Food Waste Is Overwhelming. Here Are Five Things People Are Doing About It

[Sherman A1]

The food world is buzzing today about the latest news on just how often we waste perfectly good food. And we admit, the statistics are pretty depressing.

About 40 percent of food in the United States today goes uneaten. The average American consumer wastes 10 times as much food as someone in Southeast Asia — up 50 percent from Americans in the 1970s. Yet, 1 in 6 Americans doesn't have enough to eat, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And food waste costs us about $165 billion a year and sucks up 25 percent of our freshwater supply.

That's all according to the report with the not-so-subtle title, "Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill," just released by the Natural Resources Defense Council.


As we've reported, there are all kinds of offenders in this game, from restaurants to regular consumers and our refrigerators. But we thought we'd bring you some info on what some folks are doing to combat the waste and reroute the food where it's needed:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/08/22/159825659/theres-too-much-food-waste-but-here-are-five-things-people-are-doing-about-it?utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20120823

[newfie11]

1. we have taken care of that at my house

5 newfoundland dogs, 1 pomeranian dog, and 7 hens and a rooster are always happy to help out. they are of course fed their regular food too.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I try to use a lot of food at least twice.

Last edited Thu Aug 23, 2012, 09:32 AM - Edit history (1)

I save the bones, fat, shells, etc. from beef, chicken, pork, fish, seafood and make stock from them. Same with parts of vegetables I chop. I save the pulp from fruits and vegetables when I juice; it goes onto salads.

I can't imagine throwing away food unless it's spoiled and it's gone before that happens in this house.

[roody]

3. It's not wasted when it makes good

compost.