Oftentimes, we find ourselves throwing away food that has turned bad or gone past its expiry date. If we gather the statistics from every household, you can only imagine the amount of food being thrown out into the bin.
Nearly one-third of food produced in the world is thrown away for multiple reasons. That means, nearly 1.3 billion tons of food is being wasted every year!
The drawbacks of throwing away food don’t just stop on money being wasted. But, discarded food is also sent to landfills where they rot and produce methane gas.
Methane gas has been deemed to be the world’s second-largest producing greenhouse gas that damages the environment.
Shocked by the devastating repercussions that food wastage can cause? Now is your chance to make a change. Here are some of the best practices you can follow to help reduce kitchen waste.
1. Organize Your Kitchen
Organising helps to declutter your fridge and pantry. A rule to organize your kitchen would be to implement the “FIFO” (first in, first out).
All you have to do is arrange and place the newly bought items or those that have a longer expiry date towards the back of your cupboard or fridge. This will help you consume the foods in the front row first, thereby ensuring freshness and reducing waste.
You can also wrap them in baking papers or likewise for foods that do not need to be kept in the fridge.
Table of Contents
Made from 100% organic cotton, natural beeswax and jojoba oil, these wraps will keep your food from spoiling completely for a long time without the use of any harmful preservatives.
2. Storing Food Systematically
Perishable food items such as fruits and vegetables are best stored in containers to avoid spoilage.
The best ways to store these kinds of food are:
- Keep fresh ingredients in a refrigerator compartment of below 5°C (41°F).
- Storing cooked foods on shelves other than raw foods to avoid contamination of bacteria.
- Place foods in sealed containers.
- Transfer leftovers from open tin cans into tight-lid containers.
Keep your leftovers safely in this air-tight container. Being air-tight means odour doesn't just escape, but you also prevent external odour from entering the leftovers as well!
3. Design a Weekly Menu
Drafting a menu every week will help you organise which food items you need, thus, reducing waste. There are several online apps and tools or cookbooks to help you plan out your meals for the week and only shop for the food items that you need.
4. Freeze Extras
When in doubt about preventing food spoilage, just freeze them. Freezing foods such as fruits, vegetables, bread, meat and cooked dishes, help to prolong their freshness. You can keep them in transparent containers or bags for easy viewing.
These reusable silicone bags extend the shelf life of any food items, including leftovers. The tight seal avoids moisture from entering and ruining your food. Plus, they are even safe to be tossed into the freezer or microwave.
5. Turning Extras into Stews
Sometimes the extras from food such as scraps or bones are not entirely disposable items. But they make great ingredients for soups or stews. Besides, they even end up being nutritious and tasty meals.
Alternatively, you can also reuse ingredients by turning them into another form, such as dehydrating them into dried food!
A food dehydrator helps in removing moisture from food to prolong its preservation. Just like many dehydrators, this would work great for dried vegetables, fruits, meats and spices.
By reducing food waste, you’re contributing towards benefitting the environment.
Reducing, reusing and recycling your food waste not only helps save the environment, but it will also help you save money and time substantially. With little effort, comes great results!