As we already know, North Americans consume too much and have bad habits.  But are we really aware of the impacts of our bad behavior?

We throw away food that is still edible

According to a study conducted by the National Zero Waste Council :

• 63% of the food Canadians throw away could have been eaten.
• For the average Canadian household that amounts to 140 kilograms of wasted food per year – at a cost of more than $1,100.
• Every day:
  • 4 million potatoes are wasted
  • 2 million apples find their way to compost or trash
  • 1 million cups of milk end up in the sink
  • 750,000 loaves of bread are thrown out
  • 450,000 eggs were laid for nothing
• The 2.2 million tonnes of food wasted annually in Canada represents emissions of 9.8 million tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of the carbon dioxide emitted by 2.1 million cars.

The solutions

The first solution is to become aware of the situation and to take responsibility for our food consumption in order to minimize the amount that will end up in the trash or compost.

1. We need to buy less and better plan our meals so that we only have what we really need.
2. We must learn how to preserve food so that it stays fresh longer.
3. We must use creativity to ensure to eat everything we purchase.
4. We must freeze food when we do not think we can eat it on time.

A good idea would be to post on the fridge a list of meal options for the week.  It is a nice challenge to be able to waste as little as possible and, in the end, it will save us money!