Writing has been a struggle recently. I haven’t felt like I have much to say lately. I love sharing what I’m cooking, growing, or reading, but isn’t there a bigger conversation to be had? What do I care about? What do I contribute to the conversation? What do I want to accomplish? I needed to reassess what I was doing and where to focus my energy.
My life is full of food. I grow a garden, work for a farm, and spend my free time cooking and reading about food or the people who make it. I realize I’m incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by quality ingredients every single day. Despite this abundance, I constantly feel a need to preserve and save all food that might go to waste. I freeze bones and vegetable scraps for broth, dehydrate herbs and fruit, and stock up on grains whenever possible. I enjoy the process of preserving food and love having a wide variety of ingredients on hand. I like learning new preservation and fermentation techniques and making new krauts, pickles, or jams. But, at some point, all of the stockpiling and preserving can become food waste if it’s not eventually used. Shelf-stable items are only stable for so long.
Food waste is a massive problem in the United States. We waste 30-40% of our total food supply, which is appalling when we also have millions who do not have enough food to eat (37.2 million, according to the FDA in 2018).1 To make matters even worse, 96% of food thrown away ends up in landfills,2 making it the single largest contribution to landfills.3 Unlike composting, where food can break down and be turned into beneficial soil, the billions of pounds of food waste in landfills do not biodegrade properly. According to the EPA, food waste in landfills is one of the leading causes of methane creation in the United States, and 25% of manmade global warming is due to methane emissions.4 By reducing food waste, we can rapidly and dramatically reduce our effects on the environment, and if we can redirect the food waste to those in need, it could be a win-win. This is just the very tip of the iceberg. It’s clear that the benefits of reducing our food waste are far-reaching, and the dangers of continuing to ignore the problem will lead to a less inhabitable planet, and the most vulnerable people will suffer the most.
There are opportunities to reduce waste throughout the entire food supply chain. If I’m looking at food waste issues and want to make changes, I need to start in my home. One glance at my cupboards and freezer will tell you I have enough. In March, I went through the pantry and reorganized it to better use what we have. I started tackling the backlog of beans and used a few packages of pasta, but that effort barely made a dent. In addition, a friend recently moved and gave me her frozen fruits and meats, so my freezer is currently at max capacity.
I do well when I set challenges for myself, so for this upcoming month, all my cooking will be focused on minimizing food waste and making room for the food I want to preserve this summer by being more thoughtful in planning our meals at home. This is not a punishment or a form of self-flagellation because I love all the foods I keep on hand. We will still eat out sometimes, and I will still shop for ingredients at the market. This is more about prioritization than restriction.
Ultimately, I’m not sure what one person’s reduction in food waste will do to help the planet, but it’s a start. Hopefully, my “Waste Not” June challenge sparks the memory of a long-forgotten ingredient in your cupboard that would otherwise end up in a landfill. In addition to the environment, I’m sure this challenge will also benefit our grocery budget. I’ll closely monitor the food spending this month and report on my cooking and where the money goes. My prediction is that we spend the most money on the following items: coffee, lemons, cooking oils, alcohol, and cheese.
If you’re also struggling with an overstocked freezer or don’t quite have a handle on your pantry, join me this month! Let’s make June a “Waste Not” month. Donate anything you don’t like or don’t want to use, and let’s cook through some of those fantastic things we carefully stored away days, weeks, or months ago.