“Eat your food! There is no sense letting it go to waste!” That’s a mantra I heard time and again when I was a kid. My mom was the queen of preparing small meals and using leftovers for lunches the next day. She would be horrified to learn one-third of all food produced globally is wasted. That’s 40 million tons in the US alone for a total cost of $161 Billion. I’ve partnered with Future Food 2050, an organization dedicated to highlighting the people and stories leading the efforts for a healthier, safer and better nourished planet that’s needed to feed 9 billion+ people by 2050, to give you some tried and true tips to reduce food waste. And, yes, I have been guilty of food waste too!
1. Save leftover veggies and freeze. If I have a small amounts of leftover onions or peppers, I place them in a freezer bag. Whenever I need onions and peppers in a recipe, I can pull them out of the freezer and have them prechopped and ready to go. Saves me time and money!
2. Use over ripe fruit in smoothies. Bananas seem to speed through the green to mushy stages at our house. When they begin to develop brown spots the kids will not eat them (and truthfully, I won’t either because I am the person who eats all the green bananas.) Instead of tossing them in the trash, I either add them to smoothies or mash them and add them to banana bread. The kids have never complained about a batch of banana bread!
3. Use the ends of the loaves of bread for bread crumbs. No one in my family (except me) will eat the heels of bread crusts. I take the heels, grind them in the food processor and add herbs. Voila! Instant seasoned bread crumbs for a fraction of the cost in the store. These can be stored in the freezer until needed.
4. Compost. If you have table scraps, place them in a compost bin. It’s easy to make one with an old garbage can. The reward is great soil for the garden or flowers the next spring!
Would you eat “ugly food?” Learn innovative ways people around the world are trying to reduce food waste at Future Food 2050.
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I use up every bit of food I can. I even use the cheese rind in my soups and keep it stored in the freezer.
Great tips!! Maybe it’s just me but I don’t eat ugly food. I like my food to look good.
We compost all our food scraps for valuable golden compost. We also buy bruised fruit, and save money there.
I love your tips on how to reduce weight! Great thinking on smoothies, I cut up ripe banana’s and freeze them for later use on smoothies or banana bread!
I have always wanted to compost but we really do not have much of a yard. Great pointers!
I love finding out ways to save my “going bad” food. Mostly I freeze stuff but I just have to remember to label everything or I forget what I saved!
We are always trying to reduce waste, these are such great tips. I am the worst at letting produce go bad before using it!
Wow great ideas. With the cost of groceries going up it is a great idea to make it stretch as far as you can. Thanks for the great tips.
We are always trying to find ways to reduce waste! These are great tips, thanks for the advice!
That meal looks soo good there wouldn’t be any left over in my house! We can definitely incorporate this tips into our routine. I hate wasting anything, especially food.
These are all very doable things. I have some overripe strawberries that are going into milkshakes for dessert!
Our biggest food waster is leftovers. We never eat them and throw them out. My husband has been making a concious effort to bring leftovers to work for lunch now.
These are great tips! We have made a conscious effort to reduce our food waste and we have been doing a pretty good job lately.
We use all our leftover fruit – smoothies and for banana bread. Yet, I don’t do anything with the veggies – thanks for the tips!
I saw something the other day about ugly food and how grocery stores throw out a lot of it. There’s nothing wrong with it except it’s a funny shape, it doesn’t make sense! Food is food!
I love freezing over ripe fruit and then using them in a smoothie. They make excellent fruit smoothies.
I have never thought about freezing veggies… I normally cut up half of an onion or pepper then I never know what to do with the rest… hmmm
These are great tips! Using leftovers for meals is always a great idea!
I always eat food that doesn’t look so fresh anymore, as long as I know it’s cosmetic only. I really like the compost idea though!
these are some great tips. I will be sure to use them… we love to make different meals from our leftovers.
Such great tips. I try to use all of them. We also like to give leftovers to our neighbors. He is a single dad with a son.
Such great ideas! I always waste food. Hubs buys too much and we end up throwing away a lot and wasting money.
These are great ideas for limiting food waste. I’m sure we’ve all heard the “There are kids in *insert location your parents used* who WISH for a heel of bread!”. Of course, we thought they were being ridiculous, but it’s really true. We should value what we have, even bread heels.