Stop food waste – when not at home

Save food with new habits

Eating animals from nose to tail was common in “the old days”. Meat was expensive and everything on the animal had to be used. Today we can buy the best meat and certain cuttings are considered as less good as others. This point of view is completely wrong and now we can buy cuttings from pork and beef which for many years have been either exported to China as food or used in dog or cat food.

Vegetable have also been shamed, beans and lentils have been hated by many, now they are considered as super foods and og climate saviours.

A holistic approach is needed, both when grocery shopping and when dining out. The reason why a certain meat cut is less pricey, is not necessarily due to lower quality, but due to less demand. We must learn to buy and eat other food than we are used to.

Grocery shopping

Plan your shopping

Only go grocery shopping once a week, if possible. Check the fridge and cupboards for what is really needed and make a memo. Make a food plan for the whole week or at least for a few days ahead in order to make dinners link. Potatoes from the day before can be fried with eggs and leftover chicken or roast.

Don’t buy too much

When having dinner guests, especially at Christmas or Easter, we tend to buy far too much food. Stick to your memo, when the menu is planned. Is it really necessary to have food for an army, when you are only a few for dinner?

Buy food by sell by date 

Many supermarkets have a freezer or cooler with food where sell by date is almost expired. Check frequently – but also remember that you most likely cannot use 10 pack of ham unless you can put some in the freezer. You do minimize the supermarkets food waste, but if you need to throw it away at home, it doesn’t make much sense.

Bargain hunting are money traps

Often you will overeat, or you buy far too much which will expire before you use the food. Volume discounts a fine when buying tinned food, pasta, rice and other dry foods, however do you have space in your cupboards?

Fruit and vegetables

Many supermarkets and greengrocers are now selling fruit and most vegetables as singles. This means you don’t have to buy ten tomatoes or a bag of onions. This makes very much sense, since we are more and more single or small households. So if you live alone or have a small household, don’t grocery shop as if you have teenagers living at home.

Dining out

Buffets are some of the places where restaurants are wasting most food. Firstly, we have a tendency to overload our plates which we don’t eat anyway. Secondly, the restaurant (or you canteen at work) make mostly far too much food, as they don’t want to run out. What’s not eaten has to be discarded (in Denmark we have strict regulations) and that is a huge food waste problem. In many larger cities a lot of food is given to the homeless, you can also use Too Good To Go, but many smaller cities (in Denmark at least) don’t have many homeless or others who are hungry af 9 pm. So, try avoiding the buffets.

Restaurants

Don’t order starters, main course and dessert at one. Order one or two dishes and order dessert later if you still have appetite. Some restaurant offer doggy bags and they are more than happy to let you take your leftovers home. You’ve paid for the food anyway, the restaurant has to both waste the food and pay to have the food waste picked up.