In the United States, an estimated 30-40% of the food supply is wasted each year.
In the United States, we waste a lot of food. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American family throws away 25 percent of the food they buy. That’s a lot of money and a lot of food!
While there are many reasons for this food waste, one of the main reasons is that we simply buy too much food. We buy what looks good at the grocery store, but then we don’t end up eating it all.
So, how can we reduce our food waste? Here are 10 items that we should focus on:
1. Fruits and vegetables: It’s estimated that we waste about 30 percent of all the fruits and vegetables we buy. This is often because they go bad before we have a chance to eat them. To reduce this waste, try to buy only what you know you’ll eat and be sure to eat the produce that will go bad first.
2. Dairy: Dairy products, like milk, cheese, and yogurt, often go bad before we have a chance to eat them. To reduce this waste, try to buy only what you know you’ll eat and be sure to use the oldest dairy products first.
3. Meat: Meat is one of the most expensive items in the grocery store, so it’s especially important to not waste it. To reduce meat waste, try to only buy what you’ll eat and be sure to use the oldest meat first.
4. Bread: Bread is another item that often goes bad before we have a chance to eat it. To reduce bread waste, try to only buy what you’ll eat and be sure to use the oldest bread first.
5. canned goods: Canned goods can last a long time, but often we don’t use them before they go bad. To reduce canned goods waste, try to only buy what you’ll eat and be sure to use the oldest canned goods first.
6. dry goods: Dry goods, like rice, pasta, and cereal, can last a long time, but often we don’t use them before they go bad. To reduce dry goods waste, try to only buy what you’ll eat and be sure to use the oldest dry goods first.
7. leftovers: Leftovers are often the first to go bad in the fridge. To reduce leftovers waste, try to only make what you’ll eat and be sure to eat the leftovers within a few days.
8. take-out: Take-out can be expensive and it’s often high in calories and fat. To reduce take-out waste, try to only order what you’ll eat and be sure to eat the leftovers within a few days.
9. frozen food: Frozen food can last a long time, but often we don’t use it before it goes bad. To reduce frozen food waste, try to only buy what you’ll eat and be sure to use the oldest frozen food first.
10. snacks: Snacks are often high in calories and fat and they can be expensive. To reduce snack waste, try to only buy what you’ll eat and be sure to use the oldest snacks first.
Common Questions Roundup:
1. What is the average amount of food that an American family wastes?
2. What is one of the main reasons for food waste?
3. How can we reduce our fruit and vegetable waste?
4. How can we reduce our dairy waste?
5. How can we reduce our meat waste?
6. How can we reduce our bread waste?
7. How can we reduce our canned goods waste?
8. How can we reduce our dry goods waste?
9. How can we reduce our leftovers waste?
10. How can we reduce our take-out waste?
Answers to common questions:
1. The average amount of food that an American family wastes is about 20%.
2. One of the main reasons for food waste is that people often buy more food than they need and end up throwing away the excess.
3. We can reduce our fruit and vegetable waste by buying only what we need, storing produce properly, and using up older fruits and vegetables before buying new ones.
4. We can reduce our dairy waste by using milk and cheese before they expire, freezing milk and cheese that we won’t be able to use right away, and making sure to keep track of how much dairy we have in our fridge.
5. We can reduce our meat waste by cooking only the amount of meat we need, storing meat properly, and using up older meat before buying new meat.
6. We can reduce our bread waste by freezing bread that we won’t be able to use right away, making sure to eat older bread before it goes bad, and using bread in recipes.
7. We can reduce our canned goods waste by donating canned goods that we won’t use to a food bank, using up older canned goods before buying new ones, and making sure to store canned goods properly.
8. We can reduce our dry goods waste by using up older dry goods before buying new ones, storing dry goods properly, and only buying the amount of dry goods that we need.
9. We can reduce our leftovers waste by storing leftovers properly, eating leftovers within a few days, and freezing leftovers that we won’t be able to eat right away.
10. We can reduce our take-out waste by only ordering what we will eat, taking home leftovers, and recycling or composting the packaging.
Tl;dr
The average American family throws away 25 percent of the food they buy, which is a lot of money and food. To reduce food waste, try to only buy what you’ll eat and be sure to use the oldest food first.