of Chopped and you've just been given a challenge to make a delicious dish out of just the ingredients in front of you. Sometimes you really do need to run to the store, but always check first.
Eat leftovers. If you haven't learned to love leftovers yet, this is a great time to get started. If you really can't stand to eat the same thing two days in a row, there are options too. When you get takeout, order something you can easily freeze for later. When cooking at home, do the same trick, or consider cooking ingredients separately so you can combine them in different ways (for instance, black beans and rice one night; black beans smashed into refried beans with corn tortillas the next; rice with vegetables and teriyaki the next night, and so on).
Ignore "best by" dates. They indicate how long the company will guarantee a standard flavor, but they have virtually nothing to do with shelf life (and if you open a sealed container, the best by date no longer applies anyway). Instead, trust your eyes and nose: does it appear to be an off color, or have any mold? Does it smell like it's supposed to, or does it smell off? If it looks or smells funky, toss it. Otherwise, you should be good to go.
INTERMEDIATE:
Start a compost pile. Until you're further along on your zero-food-waste adventures, you're going to have scraps: eggshells, banana peels, avocado pits, and so on. Starting a compost pile is a great way to avoid sending waste to a landfill. See my suggestions for getting started here. If you don't have room for a compost pile, you could try vermicomposting, give your scraps to a friend who gardens, find a nearby compost pile via ShareWaste, or even hire a composting service.
Learn some cooking techniques. When you understand some basic cooking patterns, you'll become adept at using up all the bits and pieces of leftover food in the fridge. Do you know how to make a frittata, a stir-fry, a vegan bowl, roasted vegetables, refried beans, banana bread? Now is the time to learn! (I highly recommend Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat for learning this style of cooking!)
Challenge yourself to eat just from the pantry for as long as you can. See how many days you can make it without running to the grocery store! The crazier and more creative, the better. You might be surprised at what you can pull out of seemingly boring ingredients.
Eat the food that you have, even if you don’t feel like it. How many times have you stared at the perfectly edible stuff in your fridge, nothing sounded good, and you just decided to order pizza? (This is always what I want to do!) But when something is going to go bad, I picture the incredible amount of fuel, pesticides, fertilizer, water purification, labor, plastic, and other embedded energy in the food that will otherwise go to waste, and I suck it up and eat the perfectly okay food that is not pizza. Modern-day America is spoiled by getting to eat whatever we want, whenever we want, but this isn't good for us— or the planet.
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| Both radishes and radish greens are tasty in stir-fry! |
Try part of a food that you don’t usually eat. Most people know that you can use stale bread to make croutons, but did you know that you can bake potato peels to make chips? That kale stems function like broccoli in a stir-fry? That you can save carrot peels, celery tops, onion skins, and other veggie scraps in a bag in the freezer and use them to make homemade vegetable or bone broth? Notice what scraps you throw away and ask good ol' Uncle Google what to do with them. You might be surprised at what you can find.
Share food. Did you grow far more cucumbers than you could ever hope to eat? Put them in the front yard with a "Free" sign. Do you want to make a cake but know you can't (or shouldn't) eat the whole thing? Divy it up and give some to the neighbors. Did you make a weird pot of chili that tastes more like taco-seasoned bean soup? Invite some friends over and celebrate the disasterpiece! Sharing food is fun, especially if you're preventing waste. You could even try a food-sharing app like Olio; there aren't many places in the US with a lot of Olio users, but you could try to get your friends on board!
Glean food from your neighborhood. Many neighborhoods have apple, pear, or lemon trees surrounded by piles of rotting fruit— it's up to you to save them! Ask your neighbors if you can pick the fruit for them and take a little share for yourself, or else return some of the fruit as dehydrated snacks, applesauce, or even wine. Most people with fruit trees don't have a plan for harvesting all the food, and are happy to help.
ADVANCED:
Try dumpster-diving. It can be a bit intimidating to get started, but it's fun. Check out this post for tips.
Master the art of cooking anything. The more you learn to cook, the better you'll get at figuring out how to reclaim, transform, and prop up food.
Ask for leftovers. A lot of stores, produce stands, food co-ops and catering companies don't want to throw away food, and will often give you damaged or expired food if you ask, especially if you promise to share the bounty with others. You need reliable transportation and show up when you're expected to, but this can be a great way to keep food out of the landfill.
Start or join a food waste reclamation project. Here in Portland, Food Not Bombs immediately comes to mind, and they have chapters all over the US. If there's nothing already in your area, consider starting a group of people who glean food from restaurants, grocery stores, catering companies, produce stands, nearby farms, and/or gardens in the neighborhood.
What challenge are you going to do this month? What would you add to this list?
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