Best by, sell by, use by: they all mean different things and they are not regulated by any governmental body. The best thing to do? Use your nose and your eyes! (Infant formula is the only product with federally regulated dates.)
What about eggs? In the US we refrigerate our eggs while in most other countries they do not. Ever wonder why?
Use what you have first, then buy only what you need. Thinking about the week that lays ahead is an easy way to waste less food. Way more often than not, we spend more money at the grocery store than we need to.
Households that have taken the Rethink Food Waste Challenge gave feedback that the number one most helpful and easiest way to combat food waste in their home was the implement an Eat First Basket. This basket serves as a visual and physical reminder to eat stuff in your fridge before it goes bad.
Find a basket OR just use a section of one of your refrigerator shelves. Print out an Eat First card and attach it to the basket or shelf. This is a place for you to put food in your fridge that you need to “Eat First”.
Not sure what to put in your basket? Some ideas include: half a sandwich, a partially used can of tomato paste, some bean dip, a jar of chipotle peppers, and half a zucchini.
Ready that food! When you buy fresh and more perishable food home, it’s a good idea to prep it right away as your meal plan needs. Come home to cut carrots for your hummus dip or pre-sliced mushrooms for the pizza on Tuesday night!
Dressing and heavy / hearty stuff on the bottom. Leafy greens and more perishable stuff on the top! Turn into a bowl to eat. Make it a chop salad: look what needs to be used in the fridge and add it to your salad! Make several. They last longer than a dressed salad because the dressing sits at the bottom of the jar.
You can quick pickle SO many vegetables. Is that zucchini about to turn but you don’t feel like eating it tonight? Quick pickling is so easy. It can be as simple as putting the vegetable in a vinegar-water-salt solution and sticking it in the fridge! Quick pickled onion is one of the best salad toppers.
Too Good To Waste: How to Eat Everything by Victoria Glass – next level food waste recipes! How to cook fava bean shells, pumpkin skins, and lemon peels, among other foods.
Waste Free Kitchen Handbook by Dana Gunders – a book from a Natural Resources Defense Council scientist all about how not to waste food.
The Emergency Pantry Handbook by Kate Rowinski – a book about what you might need in an emergency, but also a great guide to preserving food.
National Geographic: Too Good to Waste – all about how “ugly” produce can save the world.
Disrupting Food Waste in the Workplace from the Rockefeller Foundation – is there a lot of wasted food at your work? Here are some tips on how to combat that issue.
10 Ways to get Kids to Waste Less Food from ivaluefood.com
Wasted! The Story of Food Waste – produced by Anthony Bourdain
Dive! Living off America’s Waste – a movie about how one man’s trash is another man’s dinner
Food Fighter: One Woman’s Crusade Against Waste – about an Australian woman named Ronni Kahn.
Ted Talks – Tristram Stuart: The global food waste scandal.
Edible, but Ugly a video from The New York Times about the issue of ugly food.
Oregon Public Broadcasting: What a Waste – a series about food waste.
NPR: Here and Now – about how one restaurant is putting food waste on the menu.
NPR: The Salt – search for food waste. There are articles about all kinds of things folks are doing to combat food waste.
Save the Food: from the Natural Resources Defense Council and the AdCouncil
Still Tasty: your ultimate shelf life guide – all about how long food lasts and how to navigate dates on food.
Global News Canada: some great info-graphics showing volume of food waste.
Kim Ely’s blog Long Island Sounds: a Rethink Food Waste Challenge participant from May 2018
Paleohacks: 9 edible, healthy foods you were told not to eat – up your game by eating things you didn’t think were edible!
Rethink Food Waste: Shop Smarter and Technology
Combating Food Waste: Deschutes County and Beyond from the Rethink Waste Project