Wasted Food

Mandatory food waste recycling in San Francisco? It has been voluntary for a few years, but if Mayor Gavin Newsom’s plan is accepted, separation of household food scraps will be required. Seattle has already committed to that course of action by 2009.

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Here are some useful hints on how to avoid food waste at this blog and more here at Love Food, Hate Waste, which lets you search recipes based on which foods “need using up.” One question: who has trouble using up chocolate??

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The answer, comes from the ridiculously detailed UK report, The Food We Waste. Britons waste 7,800 tonnes of “chocolate/sweets (full packs)” and 1,000 tonnes of “chocolate desserts” at a combined cost of almost £50 million ($97.5 million).

For a more digestible version of the study, check out the executive summary.

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Staying in Britain, the Daily Mail ran an entertaining food waste diary written by a North London woman. Not to spoil it, but 36-year-old Ursula Hirschkorn tosses about half the groceries she bought for her family of four. After a wedge of brie goes bad in her fridge, she writes:

Now, I am all for good, smelly cheese, but this smelt like the contents of one of Max’s dirtier nappies. That will teach me for impulse buying — it makes the trip from store to swing bin without even being unwrapped.

And this humorous bit:

As I feared, the vegetable drawer contains the gooey remains of a cucumber, a couple of split cherry tomatoes and some suspicious looking mushrooms. I am not sure if the fungi were bought, or simply evolved in this primordial swamp.

The British semi-governmental, not-for-profit Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) released its long-anticipated food waste study today. The whole of Britain–the media and blogging parts, at least–is going wild.

Here’s The Food We Waste, all 237 pages of it. A good first step would be reading the executive summary.

It’ll take me a bit to digest this ‘Holy Grail’ of food waste research. Until I do, know that Britons throw away about one third of the food they purchase. Of that, 61 percent could have been eaten.

There’s much discussion of rising food prices, but what does that really look like? Here’s a closeup. (Zoom in on the top portion.)

Like usual, the story is a bit more complicated than it may appear. As we see in the illustration, the cost of food is increasing in many, but not all categories. The prices of some items–snacks, “other fresh fruit,” seafood and juice–are rising at a rate lower than inflation (4 percent). The same goes for eating out at “full-service” (non-fast food) restaurants.

Not to belittle the suffering that rising food costs bring, but some items were actually cheaper in March 2008 than March 2007. Pork, lettuce, citrus and “other fresh vegetables” all dropped in price during that span. Now’s your time, bacon lovers!

How does this relate to food waste? In this armchair economist’s view, higher prices will likely cause folks to value their food more and, hence, waste less of it.

Price increases will probably nudge folks to plan meals, create disciplined shopping lists and make fewer impulse purchases that often aren’t used before they go bad. I’ve certainly seen an uptick in blog posts advising how to save money and waste less. I’m also guessing that food inflation will prompt less eating out. Based on the numbers, however, that may not make strict economic sense.

What about you? Have you noticed an increase in your grocery bill? If so, (how) has it changed your behavior and view of food?

People often e-mail to ask how they can reduce their household food waste. One of the easiest ways is to save leftovers. Now, this only cuts waste if you actually eat those leftovers.

I love leftovers, especially as the next day’s lunch, but many folks don’t. For you non-leftover lovers, ensuring that they’re consumed means planning a leftover meal.

It’s easy, all you have to is: nothing. Don’t buy food for that night or plan another meal. And don’t give in to complaints. Making it work may require some repurposing (i.e. throwing everything into a fritatta) or a little spin. For advice on how to do so, this useful column has an idea–give it a sassy name:

I learned years ago that I could create a complete dinner for my family one night a week using one to two servings of previous meals. Family members might eat different entrees, or we might each have a little of all the entrees. The key is to use every bit of the groceries you purchase. When my children were younger, I would call it “crazy dinner,” and they thought that was fun.

I would suggest “Loco Leftovers,” but some prefer a “smorgasbord.” Go with your gut here. Just remember this talking point: Leftover night rocks because instead of eating one boring ol’ main course, you can have a bit of three.

If you’re like me, you could use a little help getting through your Tuesday. On that front, Weird Al never fails. Anyway, meet Violet, Gordon and the Gang of Misfit Fruits (and Veggies):

Wow. We sure do love to anthropomorphize food, but they’re effective spokespeople. Also, isn’t it a bit odd that these fruits and veggies are begging to be eaten? I guess anything’s better than the dreaded landfill.

Anyway, the real point is that food banks need your help. Rising food costs have hit them hard. Here’s an idea–give some (or all) of your tax refund to your local food bank or food recovery group. That’s what I’ll be doing.

The other lesson: Hopefully produce will not be judged by the (dis)color of its skin but by the content of its character. You know, to avoid food waste.

The food chain prizes uniformity. As anyone who’s grown crops or been to a farmer’s market can attest, the homogeneous supermarket displays are superficial. As a result, produce that’s too big, too small, the wrong color, oddly shaped, etc. is culled and often thrown out somewhere along the line. If they make it off the farm, they’re usually discarded by wholesalers. Now that’s stranger than talking produce.

I’ve got some good news and some bad news about Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

First, the bad: Abu Dhabi’s resort buffets produce massive amounts of food waste. While this isn’t much different in Las Vegas or other buffet-laden destinations, it’s a problem.

Without local food recovery groups, Abu Dhabi’s resort restaurants, especially buffets, throw away tons of food each day. The Director of Kitchens at the Radisson SAS hotel, estimated that 10 percent of the buffet line went to waste (which sounds like an underestimation to me).

In addition, buffet items aren’t fed to the armies of hotel staff anymore. Food safety concerns apparently prevent this practice, which is still done at many Vegas hotels. Not sure why this can’t continue in the U.A.E…

Now the good: Abu Dhabi, in a move to address its post-oil economy, is designing a carbon-neutral city called Masdar. While Masdar’s government-backed planners promise to limit the city’s impact on global warming with a bunch of renewable and sustainable technologies, I hope they’ll address food waste (and apply these innovations for the 50,000 person Masdar City to the 1 million inhabitant Abu Dhabi).

Composting? Anaerobic Digestion? Mr. Fusion? Nothing would surprise me here.

Whichever technology, let’s just hope the issue of food waste is addressed. And minimizing that waste would go a long way toward being truly sustainable.

In food-waste-to-energy news: If the state of California processed all of its 5.9 million tons of food waste by anaerobic digestion, it would produce enough energy to power 75 percent of the Bay Area. This according to an East Bay Municipal Utility District study.

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Staying in California, The California bill to allow hotel or catering event customers to take home the leftovers food they’ve paid for (sounds like a no-brainer, to me, but I’m not impartial) is nearing approval.

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I just read about Fresh Pods, plastic contraptions that supposedly quadruple the lifespan of produce when placed in your ‘fridge. I have no idea how they work…or whether they do.

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I think if we grew our own food, we’d be less likely to waste it. Plus, we read many places that a classic grass yard is like a carbon Bigfoot. Hence, the idea (and book) Food Not Lawns, a nice play on the hunger relief movement Food Not Bombs.

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Did you know we’re wasting wild asparagus? Or at least missing out. Get on it, America! Start foraging.

The 109 schools listed below all went trayless on Earth Day (4/22). That means that they removed trays from at least one dining hall, cafe, student union or other food service venue to reduce the amount of food waste and energy and water usage.

And these are just the Sodexo-supplied schools (well done!) that went without trays. I’m listing them vertically to illustrate just how many colleges and universities participated (109!). The idea is spreading…

Now, let’s hope many of these schools decide to implement trayless dining in the Fall. To ease student adoption of the idea, the best time to begin is at the beginning of the school year.

Schools Going Trayless–Earth Day 2008

Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College

Academy of Art University

Alliant International University

Bellarmine University

Belmont University

Berea College-Alumni Bldg

California Lutheran University

Carroll College

Central Missouri State University

Centre College

Champlain College

Clinton Community College

Colby Sawyer College

Colorado College Cornell College

Cal State University-Monterey Bay

Delaware Valley College

DePauw University

Drake University

Drexel University

Eastern University

Embry Riddle

Emory University

Florida A&M University

Florida Memorial University

Fort Lewis College

Franklin and Marshall College

George Mason University

Georgetown College

Georgia Institute Of Technology

Georgia State University

Gonzaga University

Hobart & William Smith College

Howard University

Jacksonville State University

Jones County Junior College

Kennesaw State University

Kings College

Lasell College

Le Moyne College

Lee University

Liberty University

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln University

Linfield College

Martin Methodist College

Menlo School and College

Middle Georgia College

Millikin University

Mississippi Delta Community College

Missouri So. State Univ.

Newbury College

North Carolina A&T State

North Carolina Central University

North Carolina Wesleyan

Northwestern College

Northwood University

Oklahoma City University

Panola College

Paul Smith’s College

Pfeiffer University

Presbyterian College-Greenville

Rocky Mountain College

Rollins College

Rowan University

Saint Mary’s College

Savannah College

Schreiner University

Seattle Pacific University

South Carolina State University

St Mary’s College (Calif. )

St. Cloud State University

Stillman College

SUNY-New Paltz

SUNY-Oneonta

Texas Christian University

Texas Lutheran University

Texas Southern University

Thomas More College

Transylvania University

Trinity International University

Truman State University

Tulane University

Tusculum College

Tuskegee University

U. Mass-Boston

U. Mass-Dartmouth

University of Alabama-Huntsville

University of North Alabama

University of Tennessee-Martin

University Heights Community Urban

University of Montevallo

University of New England

University of St Francis

University of Tulsa

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

University Southern Indiana

Valdosta State University

Valley Forge Military Academy and College

Villa Julie College

Warren Wilson College

Webster University

West Liberty State College

Western Illinois University

Whitworth College

Wichita State University

Williams Baptist College

Wisconsin Lutheran College

Youngstown State University

Yesterday, I arrived at the grocery store just in time for a show. I pulled up as an employee was wheeling some trash and food (two different things) out to the dumpster.

After tossing the clear bags of trash, the employee turned to the four watermelons in the cart. I sat in my car dumbfounded (and wishing I had my camera or camcorder or had a video phone) as he proceeded to chuck the round watermelons into the blue dumpster. Argh.

Here’s the thing, though: He didn’t just toss them, he whipped them. It was like watching someone work out with a medicine ball. The guy seemed to enjoy watching them explode against the back wall of the dumpster. Double argh.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the feeling. I’ve done the same with late November jack-o’-lanterns. I even remember doing it once or twice when I had to throw away produce while working at a supermarket.

But I kept wondering why these watermelons had gone from food to dumpster fodder. I didn’t get a close enough look at them–pre-bashing–to find out, but I’d bet a week’s worth of groceries that I would have eaten one of those melons. In the end, though, they were just a casualty of our food system.

Be that as it may, the store could at least compost! Or use the watermelons to make something as simple as the above carving.

Yesterday, I enjoyed the “Recession Diet” story in The NY Times describing how many Americans are skimping to battle rising food costs. Among other things, folks are buying more store-brand groceries and eating out less.

On the latter point, this should lead to less food waste, as it’s easier to control portion size and leftovers at home.

Then again, restaurant owners are no fools. They’re adjusting their strategies to maintain customers. Hence, restaurant commercials increasingly emphasize price at least as much as product. (Sadly, I’ll bet you can think of three such ads off the top of your head).

We’re inundated with reminders about the Dollar Menu, some sort of chicken snack that I can hold in one hand while I’m maneuvering through my busy day and the “opportunity” to buy three 10-inch pizzas for $12 (mentioned in the above article).

This weekend, I noticed that a commercial for T.G.I. Friday’s Right Portion, Right Price menu–a Wasted Food favorite–led with its $5.99 starting point. Based on the original press release, they’ve dropped the starting point by a buck.

From a waste perspective, that’s good news. If T.G.I. gets more business by serving less food for less money, maybe more restaurants will follow suit. Then we’d see less half-eaten meals being scraped into the dumpster.