FriendBurst Blog

How to Reduce Waste and Keep Food Fresh

posted by: Tracy Petrucci

We all know the popular mantra, “When in doubt, throw it out,” but
doesn’t that seem just a little wasteful? I know, I know, it’s probably
better to toss it than to suffer a bout of food poisoning. But the
fact remains that a lot of food which was once perfectly good is getting
lost and forgotten in the back of the fridge.

In fact, a study
from the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab found 93 percent of
survey respondents acknowledged buying food they never used. Jonathan
Bloom, author of “American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly
Half of Its Food,” blames a lot of it on refrigerator clutter.

“It
gets frustrating when you forget about something and discover it two
weeks later,” Bloom said. “So many people these days have these massive
refrigerators, and there is this sense that we need to keep them well
stocked. But there’s no way you can eat all that food before it goes
bad.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could shop every day for the
contents of your dinner? In some cultures, they do. Jordan Ferny, a San
Fransisco business owner and writer of the popular blog, “Oh Happy
Day,” is spending time in France this year. Initially finding it
amusing that her landlord took her out to “learn how to shop,” she
believes she’s found the key to happiness, as well as the key to
getting her picky son to eat his veggies.

In certain regions
around the world, and even in parts of the United States, niche shops
are readily available just blocks from people’s homes. It’s easy to
shop daily for the items you need, utilizing specialty stores for
cheese, meat and even fresh flowers. It’s sort of like having a
farmer’s market that’s open every day. And best of all, there’s no
waste when you know what you need in the moment and you can use it up
right away.

“It is a luxury to have such fresh food every day.
We eat a warm baguette every night with our dinner that we bought five
minutes before. We are just cooking simple recipes but the ingredients
are such good quality that every night feels like a special meal,” explains Ferny.

But
for most, it’s just like Ferny describes it, a luxury. Many U.S.
suburbs, and even the smaller cities, don’t really offer its patrons the
enjoyment of such an array of shopping opportunities. That’s when
utilizing the available farmer’s markets come into play, and yes, even
in winter.

Currently there are 698 farmer’s markets open in winter
in the United States, with a 17 percent increase since 2009. The
National Farmer’s Market Directory, released just last December from
the U.S. Department of Agriculture, attributes the rise to the increase
in popularity of shopping locally, a way to assure you’re getting the
most bang for your buck.

“Buying daily or bi-weekly is
important because when you go to the farmer’s market, your produce is
guaranteed freshly picked ripe yesterday or that very day,” explains
Heidi Hofelich, a sustainable agriculture student and farmer at Csarda
Haz Ranch. “Your food isn’t shipped far from countries on the other
side of the equator, where it’s picked green… we need vital minerals
in our food that conventional mainstream agriculture fails to
recognize.”

So it’s no surprise the popularity of farmer’s
markets is on the rise. But with the busy lives of modern Americans,
sometimes it’s still too hard to squeeze in the extra trip. In that
case, lots of areas offer the ability to order fresh produce from a CSA
(community supported agriculture) right to your doorstep.

But
no matter how the produce ultimately ends up in the fridge, it all
comes back to the issue of waste. Here are a few tips for keeping your
precious produce fresh:

add moist paper towels to leafy greens
cut off the tops of radishes, carrots, and beets
don’t tear up lettuce for salads until the time of use
keep veggies in crisper drawers, but not so cold they develop frost
keep herbs in a cup of water (or other stemmed veggies)
use see-through containers

There are many other ways to prolong the life of fresh food in the
fridge, and even when it starts to look questionable, “try to give the
food the benefit of the doubt,” persists Bloom. With 40 percent of food waste happening in the home, I might just try that.

Click Here For A Complete List Of Blogs By AfSD™