Reduce Food waste

Did you know that 30-40% of our food goes uneaten? It’s true. So, it’s always good to look at ways to decrease food waste to help our finances, our fellow man, and our planet! With a 3% increase in food prices, we are all feeling the pinch in our pocketbooks when we pay for groceries. I know I sure am! Here are some tips to help you reduce food waste and save money from my book, I’m Full: Remindful Eating Tips to Feel Great and Make Peace with Your Plate.

Tips to reduce food waste from your pantry, fridge, and freezer:  

• Check your own inventory before heading to the store. If you have any, remember to use leftovers or as I call them, saved-overs, within a few days, or freeze them.

• Move older food products to the front of the pantry, fridge, or freezer. This ensures that you use up older items first.  

• Substitute items in recipes with what you already have on hand, when able. For example, if a recipe calls for kale, but you have spinach, use the spinach instead. Or if a recipe calls for black beans, but you have white beans, consider using the white beans.  

• Routinely eat out of your freezer weekly or monthly. Otherwise, it’s easy to forget what is in the freezer. Consider keeping a list of items on the door, too.  

Some ways to use more of your produce:  

• Use the tops of root vegetables like turnips, carrots, and radishes. These can be used the same as other greens. Try chopping them into salads or sauteing them with garlic and olive oil. I like to mix them in with other more familiar greens, such as spinach or baby kale, or try pesto made with carrot tops.

• If not used in your recipe, save stalks of broccoli and cauliflower, and store these in the freezer to use when making a creamy or cheesy soup.  

Find more tips to decrease food waste from the Environmental Protection Agency here.

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If you want to add life to your years, my book, I’m Full, gives you 52 practical tips that have helped me and those I’ve served over my four-decade career. Each tip encourages weekly self-reflection and action and has resources for further reading. Read I’m Full and learn how nourishing yourself can be easy, fun, fulfilling, and delicious!

Pick up I’m Full here: I’m Full: Remindful Eating Tips to Feel Great and Make Peace with your Plate.

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2024!