How can we reduce food waste in our homes?
What are the best actions to keep the food we buy lasts longer?
Why Is It Significant To Reduce Food Waste?
When we dump some food in the garbage, it likely ends up in an area of a landfill that cannot effectively decay.
However, the decomposition problem occurs generally because landfills are full of plastics, geo-textiles, and clay. There’s some wall between the food we’ve dumped and soil and the microorganisms and bacteria that live in it and consume the so-called “waste food.”
The popular quote of Lavoisier states that “nothing is created and nothing is destroyed, but everything is transformed.”
Reducing Food Waste Helps Avoid Green House Gas Emissions and Hunger
The waste piles produce organic matter that produces methane, a greenhouse gas that is 28 times more harmful than CO2. It leads to global warming.
Today about 41 million people across 40 countries are facing high levels of hunger. 10 % of the world’s population was hungry in 2020 (up from 8.4 % during 2019), and 2.3 billion (or 30 % of the population) have no access to sufficient food.
According to the World Food Programme, our farmers are producing enough food to feed the existing population on the earth.
As climate change threatens to alter food production chains across the globe, an increasing global population is expected to require more mouths to be fed in the coming years. Therefore, it is essential to stop wasting food and share it appropriately.
If you plan it properly, you can save thousands of lives. We hope you’re now motivated enough to discover simple ways to reduce food waste at home.
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This article has shared fifteen simple suggestions that anyone can quickly implement to cut down on everyday food waste.
1. Sort Your Fridge to Reduce Food Waste
The fridge is the first stop for anyone who wants to cut down on the amount of wasted food in your home.
Place all the raw food above the tray for vegetables. Put yogurt, ready foods, and cheeses on the top of your fridge. This will ensure that your food stays fresh for longer durations.
2. Some Food Items Are Better Outside the Fridge
Many food items do not like the fridge’s low temperature and humidity. They shed their flavor characteristics at low temperatures.
Some vegetables and fruits don’t do well with temperature fluctuations and are best stored in the fridge. Asparagus, mushrooms, cauliflowers, and cherries are a few examples.
Keep bananas, melons, and pineapples, tomatoes, apricots, or citrus fruits in the fruit basket rather than in your refrigerator. Food items like eggs, potatoes, garlic, onions prefer low light, open and dry air.
3. Sort Your Fruit and Vegetable Basket
Store fruit and vegetables properly so that the giant fruit doesn’t suffocate the fragile ones. By sorting, you can significantly reduce food waste. Place citrus fruits and melons on the bottom of the fruit basket. Keep the small fruits on top of the basket.
How often do we spend some extra time putting together our fruit baskets?
Work on your laziness to prevent food loss!
4. Don’t Mix Fruits to Reduce Food Waste
Do not mix all fruits into the same basket. Some fruits ripe too fast and then rot. It is worth contemplating too.
It is not related to the food’s quality. It has more to do with certain fruits releasing large amounts of ethylene, inert gas with no odor and color that ripen other fruits. So it is best not to mix the two.
Apples and bananas release the highest levels of ethylene. Keeping them away from other fruit can help prolong their lifespan.
5. Spray Your Veggies and Fruits With Lemon Juice
The citric acid of lemon juice prevents browning due to oxidation in the air. Thus, spraying fruits and veggies with lemon juice can keep them fresh for longer.
6. Use Apples to Hold Potato Germination
Ethylene is also a natural deterrent to the germination process. It also helps to reduce the germination of potatoes. So, place apples on the potatoes. It will keep them lasting longer!
7. Sort Bananas According to Their Ripeness
Another method to reduce food waste in your home is to keep the bananas from becoming too ripe. To do this, cut off the ripe bananas from the others. Bananas emit gas ethylene.
8. Use Paper Towels to Suck Up Moisture
Certain foods are highly susceptible to moisture and will decay much more quickly when in humid areas. If you’re thinking about salads, you’re right.
A paper towel placed to absorb water from an ice-cold salad can help to absorb the excess moisture and stop the water from settling in the bottom. It will prolong the time of the salad by several days.
9. Wash Red Fruits With Vinegar
A small amount of white vinegar mixed with cold water kills a significant part of the bacteria and parasites, slowing down food degradation. While it’s not recommended to wash fruits and vegetables before storing them thoroughly, This method is suggested only for difficult-to-store items like red fruits, such as apples, cherry, raspberry, watermelon, tomatoes, pomegranate, strawberry, cranberries, grapefruits, red pears.
Soak the red fruits in vinegar water, and dry them before keeping them in the fridge. Do not forget that paper towel method that we’ve already covered.
You can store red fruits effectively without losing their flavor, structure, or nutritional qualities. If they’ve matured too fast, keep in mind that you can store them in a freezer to use later.
10. Go for Paper Bags to Prevent Food Waste at Home
Be wary of plastic bags that restrict airflow and encourage food rottenness. Punctured paper bags make the ideal option.
11. Cut the Leaves of Root Vegetables
After drying, the tops of the carrots or radishes can reduce the moisture in the veggies and accelerate the process of decomposition. Cutting them can help lessen the loss of moisture, increase their strength, and help you reduce the amount of food you waste.
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12. Use Jars to Reduce Food Waste
For legumes, fruits, as well as cereals, containers could be great companions! They can help keep food safe from moths, midges, and other animals that might be enticed to explore your pantry of food items.
13. Conservation by Dehydration
Another method of food preservation that isn’t frequently thought of is dehydration.
Traditional ovens have an optimal temperature for dehydrating food is about 65°C. The higher temperature can cause food to cook instead of drying it. The crust can stop moisture from vaporizing.
Another alternative is to cut your fruit or vegetables into pieces, set them on a barbecue, and leave them in sunlight for a few days. Make sure you place delicate tissue on top to keep insects from reaching the food items, and then bring the food back home in the evening.
Higher the amount of liquid in the food, the more time the dehydration will last. You can make small bouquets for plants, hang them upside down in the shade, and be protected by a paper bag pierced.
14. Wrap Bread in a Towel
As bread is an integral part of people’s diet, bread conservation methods can significantly prevent food waste in the home.
The most fundamental way to store fresh bread is wrapping it with a cloth-like tea towel or bread bag, perhaps an old paper bag.
It is then required to be put in a dry area between 14 to 18°Celsius. Since the heat will dry the bread more quickly and the cold will not allow it to retain the flavor qualities. If you like bread toast, put the celery’s branch in the bag to ensure it does not mold so quickly and maintains its softness.
15. Use Aromatic Herbs to Make a Bouquet
After harvest, the aromatic herbs are delicate and can quickly deteriorate. To ensure their taste and appearance, create small arrangements and put the herbs in the glass within the fridge. Put fresh water every two or three days. You’ll be amazed at how long they last!
Now its your turn to take action!
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Nice article