food waste – Eco Home Ideas

Stop Wasting Food: How To Extend Your Produce Shelf Life

Food waste is one of the most important environmental issues that our world is facing today. In the US alone, 40 percent of all produced food is thrown away. An average American family will waste over two thousand dollars worth of food per year. So many resources are used up to produce food that these statistics are more than a little bit worrying. When we throw out food we are not only wasting money, but also water, soil, energy and even farming space. Maybe you can’t do much to stop big chain stores from wasting produce. But you can make sure that your family gets to eat what you buy, by extending your food’s shelf life.

1. The old paper towel trick

If you buy more carrots and lettuce than your family can consume quickly, you may have found that they become soggy after being stored in the fridge for a while. To help them retain their crispiness for longer, all you need is a paper towel. Store your carrots and lettuce on top of several layers of paper towels inside of your fridge. If your produce come sin a plastic bag, perforate the bag before putting it inside of the fridge, you shouldn’t be able to see any condensation inside the bag.

2. Don’t store everything in the fridge

Some fruits should always be kept at room temperature, not only because their life will not actually extend when stored in the fridge, but also because they might actually cause your other produce to go bad faster. Avocados, bananas, apricots, oranges, pears, melons, peaches, plums, tomatoes, kiwis, pineapples and nectarines should be kept outside of the fridge. This is because they produce ethylene gas, which causes nearby vegetables to spoil quicker.

3. Keep your fridge clean

Not only should you throw out food that has gone bad, you should also wipe down your fridge at least every week. Pay special attention to the veggie crisper or wherever you keep your vegetables. This is because bacteria built up on the fridge surfaces can help speed up the process of spoiling and make your veggies go bad faster.

4. Keep your onions away from the potaties

Some foods are not good friends. Onions and potatoes are sworn enemies. Even if both of these vegetables should be stored at room temperature, try your best not to store them right next to each other. This is because they give out a chemical that can make other produce spoil quicker, so this will significantly reduce their shelf life.

5. Choose your wrappings

Celery, green peppers and broccoli will keep for much longer if you keep them wrapped in tin foil inside your fridge. They will retain their crispiness and be just as delicious as the first day. Mushrooms, on the other hand, should be stored in a paper bag or wrap instead of plastic or foil.

A Petition To End Food Waste In Whole Foods And Wal-Mart

Here’s something few of us ever think about: produce beauty standards. Specifically, the tendency of grocery stores such as Wal-Mart and Whole Foods to sell only “attractive” produce, and throwing the uglies away. That’s right, turns out that carrots are not all straight and long, potatoes have shovel scars sometimes and apples can be of a weird shape. But none of us see that when we go grocery shopping, because stores throw cosmetically challenged produce away before it even hits the shelves.

It is currently estimated that as much as 26% of all produce in the United States gets thrown away before it reaches the shelves. This is not about rotten, diseased or otherwise inedible vegetables. This is about produce that is just as nutritious (and delicious) as the one in the shelves, but “ugly”. This waste is not joking matter as it contributes to food shortages, water waste, greenhouse emissions and unhealthy diets in the population.

In the US, 80% of all fresh water goes to agriculture and farming, according to the USDA. Besides, the GRACE Communications Foundation states that the American food system is responsible for 33% of all the human-made greenhouse gas emissions in the country. It’s easy to see how wasting more than one quarter of our produce can have an incredibly negative impact in our environment. And it’s infuriating to know that the only reason for this is artificial “beauty” standards we are imposing to the food we eat.

What’s more infuriating is the fact that even in a developed country like the US, there are millions of people who do not know where their next meal is coming from. According to Feeding America, one in six people in the US are food insecure. But even those of us lucky enough to have a full pantry have to battle malnutrition. The CDC estimates that more than four in five people in the US are not eating enough fruits and vegetables. And we are throwing those veggies away before they even have a chance at the stores.

Jordan Figureredo of the End Food Waste Campaign decided it’s time to end this, so he launched a petition in Change.org to get Wal-Mart and Whole Foods to stop throwing away billions of fruits and vegetables that are perfectly fine to eat. This petition wants the two store chains to update their policies and sell “ugly” produce for a discount price instead of preemptively throwing it away. You can contribute by signing the petition and promoting the campaign in social media. And of course, next time you go grocery shopping, give uglies a chance. After all, in a country where food deserts are still a thing, throwing away a banana just because it’s not perfectly curved seems like a silly thing to do, right?