We have a problem with food waste in the United States. According to a study done by the nonprofit ReFED, an estimated 31 percent of the U.S. food supply was wasted in 2023. This amounted to 63 million tons of food left to rot. Food is one of the most common components of U.S. landfills, comprising 22 percent of municipal solid waste, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Those billions of pounds of misplaced nourishment represent untold planting, growing, harvesting, and processing labor hours, as well as billions of gallons of water.
Now, all of these figures beg the question: Who’s wasting all of that food? It could be easy to point the finger at industrial sources, but the nonprofit Feeding America found that food-producing factories are actually the least to blame, as they’re responsible for only 2 percent of the United States’ wasted food. What about farms that have to dump produce when it’s not profitable to sell? They’re still only responsible for 16 percent of wasted food. The two leading culprits, according to Feeding America, are the food industry (grocery stores, restaurants, and food-service companies), at 40 percent, and our own homes, where approximately 43 percent of our food is thrown in the garbage.
The scope of food waste in our country is more than just a matter of dollars and pounds; it’s also an environmental, social, and moral issue. But if you’re reading this, you’re likely someone concerned with not adding your lot to those jaw-dropping figures. Though some task forces and state-specific laws are being put in place to try to curb the massive amount of food being wasted, we can also take individual action. Let’s eradicate food waste from our habits and homes – where it happens the most.
What Makes Food ‘Bad’
Food spoilage, whether true or perceived, is one of the main reasons food is tossed rather than tasted. And one of the biggest culprits is those dates on every box, bag, and can. Aside from infant formula, manufacturers aren’t required to put any quality-based dates on their products. Those “best if used by” or “best by” dates are merely recommendations for the “best flavor,” and they have nothing to do with food safety. Dry goods, such as beans, rice, and uncooked pasta, stay good for decades. Canned goods similarly last for years, as long as the can itself is in good condition (no rust, dents, or swelling).
Now, when it comes to food stored in the refrigerator, those “use by” dates do have more relevance. Animal goods, such as milk and meat, and highly perishable edibles, such as sprouts and strawberries, don’t last long at refrigerator temperature, and they’re best consumed by the dates on their packages. Likewise, consume restaurant leftovers within two or three days of bringing them home, and promptly refrigerate any home-cooked leftovers to avoid food spoilage that might be otherwise difficult to detect.
That said, some short-life foods declare their own “best by” date by going bad if left uneaten too long. Our taste buds and noses were designed to let us know if something was good to eat, so if something smells or tastes bad, that’s a clear message to not eat it.
Many of us have been taught the maxim “If in doubt, toss it out.” I find that to be a bad guide, as it’s easy to feel “doubt” based on how motivated we’re feeling that day. I’d replace that, instead, with the mostly useful “The nose knows.”
Reclaim Your Kitchen
Even if you’ve only ever used an oven to heat a frozen pizza, there’s no time like the present to take back your food responsibilities and teach yourself how to cook. This seemingly simple choice is a world-changer when it comes to improving your nutrition, reducing your waste, and, as your culinary skills improve, eating some great food.
Plan your meals. Post a whiteboard on your kitchen wall. Then, make a weekly habit of brewing a cup of tea or coffee, checking the refrigerator to see what needs to be used the soonest, and planning your meals. This simple ritual will help you organize what you need to buy and when you need to cook it, plan how to repurpose leftovers, and connect with what you have (so those precious strawberries don’t get shoved to the corner and forgotten again).
Organize your shopping trips. Before you go to the grocery store, write a list of what you actually need and keep to it (use your whiteboard to guide you).
Buy the ugly produce. Those weird-looking apples, lumpy squash, and the bell pepper that looks like Jimmy from fourth grade are perfectly good to eat, so long as they aren’t rotten. It’s not their fault they don’t match up with our mental image of perfection, and they shouldn’t be ignored because of it.
Eat the “trimmings.” Many of these bits and bobs that we’re told to “discard” in recipes are only tossed because they affect the color of the final dish. Let’s enjoy our food from “head to tail” and “leaf to root” whenever possible! Here’s an incomplete list of totally delicious and edible bits that are too often consigned to the trash.
- Carrot leaves: lovely in soup and make a great pesto.
- Beet, turnip, and rutabaga tops: can be used like spinach.
- Leek greens: just as useful as the white parts, just cook them a little longer.
- Celery leaves: seasoning for soups.
- Fennel leaves: excellent for tea or pasta.
- Watermelon rinds and seeds: great pickles or snacks, respectively.
- Broccoli and cauliflower stems: wonderful pickled or turned into slaw.
- Apple peels and cores (minus the seeds): can be dehydrated into “chips” or fermented into vinegar.
- Potato skins: can be seasoned and oiled and then roasted into chips.
Discover Your Inner Lunch Lady
Once you start cooking your own food, you’ll inevitably generate leftovers. Think of leftovers as tomorrow’s meal starters (or next month’s, if they get frozen). My family refers to me as the “lunch lady,” as I’m always hiding yesterday’s food in today’s concoctions. There’s good historical sense to the practice, however, as thrifty home cooks of the past – to whom food waste was anathema – came up with a dazzling array of “leftover” dishes. Here are some ideas from around the world:
- Arancini: a great Italian snack that’s made with leftover rice and stuffed with cheese.
- Fried rice: always comes out best when made with yesterday’s rice.
- Pain perdu: the original French toast that rescues “lost bread” from oblivion.
- Panzanella: yesterday’s bread, toasted and turned into an adaptable salad.
- Chilaquiles: a delicious way to use extra tortillas.
- Catch-all soups: Bones saved in the freezer can become stock, and any leftover vegetables can be thrown in. Make croutons with yesterday’s bread, and you’ll have an excellent meal.
Compost and Vermicompost
If you’ve never built your own compost pile, you may be under the impression they’re stinky piles of raccoon bait suited only for getting a homeowners association upset. But if managed correctly, they don’t stink, they convert food waste into rich soil, and, best of all, they keep all of that food out of the garbage. There are many ways to customize composting to fit your life, from a pile cookin’ by the garden to a bokashi system under the sink or a vermicompost bin hidden in the basement.
Now, all the compost you’ll generate will cry out to be included in a garden or spread around trees. If you don’t currently have a garden and you have the space to build one, perhaps your desire to reduce food waste will lead you to naturally blossom into growing your own food. That’s a beautiful journey well worth taking!
Get Chickens
Pigs are somewhat famous as food-scrap eliminators, but chickens are just as effective (and easier to bring into a home setting). In their native jungles, the chicken’s wild ancestors were omnivorous scavengers, eating whatever insects, plants, or fallen fruit they could find. That clean-up-crew behavior has been retained in their domesticated counterparts, meaning chickens are a great way to “recycle” vegetable and meat scraps, and any other odds and ends that might otherwise be wasted.
On my own land, I actually don’t keep compost piles anymore – the chickens are my “compost pile,” turning food scraps, garden weeds, and their own droppings into a rich soil amendment. That said, these food scraps shouldn’t go to your birds:
- Chocolate and coffee grounds
- Cured meats (uncured meat is fine and is a good source of protein)
- Citrus peels
- Avocado rinds and pits
- Bakery goods made with white flour
- Uncooked or dry beans
- Anything heavily salted or sugared including snack foods (if you have to open a box or bag to get it, it’s probably not great for your birds)
Find Your Local Salvage Grocery
If you’ve never heard of a salvage grocery before, allow me the honor of introducing you to this undersung champion of food rescue. Salvage grocery stores specialize in selling what “normal” grocery stores consider unsellable: ugly produce (Jimmy the pepper!); dinged-up, unattractive boxes of perfectly edible food; discontinued products; and “expired” food that’s still completely safe and good to eat – all at unbelievably rock-bottom prices. Americans have been trained to expect a certain shape, color, and condition of the food they buy from the stores; salvage groceries lampoon and upend all of those preconceived standards. I’ve found grass-fed meats, organic grain products, “expired” dry goods that aren’t actually expired at all, and delectably ripe produce at my local salvage grocery. If you can look past first impressions, you’ll find great prices and the satisfaction of knowing you rescued good food.
Change Starts Now
Many more steps can be taken to rescue food, from participating in produce swaps with neighbors to donating good food to charities, and even having a friendly competition between homes to see who can generate the least waste every week. But there’s one surefire way to force yourself to reduce and even eliminate food waste in your home: Ban food from your garbage.
That may sound like a simple change on paper, but it’s a huge adjustment for those who’ve never attempted it before, and it has far-reaching implications. When food is forbidden from the garbage can, you’ll no longer have the throw-it-into-oblivion-and-let-someone-else-deal-with-it option. You’ll have to figure out what to do with it or how to not make it in the first place.
And that’s precisely what might start to make a real difference.
Wren Everett and her husband live off-grid in the Ozarks in a home they built with their own hands. They try to grow as much of their own food as possible and rediscover the old skills of self-sufficiency.
