Five Sneaky Ways You’re Wasting Food

There’s no bigger contributor to our nation’s landfills than our nation’s diet.

Look back at 2019: You can chalk up roughly 66 million tons of food waste to the food retail, food service, and residential sectors alone. Most of that went to the landfill. And most of that poses serious threats to the environment that would—and will—require a whole separate blog.

(Note to self.)

You can picture most of the obvious stuff: Celery ends and spoiled milk. Moldy bread and half-eaten entrees. But you don’t get to a number like 66 million tons without a few of the non-obvious talking points.

1. The near-expired

We consumers have a funny way of getting in our heads, and there’s no better example than expiration dates. Something about those creeping, crawling laser-marked numbers give the average household the willies. Even when they’re still days off. The truth is, much of our food supply is still safe to eat after the printed date, especially if it’s labeled best by or use by.

2. The ugly bits

Almost half of all fruit and vegetables go to waste worldwide. It’s a staggering percentage that makes you simply wonder: why? You can attribute at least some part of it to aesthetics. But in most cases, pockmarked apples and hunched-over carrots taste just as good as any. And let’s be honest: your taste buds won’t know the difference.

3. The leftovers

The further back you push that tupperware toward the back of your fridge, the more likely it is to grace the landfill. Your lingering stir fries, your cold pizzas, your one-pot soups—there’s no bonus points for refrigerating them for five days, then chucking them anyway.

4. The ocean dwellers

Some estimates indicate as much gets chucked before it ever makes it to your plate. You can probably understand why: Nowhere is freshness a greater priority. It’s why we suggest eating your catch ASAP or sacrificing a bit of flavor for the frozen stuff. Anything else just isn’t worth the environmental strain.

5. The out of season

There’s a reason strawberries cost $8 in the winter, and it’s not a fun one. From tip to tail, buying your produce out of the season is a riskier proposition, increasing the chances of spoilage in transit and on the shelves. Shopping local (and in season) all but guarantees you’re getting the freshest, readiest and least environmentally taxing produce available.