12 Tips to Avoid Food Waste on Thanksgiving and Every Day Another reason to eat family meals together, of course, is because it allows you to choose what types of food to eat. A large part of the benefit is the time you spend preparing your meal and cleaning up. Getting your children involved teaches them invaluable lessens about food preparation and how you function together as a family, as well as how to plan and prepare healthy meals. As part of that lesson, you can teach your children (and learn yourself) how to avoid and reduce food waste. The average consumer wastes 61 percent of the food he or she purchases, and Thanksgiving dinner is one of the worst offenders. You can help to reduce your waste and use of your leftovers with the following 12 tips:11 Buy only what you need: Try to make an accurate guess of how much food you’ll need so you’re not left with leftovers you can’t use up. Check the clearance section: This can save you money, but you’ll also be helping to consume a food before it ends up in the landfill. You may be surprised at what types of healthy foods can be found in your grocery store’s bargain bin. Use the whole vegetable: Rather than peeling your veggies, leave the skin on. You’ll get more nutrients and reduce waste (ideally choose organic vegetables if you’ll be eating the skin). If you’ll be eating beets or turnips, you can also eat both the root and the greens. Help charities find “blemished” produce: If you volunteer on Thanksgiving, use the app Food Cowboy, which helps connect produce shipments that have been rejected for aesthetic reasons with charities. Compost your food scraps: Many of your Thanksgiving leftovers can be turned into compost. Freeze your leftovers: If you can’t finish all of your turkey, freeze them for later use. Create new meals: Get creative with your leftovers, repurposing them as soup, salad, or healthy casseroles. Send your leftovers to someone in need: If you have prepared foods that weren’t served, or packaged goods you didn’t eat, certain organizations, such as City Harvest, will distribute them to people in need. Donate leftover produce: If you purchased produce you can’t use, there are many national services that distributes fresh produce to hungry people. This one is also useful if your garden produces more produce than your family can consume. Download a food waste app: A growing number of apps aim to connect hungry people with other people’s leftovers or excess ingredients. Two to try are CropMobster and SpoilerAlert. Try LeftoverSwap: This site connects people with too many leftovers with others who want to eat them. You simply take a picture of your leftovers, post it, and arrange for a pick up. Donate scraps to a zoo or farm: Local zoos or farms will sometimes take leftover food scraps for animal feed. Check with those in your area for details.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 06:00:07 +0000