Food waste is a growing problem in the United States. Up to 40% of food is wasted, yet one in eight Americans struggles with having enough food on the table. By reducing food waste, you can save money, positively impact the environment, and support your community. Check out the tips below to help you reduce food waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Plan your weekly grocery list around your weekly meals.\nBuy only what you need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Include quantities on your shopping list to avoid\nover-purchasing fresh items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Check your refrigerator and pantry prior to making your\ngrocery list to avoid buying food you already have. Craft your meals around\nfood that needs to be used up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Learn how to properly store your produce to ensure that\nthey last longer. Not all fresh fruit and vegetables need to be stored inside\nyour refrigerator to maintain maximum freshness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Store bananas, apples and tomatoes by themselves, and\nstore other fruit and vegetables in separate bins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Try your hand at freezing, preserving, or canning any\nextra fruits and vegetables, especially when they are in season!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Freezing food can extend the typical lifespan of food.\nAvoid freezer burn by packing your food with all the air pressed out. Label\nbags with the date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022Produce past its prime? Think outside of the box and use\nthem to make soups, casseroles, stir-fries, sauces, baked goods, or smoothies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022Use edible parts of food that you normally do not eat in\nanother recipe. For example, use stale bread to make croutons, vegetable scraps\nto make soup stock, or broccoli stalks in slaw or a stir fry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Donate to local food pantries, food banks, and food rescue\nprograms that collect and redistribute food to those in need. Call to see what\nitems they accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Instead of tossing your food scraps into your waste bin,\ntry your hand at composting. Composting keeps materials out of the landfill and\nhelps prevent greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 You can compost indoors by using a special compost bin\nthat is easily found at local hardware stores, gardening stores, or you can\neven try to make one yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Many communities collect composted food materials. Check\nwith your local municipal waste management district to learn more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Composted materials enrich the soil and reduce the need\nfor chemical fertilizers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Get kitchen savvy by learning the difference between\n\u201csell-by,\u201d \u201cuse-by,\u201d \u201cbest-by\u201d and expiration dates. They are not all one and\nthe same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BEST IF USED BY\/BEFORE: <\/strong>Indicates a product will be\nof the best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SELL-BY: <\/strong>Tells the store how long to display the\nproduct for sale for inventory management. It is not a safety date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n USE-BY: <\/strong>The last date recommended for the use of the\nproduct while at peak quality. It is not a safety date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources: www.fsis.usda.gov, www.usda.gov, and www.epa.gov<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Food waste is a growing problem in the United States. Up to 40% of food is wasted, yet one in eight Americans struggles with having enough food on the table. By reducing food waste, you can save money, positively impact… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7946,"featured_media":7557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1068031,887006,887185],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-crafts","category-student-org-spotlight","category-uw-w-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/ucinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/ucinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/ucinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/ucinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7946"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/ucinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7556"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/ucinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7558,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/ucinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7556\/revisions\/7558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/ucinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/ucinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/ucinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/ucinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}