Did You Know...

that food waste reportedly makes up about 12 percent of landfill material? These landfills are costly to operate and maintain. But, the "real" issue is one of importance not only to our wallets but to our earth itself.

As organic materials (like vegetables, fruits and grains) decompose in landfills, they release the greenhouse gas methane into the environment. In fact, according to a recent article by the American Institute for Cancer Research, landfills are the largest source of methane emissions in the U.S. While composting plant foods, which does not produce methane, is one solution, strategies for wasting less food should also be explored.

Research in the U.S. estimates that at least 14 percent of purchased food ends up in the garbage. Skyrocketing obesity and a mounting national health crisis dictates that we not be victims of the thinking of our parents! By that we mean - we cannot adapt a position of "clean your plate" in order to reduce food waste. The answer should be more in line with preparing less food for meals and shopping smarter. That would not only help to reduce our "carbon footprint" a bit but also allow us to cut grocery costs and eat smarter!

So...how do we shop smarter? Well, buying more food than we need is easy to do when we shop without a list or when “buy one, get one free” offers tempt us to pile food that will often go to waste into our grocery carts. So, in order to be a smarter shopper try following these helpful hints:

• Check your refrigerator to see what needs to be used or frozen before it spoils.
• Check your calendar to see if there are meals that you know you will be eating away from home.
• Decide how many days worth of food you need and make a shopping list.
• Plan enough breakfast, lunch and dinner meals to last until your next trip to the grocery store.

Be flexible - adjust as you go if necessary (specials, bargains, etc) but if buying non-perishables, only buy sale items you are sure to use. If perishable items are on special, choose them as a replacement for something else you had planned or buy and freeze for later use.

Watch for our follow-up article on left-overs and cooking less!