Here’s an updated version of the study tracking the US climate impact of food waste. Food waste represents 1.5% of greenhouse gas emissions? Sounds about right…
— —
A UK professor has the dirt on the EU’s strict standards for veggies.
— —
For those of you on Netflix–you can now instantly watch Dive! the quintessential American dumpster diving doc.
— —
No need for a caucus to determine that composting school food waste in Iowa makes sense!
I’ve gushed about the Halfsies idea before, and that was before I saw their amazing introductory video. So, internets–meet Halfsies:
Don’t even try getting that infectious piano and concise messaging out of your head–it’s physiologically impossible.
Good show, Halfsies! All that remains is raising some cash and spreading the idea nationwide. (And then we’ll tackle the rest of the globe…)
It being 2012, we can safely say the holidays are in the rearview mirror (Right? I’m not forgetting anything, am I?). Given that, I thought it’d be fun to swap tales of holiday leftover usage from your kitchen or others.
Katy, aka The Non-Consumer Advocate, aka Coin Girl, shared this one via Facebook:
Last night I made scalloped potatoes which included the mashed potatoes from Christmas. Tonight I made fettucine alfredo with the last of the whipped cream from Christmas. It turns out that adding obscene amounts of butter to leftovers is the key to palatability.
No food waste in 2012, but much cardiovascular disease.
Kudos to Katy for sacrificing her family’s health to use up those leftovers. Kidding!
While adding boatloads of butter to leftovers is certainly one way to use up your food, there are plenty of other options. What’s the American version of bubble and squeak? Hash?
Anyone have a leftover tale or tip?
The NRDC recently put out this handy two-page summary on food waste. It provides a compact answer to how much we waste, what it costs and what we can do about it.
There’s a little about the environmental impact, but that’s not the main focus. I’m sure that was intentional, to shift the focus elsewhere.
The document is part of the food section of the NRDC’s Smarter Living initiative. From what I’ve seen, the entire section is worth a gander.
Tree gleaning and Chinese food on Christmas?! (And the movie comes afterward, right?) If only I lived in L.A…
— —
Wait, what?! A report out of LA says that 62% of students there don’t have enough time to eat all of their lunch? That can’t be good for food waste.
— —
Glad to hear that the city of Tacoma has given residents an early Christmas present–curbside composting, coming this spring.
— —
This article has it all: general green tips for the holidays, a discussion of
packaging waste vs food waste and minimizing holiday food waste.
— —
Similarly, here’s more on the topic of food packaging vs. food waste. Unfortunately, it can be one of the only times reducing food waste conflicts with another green cause.
— —
Token Hanukkah bit: I’ve been surprised by how seamlessly (If I do say so myself) I was able to sneak some leftover veggies into latkes. Just sayin…
Happy Holidays, folks!
Lest you have any doubts on how utterly doable food recovery is…the below video will hopefully communicate that just a few people working together can make a huge dent in local hunger by rescuing and redistributing food. (Heck, one woman and a van can work wonders.)
With the holidays fast approaching, I wanted to pass on a few quick tips to help you minimize holiday food waste:
1. Don’t cook too much food. Thanksgiving celebrates abundance. As far as I know, none of the winter holidays do. Get a good guest count and try not to go overboard. After all, we can only eat so much goose.
2. Don’t serve too much. Let family and friends serve themselves so they can take as much or as little as they want. Beware the “good provider syndrome,”
3. Be proactive with leftovers. Share the love and leftovers–redistribute them to other guests. And then repurpose what you have leftover. It helps to have an idea of other dishes you can create with leftovers (i.e. roast chicken to chicken soup).
Bonus: Eat some fruitcake–nobody else is going to!
It’s official: You can ignore those ‘best before’ dates on your eggs. (At least that’s the word in the UK.)
— —
This article on Bon Appetit Management food waste minimization at Penn is music to my ears.
— —
Wish you had a sleek kitchen compost container? Now UCan.
— —
Finally, it’s nice to see the big boys like Waste Management getting more and more interested in composting.
Straight from Saudi Arabia…here’s a restaurant charging a fee for uneaten food…that goes to a Somalian charity. Hard to argue with that last part.
My second thought: I guess taking home leftovers isn’t big in Saudi Arabia. Also, showing the words “the greedy are punished” burning embers flicker on screen made me think the video was headed in another direction.
Any opinions?
