7 Techniques to Shop Smart and Generate Less Waste in your Kitchen
Article written with assistance by Solana Center Docent David.
In the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30-40 percent of the food supply which equals approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food Food is the largest single source of waste in the U.S. More food ends up in landfills than plastic or paper. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 20 percent of what goes into municipal landfills is food.
We think of food waste as something that happens at home. In reality, it starts with what we put in our grocery carts. With grocery stores designed to tempt us in every aisle, it’s easy to end up overbuying. Smart shopping is one of the quickest ways to prevent food waste while also saving money. This means fine-tuning your grocery shopping habits so everything you buy gets put to good use. The two main aspects of smart shopping are planning and being realistic.
Planning
Proper planning is critical to waste prevention. Research has shown that most of us do not check our fridge or pantries before heading off to the grocery store, which results in duplicate items being purchased. Always check your supply at home first and bring a list to the grocery store. As obvious as this may sound, many people don’t bother with shopping lists, and this can make a big impact on preventing us from buying duplicate items or purchasing things we might not actually want or need.
One step further, the optimal strategy is to pre-plan meals for the week, develop the list of ingredients and exact quantities needed, review your pantry and fridge for what you might already have, and then head out to the store. Don’t forget to take leftovers and nights off into account in your plan.
Incorporate strategies that work for you
But making a 7-day meal plan may not be realistic for all of us, so just as important as planning is understanding our habits and lifestyle and having your plans reflect reality. Do not be over-ambitious in your meal planning for the week; buying more ingredients in the hopes it will persuade you to cook is not a great method and more often wastes a lot of food and money. Be realistic about what will work for you and your family! Adjust your planning for the days you will get takeout because you don’t feel like cooking or life gets too busy.
Here are 7 tips to help you buy just what you need.
Think about how many meals you’ll eat at home this week and how long before your next shopping trip. Before you leave for the market, shop your kitchen first and note items you already have so you don’t end up with duplicates.
Make a list and stick to it. By shopping from a list you are much less likely to buy things you don’t need and won’t eat.
Shop more frequently. Purchase only what you need for the next few meals. Generally, it is not very easy to predict what we want to eat in the future, so we tend to overbuy and waste food.
Buy fresh items in smaller quantities. Choose loose fruits and vegetables rather than larger amounts that often come in packages, boxes or in plastic bags.
Shop on a full stomach to help you reduce impulse buys.
Don’t fall for marketing techniques to get you to spend more money, like buying in bulk or ‘2 for 1’ items, unless you are sure you will use all of it.
Shop at farmer’s markets where you will usually find fresher food that will last longer and is grown locally (which also reduces the food’s carbon footprint).
Check out our guide on prepping and storing food to continue best practices once you’re back from the store. If you are following good storage practices but you still end up wasting a lot of raw ingredients, smart shopping might be the area you need to focus on!
Waste reduction has far-reaching impacts on society:
Food that could have helped feed people in need is sent to landfills.
Food waste that decomposes in landfills releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is at least 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Land, water, labor, energy, and other inputs are used and thus wasted in producing, processing, transporting, preparing, storing, and disposing of discarded food.
With the waste you do end up with, we hope you will compost it instead of sending this waste to the landfill. Spoiled and leftover food is perfect for composting often providing the “green” nutrients needed to form a balanced compost pile.
How can I keep my trash bins from overflowing? It’s a question that many of us have asked ourselves over the years. And with so many of us staying at home for significantly more time than usual, trash management has become a big task.
You’re not alone if you find yourself drowning under all that rubbage. More and more San Diegans are frustrated with the overwhelming amount of trash that’s resulted from the pandemic, and the city is feeling the pressure of an 11-percent increase in refuse and recycling compared to last year. As the holidays approach and our trash piles continue to grow higher and higher, now seems like about as good a time as ever to revisit some key concepts around reducing the amount of waste we produce.
More food for thought on waste prevention
The US EPA has published a Food Recovery Hierarchy, which discusses the higher-order uses of food waste. While it’s worth noting that the EPA is focused on food recovery, the same general concepts can be applied to non-food waste as well. Namely, the best way to reduce waste from filling up your garbage cans (and ending up in the landfill) is to reduce the amount of surplus generated and divert usable items those that are less fortunate. We’re focusing on the top two tiers of the Food Recovery Hierarchy here:
Some of the ways you can reduce the amount of waste you generate include:
Become a zero-waste consumer
Buy in bulk, but only as much as you can actually use or safely store for future use
Ditch disposable items or those that are inefficient (for example, LED light bulbs can last up to 10x as long as incandescents)
Stop the junk mail
Reuse items (I’m looking at you, wrapping paper!)
Shop smart and plan your meals in advance
Use the entire food item when cooking
Store unused food in clear, labeled containers
Give creative gifts (i.e. non material, experience-based, or handmade)
No matter how hard you try though, you sometimes end up with something you don’t need. Whether it’s too many cans of minestrone or a pair of shoes that looked great online but just don’t fit how you wanted them to, we often end up tossing things that are perfectly fine. All this in light of the more than 400,000 people throughout San Diego who struggle to put enough food on the table. Diverting edible food and excess material items is a necessary and critical part of helping the environment as well as those in need. This is where the work of great organizations like Feeding San Diego and Goodwill comes in. The holidays are about gratitude, and taking care of the people around us, so think about those in need before tossing last year’s wardrobe.
To be clear, by no means are we advocating that you eat your eggshells. Sometimes there’s no way to avoid a little waste, and that’s where activities like composting and vermicomposting come in! Join us for one of our many workshops on topics aimed at diverting food waste and building rich healthy soils.
Further Resources
Meal planning guides – Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC)
Shopping Guidelines – Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC)
Shop with meals in mind – example shopping list from the EPA
Guestimator – NRDC’s calculator for making the right amount of food for your guests
