Food Waste: A Global Crisis

I would like to share a video that talks about a topic that is very near and dear to my heart. Food waste contributes to world hunger and I believe that by reducing food waste in my own home, I can help to reduce the global food waste problem. This Ted Talks is a really eye opener and I hope it inspires you as much as it inspired me.

Tristram Stuart: The global food waste scandal

Here's Tristram's bio from Ted.com:

"Western countries waste up to half of their food. This is an injustice Tristram Stuart has dedicated his career to fixing. In his newest book, Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal, Tristram shows how changing the systems that result in food waste could be one of the simplest ways to reduce pressure on the environment.

The winner of the international environmental award The Sophie Prize in 2011, Tristram is the founder of Feeding the 5000, a consciousness raising campaign where 5000 members of the public are given a free lunch using only ingredients that otherwise would have been wasted. Held in Trafalgar Square in 2009 and 2011, the event has also been held internationally.

In addition, Tristram works with a range of NGOs, governments, and private enterprises to tackle the global food waste scandal."

"Waste is certainly one of the most important environmental books to come out in years. But it is more than that. It is an indictment of our consumer culture that should make us all feel deeply ashamed. "

The Financial Times

Do you have any stories of food waste? Have you worked in the food industry or have you seen this issue first hand anywhere else?How would you work to reduce food waste to help solve world hunger?

Zero Waste: How To Make Lazy Pickles

The easiest pickle "recipe" ever!

I love pickles. There's something about the salty, sour flavor that makes me crave pickles when the weather is hot and stormy. When I buy pickles, they are usually gone before I know it. I save the pickle jar with the brine for making "lazy pickles." There's really no recipe. All you do is clean 'em, cut 'em, and drop 'em in. Simple as that. Chop, chop. Splish, splash.

As if cutting the cucumbers in half would make me eat less... ;)

I also really enjoy purchasing fresh vegetables when they are on sale, or buying "seconds" at the farmers market. I'll post more about seconds in a future blog, however this one covers the easiest pickle recipe ever. If you have cucumbers, carrots, or peppers that started to go soft, cut them up and put them in your pickle brine and set them in your fridge at least overnight to let the vinegar set in.

In case you are worried, the vinegar and salt combo kills any germs there may be so the brine lasts a long  time and is perfectly safe to re-use.

When I get around to doing it, my next pickle post will hopefully be about lactofermentation... exciting! For now, these simple pickles will do.

Do you ever pickle veggies that are going soft? What other ways do you save your soft veggies from going to the trash?

Budget Breaker: Food Waste

 Part 1 of my new series: Budget Breakers! 

Because we all make mistakes sometimes...

Poor piggy...

I was going to write you an article about how to save money buying discounted meat. I found a good deal on chicken at the grocery store. I took it home and put it in the refrigerator and promptly....

I would have saved 44 cents a pound and bought this at a decent price of $1.04/pound.

forgot about it. :(

 I give myself the excuse of being sick, too tired to cook, sleepy from medicine... but really, I should have just frozen it. I have no excuse.

Last night I opened up my meat drawer to find it, and frantically began thinking of ways I could cook it all... only to find out in the end that it had gone bad.

So as much as I hate to waste food, if it smells funny, it's going in the trash.I'll admit, 5 bucks is not that much money to lose but 5 bucks here, 5 bucks there adds up over time.

Moral of the story: Meal planning is your friend. So is your freezer. There will be more on meal planning and freezing soon enough...


How many times have you wasted food? How much does that add up to wasted food and money over a year? A lifetime?