The 3 R’s Of Food Waste: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
By: Ate, Ample Table For Everyone
Tags: Food Waste, Food, NYC, Hunger

By Helaine Geismar Katz

Originally posted on the Ample Table for Everyone website.

I once heard Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe’s and current founder and president of Daily Table, tell the story of his visit to a farm. He noticed that acres of lettuce were being plowed under and asked the farmer whether there was a blight. The farmer replied that the lettuce was perfectly good but too small or too large to fit into the produce aisle grocery bags. Therefore, they would never make it to market.

Perfectly good lettuce…

If it wasn’t for food waste at farms, supermarkets, restaurants, and at home (in most developed countries, one-half of all food waste takes place in the home), we could feed everyone in the country and eliminate hunger. A full 40 percent of the food produced in the United States is wasted. In fact, we could feed the world on one-quarter of the food that is wasted in America and Europe alone.

So what can each of us do to address the problem of food waste? Let’s not forget that the ocean is made up of little drops of water…

Remember the 3 R’s of our responsibility to the planet and each other: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle? We’ve seen the symbol a million times but most often think of it as a cue to separate out the plastics from the cardboard from the newspapers, etc.

But the 3 R’s work for food waste as well and this month we have some very workable, easy ideas for how we can all up our game. Here’s a primer:

Reduce — Waste Not, Want Not!

Let’s start to use every part of produce (fruits and vegetables). This is also going to give you the reward of health benefits (all those micro-nutrients!), while reducing food waste. Some quick ideas:

Use vegetable greens in smoothies, soups, and stir-fry dishes. We like amping up with the greens of carrots, beets and turnips and, if you are lucky to find in your grocery store, dandelion.

Use food scraps in creative ways. Food 52 has some great ideas for how to use your spring food scraps — think tough asparagus ends, bitter radish greens, and tiny strawberry hulls.

Avoid confusing food dates. “Best before” and “best by” do not mean “use by” or “expire by”. Do you know who is responsible for deciding “best before/by” dates? The company that produces the food! “Use by” and “expiry” dates should be followed for safety, but otherwise use your judgment and the guidelines you can find here.

Avoid buying in bulk unless you plan to freeze most of it.

Pre-plan and portion meals.

Take a look at the James Beard Foundation’s Book, “Waste Not,” a comprehensive cookbook on using all the food you buy and avoiding food waste. It features innovative recipes and tips from chefs across the country. JBF also offers a test of your knowledge of food waste and a weekly #WednesdayWasteNot e-newsletter.

Buy ugly fruit and vegetables. Remember the too big-too small lettuce? If we start buyIng it, supermarkets will stock it. The same goes for imperfect apples and funny looking carrots. Many stores now have bins of produce that’s not ready for prime time but perfect for applesauce, apple pie, stir-fry, pesto, ratatouille, smoothies, soups, and lots of other healthy and delicious recipes. And they are cheaper. Let’s start to love their imperfections.

Reuse — Leftovers, Yum!

While you are cooking, make an extra meat loaf, double your quantity of soup, bake a second casserole dish and freeze in portion size containers. There’s nothing better than coming home tired and heating up a great meal in minutes.

After cooking and eating your chicken dinner, use the leftovers for chicken stir-fry the next night and make a great bone broth with the bones. Nutritious and yummy.

Store any extra coffee in the fridge for iced coffee or in the freezer for coffee ice cubes.

Make a delicious pasta salad for tomorrow’s lunch from that leftover macaroni, couscous, rice or barley.

Recycle — Everything Old is New Again!

Recycling through composting is simple and effective. If your house or apartment building has not yet joined the GROW NYC composting program, it’s free and easy. Regulations differ by municipality. If you are not in NYC, please check your local rules.

Or you can bring your compostables to many green markets. A tip: Store your compostables in a paper bag in the freezer until you are ready to bring them to the compost bin or the green market — no smell, no mess.

There are food sharing apps for individuals. If you have usable and safe surplus food, there is someone out there who would be grateful for it.

And finally, join Ample Table for Everyone and the ranks of food justice warriors. For more information, here is a list of 27 organizations in New York City combating food waste.

How do you reduce food waste? Let’s dive into the discussion!

Please share what you are already doing or think is a great response to the Three R’s on our website at ampletableforeveryone.org, on Facebook or on Twitter @ATENYC.