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Simple ways to combat food waste
Food loss and waste have become a global crisis, and to fight them means we also fight hunger, poverty and global warming.
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Food loss and waste have become a global crisis, and to fight them means we also fight hunger, poverty and global warming. (Shutterstock/FlorianKunde)
W
hile The United Nations aims at halving food loss and waste by 2030, a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) study found that worldwide food waste was estimated to reach 2.1 billion tons annually, worth US$1.5 million, according to VOA.
Currently, around 1.6 billion tons of food are wasted annually.
One of the study’s authors, Esben Hegnsholt, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the world was seeing a real crisis at a global level.
“The amounts of waste and the social, economic, environmental implications are serious if we don’t change the trajectory. When we fight food loss and waste, we also fight hunger, poverty and global warming,” he said.
While the handling of this crisis requires a huge, global effort, we can also start doing our part from home.
The Takeout has compiled a list of small steps to combat food waste.
Keep pantry staples on hand
It is a good idea to always stock our pantry with eggs, rice or pasta sauce. So when we have excess ingredients after cooking a dish, we can use the stock to whip up a second dish. Leftover vegetables, cheese or herbs can be made into an omelet.
Steak from the day before? Make a stir-fry with it. A piece of roast chicken, make it a topping for pasta. Or in most Indonesian cases, you can always make fried rice with almost any leftovers. Rendang, black pepper beef, salted fish, you name it.
Best-before date is not the end of the food
After we make sure that we store our foods properly, now it’s time to check the expiration date to know how long we can keep it before we finish it. According to Greatist, expiration dates on food and drink products are not required or regulated by federal administrators.
Best-if Used Before/By, for instance, means that this date helps specify when a product is at its peak freshness. If a box of cereal says best-by Aug. 31, it doesn’t mean you cannot eat it on Sep. 2.
Read also: In Britain, chefs stir up food waste revolution in the kitchen
Make stock using whatever is in stock
Kevin Pang, a reader who contributes idea to combat food waste to The Takeout wrote that he would make stock using the carcass of supermarket rotisserie chicken, carrot peels, bottom end of celery stalks, lettuce and the last scoop from a can of tomato paste.
“A stock is incredibly forgiving to what ‘garbage’ you throw in the pot,” he wrote. (mut)
