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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

With Passover just around the corner, it seems ironic that Egyptian bread is in the news. The Financial Times of Germany (even more irony?) reported that 20 percent of Egyptian bread made with subsidized wheat is going to waste. The culprit:
Corrupt bakers sell their cheap flour on the black market or deliberately ruin some of […]

Last week, I wrote about having to buy a half-pound bag of bean sprouts when I just needed a handful. This week, in making an encore entree out of cold sesame noodles, I went to the Asian grocer nearby and bought just the right amount.
Not only did I preclude any extra sprouts, which I never […]

ABC News reports that Amelia’s Grocery Outlet, an 11-store supermarket chain in Pennsylvania, is selling groceries that have old promotions, damaged packaging or an expired sell-by date. I’m sure they’re receiving their Easter stuff as you read this.
1. This story was pegged to the recession, but there’s not much new here. There have always been […]

Here’s a little food waste humor courtesy of Joe Martin and his Mister Boffo comic strip:

I guess I often ‘walk on the wild side.’ After more careful consideration, I’m totally a wild and crazy guy. 
Of course, there’s nothing too wild about eating food a few days past its “sell-by” date. Consuming items past their “use-by” dates, though, is […]

Gordon James, director of Friends of the Earth Cymru (Wales), or Cyfeillion y Ddaear Cymru for the Welsh-speaking crowd, thinks there’d be less food waste if you couldn’t park your car close to the supermarket. The thinking: Since there’s no deterrent to buying an excessive amount of food (often prompted by promotions), we do.
While his theory indirectly indicts supermarkets […]

Playing the role of Scrooge this (and most every) year, is Wal-Mart.
St. Louis’ KMOV-TV recently ran a great piece of investigative journalism on just how much food is wasted at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Clubs. The station went inside the belly of the beast and got some fascinating hidden camera footage.
The piece smartly details how numerous […]

Bri, of Figs with Bri fame, recently wrote in with a tale of waste. She passed along a story from an acquaintance of hers who worked at a California outlet of bulk retailer CostCo. I’ll let him tell the story: 
One night when I was helping close up the store, I overheard some of the employees who prepared […]