Hello everyone!
My name is Clem and I am 15 years old. I created this blog to talk about food waste and propose some ways we can help reducing it. The global volume of food wastage is estimated at 1,6 billion tones. That's not funny, hum? You're right, because it's the truth. With that amount of food, we could nourish all of the hungry people on Earth. One of the biggest problems on earth can be solved if little and simple actions are accomplished by each of us.
One of the ways to reduce food waste is to organize and plan meals. Before going buying everything that seems interesting to you in the supermarket, make a list of what you really need. Take a paper and divide it in seven parts. Write what you would like to cook for every meal of the week, day by day, and what portions you will need. When you buy your food, look at the packages that better match your needs in term of size. This will help you to eat everything you buy, contributing to reduce food waste. It is important for the world but also to you! By throwing food away, you do not only waste the food but also the money you spent on it. In addition, you are throwing away the energy, water and labor used to produce it. Think of the things you could do with this money, it will worth it!
Another way to reduce food waste concerns the fruits and vegetables. It is better to buy them from producers rather than from supermarkets. In supermarkets, the fruits and vegetables have been treated and only "perfect ones" are put on sell. But the, now called, "funny fruits and vegetables" proposed in producers' shops are also good. Those products are not proposed in the supermarkets because of their original and imperfect aspects. However, their quality is much better and they aren't dangerous for us. Vegetables or fruits that have been sent to factories before to end in the supermarkets are treated with products like pesticides, dangerous for our health. The funny fruits and vegetables are generally thrown away and represent a big percentage of food waste. If instead, those could be bought (at a lower price) or donated to organizations that then redistribute the food to needy persons, food waste would already be reduced by one fourth.
Food waste has always existed but its percentage has increased a lot along the time. Some people began to search for solutions they could personally adopt. But those people represent a really small part of the world population. The other part of the population is divided in two categories. One of them counts the people who do not waste food because they don't even have enough food to eat. The other category is filled with the people who did not realize the grandeur of this world problem yet or who just don't care about it. However, hopefully for us, more and more people show interest in wasting less food (mostly because of their economic concerns) and try to make changes that help for it in their lives.
One of the ways to reduce food waste is to organize and plan meals. Before going buying everything that seems interesting to you in the supermarket, make a list of what you really need. Take a paper and divide it in seven parts. Write what you would like to cook for every meal of the week, day by day, and what portions you will need. When you buy your food, look at the packages that better match your needs in term of size. This will help you to eat everything you buy, contributing to reduce food waste. It is important for the world but also to you! By throwing food away, you do not only waste the food but also the money you spent on it. In addition, you are throwing away the energy, water and labor used to produce it. Think of the things you could do with this money, it will worth it!
The third way I
wanted to talk about is donation. Donation is one of the easiest and most
popular action people do. A lot of associations and organizations are open
everyday where you can donate some food unused, cans, sauces, tomato cans,
pasta, rice … Those are then sent to ghettos and places where people don’t even
know if they will eat again one day. Voluntary helpers distribute and prepare the
food there, offering complete meals the more often they can. This solution
helps food waste and another sadly popular and important, famine. This is why I
think people should donate what would normally be thrown away or kept in the
back of the kitchen until the date limit is reached.
Organizing our meals, eating funny fruits
and vegetables and donating are actions opened to everyone. With small actions
we can reduce food waste and assure a good and healthy future to the next
generations.
Remember! Small actions added together result in a
revolution!
Be a food waste warrior!
Works cited:
- Léa. "Food Wastage: Key Facts and Figures." Food and Agriculture of the United Nations. Www.fao.org, 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
- Lee, Anna. "Eat the Crooked Carrot, save the World." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
- Sécurité Sanitaire. "Le don alimentaire en toute sécurité : suivez le guide !" Alim'Agri. République Française, 27 Nov. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
Hi Clem,
RispondiEliminaI as well am a fighter against food waste. I read your blog and I must say that I find your solutions really good. I agree, many people today don’t realize how big this problem is getting, instead other people’s objective is just to spend less. I think one of the best solutions is to plan menus. I always do that and before going to the supermarket I make shopping lists so that I know what I need to buy, I also try to avoid unnecessary purchases. Another thing I do, but I am sure I am not the only one that does it, is to freeze leftovers. I know, it can be a difficult solution because many people want to eat “new” food. I think that other wastes happen because people get confused with the “use-by” and “best-by” day, I get confused as well. I agree a lot with donating, so we can try to put an end to famine, which, as you said, is a sad, but common problem of these days.
Thank you Ilaria! We are food waste warriors!
Elimina