Happy International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste!

That is a really long way to say it’s time for us to pay a bit more attention to the incredibly valuable resource of food!

First the Facts

In the United States, the EPA estimates that food waste represents between 30-40 percent of the entire food supply. You read that right, 30-40% of food that is produced in the US from producer to consumer is never consumed! That is an incredible statistic on it’s own, but that waste represents more than just food.  It is the land, water, labor, energy and other inputs used in producing, processing, transporting, preparing, storing, and disposing of discarded food. In short, food waste has a HUGE impact, and is why Drawdown lists tackling food waste as one of the most important things we can do to combat climate change.

So What Can We Do? 

• Well, we can certainly encourage the grocery stores and restaurants we use to partner with local organizations to feed hungry people. 
• We can voice our support for legislation that helps prevent food waste happening and encourages entities to do something other than landfill it. 
• We can also support ugly food programs that help to challenge the notion that all fruit and veg need to look perfect. 
• And, we can stop wasting food in our own homes. This not only gets at the issue of food waste, but also saves you money!

Bringing It Home

So we know that about 25% of our residential waste stream to landfill is food waste. When this food breaks down in landfill it produces methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide! Some of our landfills are set up to capture methane and that is great, but it can take around a year to get a section of landfill finished and ready to capture methane, and in that time, much of the methane from food breaking down has already escaped into the atmosphere to do its damage.

And this is where we can make a difference in our homes, by ensuring our food waste avoids the landfill. Typically, when I have looked into how to prevent food waste in my home, the tips focus on planning. I remain uninspired, and unchanged.  The truth is, I am a terrible planner, and no amount of charts and grocery lists have managed to matter. On top of being a terrible planner, I don’t especially love to cook!  I do it, because I believe my family and I should eat real food.  But week after week,  I buy heaps of gorgeous veg at the farmer’s market, only to find some of them wrinkled and growing new, unwanted life, in the back of the crisper drawer a week later.

So, I am not going to give any tips on planning, or even cooking. What I am going to do is introduce you to someone I think can help us all!

Meet triangle resident, Mei Li.  

Credit: foodwastefeast.com

Mei and her sister Irene, who lives in Boston, run a food waste blog based on their successful award-winning Boston-based food truck, restaurant and catering business called Mei Mei. While Irene focuses on helping restaurants move toward zero waste and save money, Mei is helping tackle the food waste issue where we have the most direct control over it, our homes.

I found the sisters on Instagram under the hashtag #foodwaste and was thrilled to realize that they were local to North Carolina! I couldn’t wait to connect, and when I did, I was not disappointed! The tips I learned from our conversation alone have already moved the needle on my food waste, ignited a desire to win the food waste battle in my own fridge, and made it feel doable.

What’s different about Mei’s approach? She is geared toward the busy… and lazy, cook. A busy mom of two young kids herself, she told me she doesn’t have time for canning (one of my lofty life goals) and doesn’t even know how, but instead has built habits that empower folks to be more creative and adaptive in the kitchen, using what they already have and what would have gone straight to the compost bin to make a Food Waste Feast!

So watch this space for more from Mei and Irene. But in the meantime, check them out on social media and on their website where you will find a treasure trove of tips, tricks, recipes and videos to help inspire you to create a feast from your food waste!