There’s a new app to help New Yorkers find and patronize restaurants that donate unused food to City Harvest. Perfect! — — Food deserts present a real problem these days. This piece addresses the different solutions, from Walmart to urban agriculture to food recovery. — — You want tips on how to avoid waste and [...]
I’m not a fan of expiration dates in general–see yesterday’s post–but if stamping them on eggs (along with the batch number) saves half a billion eggs per year at Walmart alone…I can stomach them. Yes, the Walmart video below is a nice bit of propaganda, but it’s a result of a genuine effort by that retailer [...]
The latest version of Freakonomics Radio has a few fascinating bits linked to reducing waste. There’s the food scientist who’s worked on canning tomatoes to maximize taste and minimize waste. And then there’s an inventor who created a “food printer” that could trim waste by creating just the right amount of food, through just-in-time cooking. [...]
Finding a fabulous web site is like wandering into a random restaurant and getting a surprisingly tasty meal. And then not having to pay. That was how I felt when I came across Expendable Edibles. The site, around since 2004, has a beautiful premise: helping people use food that they’d otherwise throw away. Expendable Edibles [...]
Because Daniel suggested it–here’s a more prominent placement for the video from my Book TV appearance. So if you haven’t already–check it out! — — A little while back I wrote about the Green Egg Shopper app for iPhones. Well, the maker has been kind enough to provide us with some promo codes for free [...]
The iTunes description of the Green Egg Shopper App of starts like this: Reduce food waste by never missing ‘Use by’ dates. Now that’s my kind of app. The Green Egg app–not to be confused with the smokers–helps avoid food waste in a few, neat ways. First, it allows you to make a handy grocery [...]
You know that compostable SunChips bag? Yeah, the really loud, crinkly one. Well, about that loudness–Frito Lay is discontinuing the bag precisely because of that noise! A real shame. — – Nice to see the study on the energy wasted when food isn’t eaten is getting some press. And man is it getting some press! [...]
Food recalls are the worst. First, they only occur when food-borne illnesses are causing sickness and sometimes death. Second, the mechanism of recalling vast amounts of food means millions of pounds of perfectly good food won’t be eaten. Stephen Jannise of Distribution Software Advice recently wrote an interesting post dissecting this summer’s egg recall and [...]
On Monday, the Freakonomics Blog made a, well, economical case for why we should care more about food waste than packaging waste. Writing as a Super Freak(onomics member), James McWilliams provided a neat summary of why I don’t write more about food packaging. In a word, it’s methane: But if you take the packaging away [...]
In a move that should surprise no one, Portland will test a household food waste pickup system in 2,000 homes come April. Great idea, great quote: Portland’s solid waste and recycling manager, Bruce Walker, says, “We’re coming right into their kitchen saying, ‘Please change your habits.’ “ — — Keep sandwich thieves away with these [...]
