By Jan Jackson aka One Pan Annie
I had trouble believing it when I read that one-half of the people throw away 1/3 of the food they buy. Wow! You buy three bags of groceries and throw one of them away? How could that be?
In 2018, CBS News reported that every day in the united States, consumers throw out nearly a pound of food each day. In a surprising finding, the report also showed a link between quality of diet and food waste: the healthier a person’s diet, the more food they threw in the trash. How could that be?
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that to be between 30 and 40 percent of the food supply. Food Waste FAQs. How could that be?
What causes food loss and waste?
- problems during drying, milling, transporting or processing that expose food to damage by insects, rodents, birds, molds, and bacteria.
- At the retail level, equipment malfunction (such as cold storage), over-ordering, and culling of blemished produc
- Consumers buy or cook more than they need and choose to throw out the extras.
An individual person can’t do much about the first two causes but the third one is something you can control, One Pan Annie has figured out how to buy what she knows she will eat and then she eats it. Be like One Pan Annie.
Bon Apetit
Lead photo shows food waste from a dinner for four; photos by Jan Jackson
