Quit wasting.

Here's an article in the NYT putting food waste into perspective:

The Londoner who walks home with three bags of groceries will never eat the contents of one of them: One-third of all the food bought in Britain is thrown away every year. Americans discarded a staggering 33 million tons of food in 2009, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — making food the single largest component of solid waste in U.S. municipal landfills and incinerators. It costs the United States nearly one billion dollars a year to dispose of food waste.

The countries of South and Southeast Asia produce less food per capita than industrialized countries in the West, but they waste roughly the same proportion, 30 to 35 percent. Although tiny Singapore needs to import more than 90 percent of its food supply, in 2008 it nonetheless threw out some 570 million kilos, or one-fifth of the total — mostly edible scraps.

One thing I found interesting is that different places waste food in different ways.  This suggests that an approach to decreasing waste will have to be tailored to local economies and infrastructures.

In industrialized countries, much of the loss occurs at the consumer level, after the food has reached supermarkets and stores. This is partly because food expenses as a percentage of a family’s income have come down significantly in the West, especially relative to transportation and housing costs, which have gone up. People don’t throw away designer clothes or iPhones; these have what economists call “scarcity” value. Food does not.

The issue is different in the developing world. Some 35 to 45 percent of the food produced is also lost there every year, but typically well before the supplies even reach buyers. Most waste occurs during and just after harvesting and at the distribution stage.

India, the world’s second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables, loses about 40 percent of that production because of mismanagement, inadequate infrastructure and storage, poor transportation, shoddy supply-chain logistics, and underdeveloped markets. It also loses more than one-third of its cereals.

I've said this before and I'll say it again:  the "eat local" movement can only take you so far towards reducing food-related energy and land consumption.  And it has the potential to hurt economies that depend on shipping their specialities to where they are wanted and where they can command premium prices (for example, South American fruit and vegetable growers that supply North America's winter cravings).

Concentrating on reducing consumption by reducing food waste is really a win-win alternative.

Comments

[Kelly]

But I distinctly remember you telling me that I was not a garbage can and I should throw out the scraps rather than eat them!

[bearing]

Yes, m'dear, but then you learn from your mistakes and you cook less the next time...

[Jennifer]

You make an interesting point about eating locally. 20 years ago, when visiting Northern Italy in the winter time, my friends and I were flabbergasted that we could find virtually no produce in the grocery shop. Where are the bananas? How come we can't get a decent grapefruit or orange here? I think a lot of the "eat locally" folks are in for a rude awakening when faced with the reality of the "local market".

[Christy P.]

I keep thinking about the 'walking home with three bags of groceries and throwing away one' and am still staggered several days later.

It really suggests that home economics is a lost discipline.

I tend to take out the kitchen garbage once a week, whether it needs it or not, but there are some days, particularly in the fall, when it is necessary to make more than one trip to the compost pile with veggie scraps.

[bearing]

"I think a lot of the "eat locally" folks are in for a rude awakening when faced with the reality of the "local market"."

Yeah, I'm highly suspicious as I think the people who gush about local eating are often the same people who gush about real proscuitto from Parma and wild-caught Coho salmon and the health benefits of a daily dose of pomegranate juice or açai berries...

I'm in Minnesota. What's local food for me in the winter? Cellared apples? Pickled walleye? Everything I can catch through a hole in the ice?

[bearing]

@Christy: Totally hear you on the home economics.

I even think it's lost in the sense of my previous comment -- "economics" as the science of human tradeoffs, taking costs and benefits into account. Sometimes local or grow-yer-own makes sense, sometimes not. Sometimes boutique organic veggies make sense, sometimes frugal shopping for conventional produce makes sense. Sometimes you clip coupons, sometimes you do the dollars-saved-per-hour calculation and realize that you're *losing* money.

[Christy P.]

I frequently do the semi-math to decide if I should get the flour that I need at the regular grocery or plan a special trip to the bulk natural foods store on the weekend - when they are open. Sometimes waiting wins and sometimes not, but I feel ok about the decision regardless because I *thought* about it.

Yesterday at lunch I was telling a friend about how we had a yummy lentil and tomato curry for dinner last week which I always follow with sticky rice and coconut milk for dessert. She asked why follow Indian curry with Thai rice, but when you consider the logistics it is obvious. The curry calls for 1/4 cup of coconut milk which then leaves you with enough coconut milk to make sticky rice (presuming that you use canned coconut milk). I choose that path over stashing the leftover coconut milk in the fridge to be perhaps forgotten. Meal planning should always consider not only the taste, but also the economics of the situation!