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How can you avoid wasting less food?

Homepage Articles How can you avoid wasting less food?

How can you avoid wasting less food?

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reports on its website that about 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted worldwide each year, the largest percentage being fruits and vegetables (4050%) in the world. In Europe, an estimated 95115 kg of food per person are wasted per year. If we throw away food, not only are we wasting money, but we are also wasting nutrients in food.

Table of Contents

1. Plan meals, use your shopping list

Planning is a good habit, especially in the context of shopping. The availability of such a wide range of products is a temptation. If impulse shopping is typical of our times, so when you go to the store, take a list of things you want to buy with you. The iron rule is also not to go to a store if you're hungry. It's easier to plan for the near future, so it's better to make frequent purchases in smaller volumes, such as three times a week, than to shop twice a week. Calculating the number of products you need to prepare food will look easier.

2. Use what's left of your meals

Below are a few ways to use the most commonly wasted products.

3. Potatoes roasted with tomatoes

Cut the potatoes that are left over from the dinner, slice them in layers. Cook the egg hard and also slice the patches. Cut the tomatoes into layers, the onion in the feathers. Grill the onions until they turn brown. Sprinkle the heat-resistant dishes with a thin layer of butter. Alternate the layers of potato, egg, tomato and onion. You can pour the whole with a slightly soluble cream of 18%. Baking at 180°C for about 15 minutes.

4. It's a fried salad

You can use a salad whose leaves are starting to fade to make a delicious snack.. cut the salad leaves into smaller pieces.. heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil on the pan, add a sliced garlic tooth.. melt for a while, then add the salad leaf.. grind until the salad is soft, it's important to keep it slightly rusty.. and finally season with a little salt and pepper.

5. It's the greens

Layered bread can also be used in a variety of ways, a little creativity is enough. It's a great choice for making breadcrumbs. You just cut it into cubes, fry it in panes with a small amount of oil, sprinkle it with herbs and use it as an additive to soup and salad.

6. Store the products accordingly

In order to prevent food spoilage, it is essential to store apples as quickly as possible. Equally important is the way apples are stored in refrigerators. It is best to store almost everything, even eggs, cooked (up to 2 days), meat, raw meat, some vegetables and fruits, as well as portions of finished meals that we have not eaten.

7. Use the FIFO rule

FIFO is an acronym for "first in, first off". Products that were purchased first should be consumed earlier. It seems trivial, but it's extremely important.

8. Read the labels

Part of the food is wasted because we misinterpret the information on the label of the product. The term 'fitness date', although similar, has a different meaning than'minimum durability date'. The former refers to the date after which the consumption of a product may pose a health risk due to food spoilage processes. However, the term 'best to consume' does not mean that after that date the product becomes usable, but warns of a potential deterioration in flavor or quality. In most cases, products can be used without any concern for the quality of food.
Source

SAVE FOOD: Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction, fao.org/save-food/resources/keyfindings/en/ (21.11.2019).
Stir-fried lettuce, bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/stir-fried-lettuce (21.11.2019).
Spiker M.L. et al., Wasted Food, Wasted Nutrients: Nutrient Loss from Wasted Food in the United States and Comparison to Gaps in Dietary Intake, „Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics” 2017, 117(7), 1031–1040.
Ustawa z dnia 25 sierpnia 2006 r. o bezpieczeństwie żywności i żywienia, Dz.U. 2006, 171/1225.