Tawny's Thriving Home: Food Waste

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Food Waste

Today I had planned a post on snacking with Thrive foods, but as I opened up WordPress, I was greeted by a post on food waste.

“One category stood out as being accurate and useful—the dead waste. These are not spending decisions, but rather mistakes. The parking ticket, the bank fee, and yes-the food we let rot. Almost everyone in the United States does this to one extent or another. Nobody likes it, and everyone finds themselves annoyed and a little guilty and embarrassed when it happens. So why do we do it?”

The author goes on to give reasons for food waste. You can read the rest of the article here.

This really got me to thinking.

One of the major reasons I started using Thrive foods is to save money and stop food waste.

When it comes to food waste, many of us have the best of intentions. We buy fresh fruits and veggies, hoping to use them. We buy in bulk to save a bit of cash. We save all those left-overs hoping to eat them and save a bit of cash. No one WANTS to waste food. We all feel a bit of guilt about it. After all, many people are in fact starving. And all that food is wasted money!

Here is an embarrassing bit. A sneak Peek at my fridge before Shelf Reliance and Thrive.

My fridge was full of good intentions, crammed full left overs. Everything had its own Tupperware dish.

We have extended family living with us. It seems there is always either too much food or not enough. So with each meal, a little dish of leftovers is added to the over crowded fridge. We forget about the left overs and before you know it, we have mold soup adding to the problem of food waste.

We like to buy in bulk, and make as few trips to the grocery store as possible, so we use to buy a great deal of produce with the intention of eating healthier. With out fail, when I would reach into the fridge to get that “fresh” produce for a delicious recipe, it had spoiled. And we were adding to more food waste.

We all do it. We are all guilty. We all want to change it.

Americans toss $75 Billion in food annually.
The average American family throws away 14% of their food, that’s almost $600 every year in meats, fruit, vegetables and grain products.
Americas throw away 96 billion pounds of food annually. That’s 263 million pounds a day. Eleven million pounds an hour. Three thousand pounds a second.

Food Waste is a serious problem!!

But *HOW* do we reduce food waste. Obviously ‘eat your left overs’ and ‘plan your shopping trips’ just isn’t enough!

The How is Shelf Stable foods that can be measured out in usable portions.

For example, With Thrive, you only use what you need. And the rest is stored in the cupboard for up to a year until you are ready to use it again. No more throwing out freezer burned fruits and meats. No more left over veggies from dinner growing mold in the fridge. Use only what you need.

Taco TVP is a BIG hit in my house. Because of the dynamic of our house hold, sometimes its hard to know just how many will be eating dinner at home on any given night. With Thrive, I can easily reconstitute just enough Taco TVP for those I know will be eating at home. If more come in, I easily reconstitute a few more serving without any food waste. (And it only takes about 5 min! I really love that!!)

Because Thrive foods are designed to be shelf stable, you can open a can of corn today, use what you need, and go back to that can a year later and use only what you need once again!

Thrive foods are convenient, easy, fresh, shelf stable, and are truly an easy way to cut back on food waste.

What could your family do with an extra $600 a year saved just by limiting food waste?