Do you know that we consume only 60% of food and the other 40% is wasted? We think that we are consuming it all, but if we look at the whole cycle from growing the crops to the main food ingredients we get and cook then we will realize how much food is been wasted by us. We know that in this world there are people who are living below the poverty line. They don’t even have a single meal to eat. Their kids start the day with one slice of bread and remain hungry the whole day. And we here are wasting food every day because we are blessed. Thinking of others we should control this wastage through various methods that we can apply.
1.) Consume less packaged or processed food as they contain more salt, sugar, and oil, which are not healthy and they damage the environment when they are disposed of.
2.) Plan your food-buying list: What we buy we never finish in one day. So buy the ingredients that you really need for a week. Don’t over-buy because that causes food to get spoilt when not used. Purchase less perishable food ingredients and buy fresh for yourself. Buy products by checking their expiry date.
3.) Store food in a systematic manner:- Keep your refrigerator and kitchen store with less burden of food in. Store vegetables and fruits in different compartments of the refrigerator. First, use the old food ingredients and then go for the fresh ones brought recently. Keep the snacks like biscuits/cookies/crackers / dry fruits etc. in an air-tight container. Use freezing the method to store ingredients for a longer time.
4.) Consume the leftover food: – Most of the time we throw away the leftover food although we can make another delectable dish with it, or can consume it, or just give it to the people who need it. You can create new dishes from the leftover foods like preparing stocks, making sandwiches out of last night’s roasted chicken, etc. Just search on the internet and you will find lots of recipes that will help you to make dishes from your leftover foods.
5.) Outside food in control: – When you order at a restaurant choose carefully the options and select the dishes that you really want to eat. If there is some leftover food, request to pack them to take home.
Continuing this topic, I have interviewed Chef John Kosmanos ( Instagram A/c: john_kosmanos ) who has been working for 15 years in the culinary world. He has worked in Italy, France, Switzerland, and Greece with the top chefs. He shares his knowledge about food waste in this short interview:
The types of food that end up in the trash are mainly cooked foods, fruits, vegetables, and salads. Worldwide, 1.3 billion tons of food end up in the trash at a time when 868 million people are suffering from malnutrition. My view on food waste is that we can avoid it by reducing the amounts we cook and the products we buy. Don’t be influenced by various offers and don’t go shopping when you are hungry, because you will buy more than you need. Prefer bulk instead of pre-packaged fruits and vegetables to buy exactly the amount you need. The food industry has made huge leaps in the last two hundred years and has been able to meet the growing needs of the growing population. However, the way we produce our food and the way we handle food waste and food by-products endanger not only the biodiversity of the planet but also our own health. It is now clear that the 21st-century earth cannot afford this waste of its natural resources. If all of us do not pay attention to food management then the earth will suffer serious damage in the future.
Thank you Chef for sharing your knowledge with us.
After reading this article I hope you will not even think of wasting food and try to control food wastage. Save Earth… Think of the Needy People… Do take very good care of your health.
