FOOD & DRINK

A year of wasting less food?

Tips to stop putting so much food into the trash or disposal could form a money-saving habit.

By Addie Broyles
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Quick, look in your refrigerator. If you were to clean it out, how much of it would you have to throw away?

If it's anything like my fridge, you have Tupperware containers of this month's leftovers and probably half a dozen fruits and vegetables that are past their prime. And if you count the remains of last night's dinner stinking up the trash can, you're looking at several pounds of wasted food in your kitchen.

The waste in your home is likely repeated in millions of other American households. Then think about every unfinished plate at restaurants across the country and thousands of buffet lines, grocery stores and dining halls at closing time.

All told, Americans throw out between 25 and 50 percent of the food produced in this country, according to estimates. On the conservative side, that's more than $100 billion worth of food going to landfills every year.

Wasted money isn't the worst of it, says writer Jonathan Bloom, who blogs at wastedfood.com and is working on a book about the subject. That food rotting in landfills, because it isn't decomposing with the help of oxygen, is creating millions of tons of methane gas, which scientists say is more than 20 times as harmful as carbon dioxide to our atmosphere. Eighteen percent of what goes into landfills is food, and landfills are the largest human-related source of methane.

"People who grew up after World War II don't value food the same way as those who lived through the Depression, when rationing happened and people had to grow their own food. Wasting food was (seen as) helping the enemy," Bloom says. "The stakes are even higher (today) if you talk about global warming."

Over the course of this year on these pages, we'll explore ways people are reducing food waste at workplaces, schools, restaurants, cafeterias and dining halls. Prompted by my own New Year's resolution to waste less food, we'll also focus on what we all can do at home to cut down on the amount of food we throw away.

Even though there is more food waste at the commercial level, widespread change almost always starts at home. "In the household setting, people have power to affect change and reduce the amount of food that gets sent to landfills," Bloom says.

It's a matter of breaking habits we've collectively been forming over the past 60 years. Bloom points out that the government isn't seriously studying this issue; the last major report was in 1997 based on data from 1995.

Raising awareness of the copious amounts of wasted food just might be a silver lining of the sinking economy. "People are paying attention more," he says, especially since food and commodity prices skyrocketed last year. "They want to make sure they stretch (the food) out and get all the use they can from it," he says.

Bloom says about 25 percent of the food we bring into our homes isn't eaten, which totals on average more than 450 pounds a year per household. Estimates are that about 15 percent goes in the trash and another 10 percent into garbage disposals. By curbing the amount of edible food thrown away, Bloom says families could save hundreds of dollars a year.

"If people would just think about the amount of food they end up tossing, take a week and look at what ends up in the wastebasket, they will be able to see how much they are wasting."

Here are some ways to cut down on the amount of food you waste:

• Shop wisely. Make a meal plan, create a grocery list and stick to it. Take stock of what you already have before buying more. The grocery store is not a place for wishful thinking. Be realistic about what you are going to cook and, more importantly, eat. One survey found that more than 60 percent of food that goes bad in households is from people planning recipes they never actually make. Don't buy what you think you should eat or what you wish you had time to cook, Bloom says. If you're not in the habit of cooking laboriously during the week, plan a special recipe for a weekend night and then go shopping on Thursday or Friday.

Most of the time, fruits and vegetables from the grocery store have been in transit for a week or more, which means they will go bad faster than produce bought from local sources right after they are picked. If you can, go to the store more frequently and buy fewer items - just what you know you'll cook and eat in the next few days.

Food waste is particularly hard to avoid if you're cooking for one. Food, especially meat and produce, is often packaged for several servings, so it's hard to use it all up before it goes bad. Use the freezer to protect those extra servings or cook it all and then freeze.

The bulk bins in stores can help. ("It should be called the custom food aisle," Bloom says, because you can buy as little as you need.) Or order at the deli counter, where you can ask for three slices of cheese or a third of a pound of meat. You might even find a store that will sell you half of a head of cabbage or just a few celery stalks.

• Cook wisely. Don't whip up a huge pot of soup right before you leave town for a few days. Serve reasonable portions; people can always get seconds, Bloom says. Save - and eat - leftovers. "So many people put off wasting for a week, but a week later, they find the Tupperware that isn't looking so good," he says.

• Compost. With a well-kept composting system, food scraps can decompose into a rich soil amendment in a matter of months. Food in landfills can take up to 20 years to break down. I've started a pile on the ground in my backyard and covered it with a large container. After saving my food scraps for just a few weeks, the pile outgrew the container, so I've made a cylinder with chicken wire in which to throw scraps and yard clippings (leaves, grass trimmings, etc.). To encourage decomposition, keep the pile moist and stir it up every week or so. Worms likely will find their way to your pile, which to them is better than any Las Vegas buffet. You also can buy worms from just about any gardening center. (For more detailed information about composting and starting your own garden, check out the new "Gardening 101" series on the Austin360 blog Renee's Roots, www.austin360.com/reneesroots.)

Apartment dwellers and nongardeners can drop off their scraps at the downtown farmers' market, which last weekend started putting out a 55-gallon barrel for people to fill with composting materials. The refuse will go to one of the market's farmers, who will use it to help grow more food.

• Make reducing waste a household project. Talk about what each member of your family can do to reduce their personal food waste. Teach your children the value of food by involving them in the shopping, cooking and composting of food. Ask them how much of their lunch they end up throwing away at school. Show family members how to repurpose leftovers by making frittatas or stews.

"It's easy to discount the impact that you, as an individual, can make," Bloom says. "At the same time, if everyone thought that way, we'd never accomplish anything. Whenever the idea of reducing or composting food waste seems unlikely to catch on, I think of how recycling was a foreign concept 20 years ago."

abroyles@statesman.com; 912-2504