Name: Kyoka Narita
Country: Japan
In America, according to a Guardian report, almost half of the foods produced in America are thrown away. The reason why America has a lot of landfills of food is because food products are much cheaper than other countries that are close to America. America has huge agricultural lands; therefore, it is possible to farm foods inexpensively, because of it, food waste is one of the most major problems in America.
How can we reduce food waste? What can we do about it? Let’s take a look at some tips.
- Make a list of what you want to buy before shopping
One research study said that more than a third of Americans go shopping without a list. When they shop and find cheap foods which they were not going to buy, many poeple buy these foods inpoulsively. However, the foods sometimes are thrown away because they have already expired or people don’t like it. That is why food waste might cause problems. If they check what they have in their fridge and what they need before shopping, they can prevent themselves from buying foods which they already had.
- Reduce leftovers as much as you can
To decrease the amount of leftovers, do not cook too much. If you cook too much, just put it in your freezer and eat it another day (as soon as possible). You can also cook different meals by using the leftovers. There are a lot of recipes for leftovers on online so you can check it out when you need some recipes.
- Recognize the differences between “best before” and “use by”
Do you know the differences between best before and use by? Most of the foods have a sign of best before or use by. According to Food Standards Agency, use by means “You have got until the end of this date to use or freeze the food before it becomes too risky to eat.” On the other hand, best before means “you can eat food past this date but it might not be at its best quality.” If you identify the differences between them, you will not through a lot of expired foods. Furthermore, if the food has “best before” signs and already past the date, you don’t have to through the foods because it still can eat.
- Try not to make leftovers when you go out to eat
When you go to restaurants, you sometimes leave food on your plate because it’s too much or some food which you don’t like is included and you don’t eat it. In restaurants, they have a serious problem about food waste because of the customers’ leftovers. To solve such a problem, you can take three actions about it.
First, if restaurants have small portion manus, you can order the smaller size. Second, when you order the meals, it’s better that you check how large the meal is. If you think it’s too much, you can ask for a smaller sized meal. Lastly, if you find the ingredients you cannot eat in your ordered meal, you can ask for those ingredients to be removed beforehand. Moreover, if you leave the meal, you can get to go containers to take away the meals and eat as tomorrow’s breakfast.
I am sure that if everyone takes actions to solve the food waste problem, it is not going to be a serious issue anymore.
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