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Nature Care Challenge | July 2020: Zero Food Waste

Posted on July 1, 2020April 18, 2021 by Malu

An average western household throws away about 1/4 of the food they buy. Considering the carbon footprint, the land cleared to grow crops and the amount of people going to bed hungry in the world, 1/4 is simply not acceptable.

This month I challenge you to cut your food waste to Zero.

And here are some helpful tips to help you achieve this:

In the shop

  • Consider how many people you are feeding and cook accordingly.
  • Make a shopping list and buy only what you need.
  • Don’t go shopping when you’re hungry.
  • Consider that fresh produce does not last as long. Only buy what you will consume in 3 days.
  • Consider that fresh meat and fish doesn’t last long. Only buy what you will consume in 1-2 days.

In the kitchen

  • Some foods (especially natural foods) may start to look funny over time but are absolutely fine. For Example:
    • Honey never goes bad. It may crystallize but is always safe to eat.
    • Cheese may mold. But Cheese is mold. Just cut off the mold and eat the rest (I have this info from a dairy farmer in the Netherlands).
    • Nut butter and peanut butter may separate and the oil starts swimming on top. Just stir it back in when you want a spoon full.
  • Be creative in the kitchen. Use up yesterdays leftovers in today’s dish by making something completely new out of it! The best dishes to use up leftovers are: Soup, stews, curries, bakes, pies, crumbles, sandwiches, cold salads, sauces, fritters…
  • Teach yourself to can, freeze and pickle foods so you can preserve them before it is too late.
  • Sell-by-dates & best-before-dates don’t mean much. Usually the food is safe to eat way beyond those dates. Use your sense of smell and taste instead of blindly tossing unopened foods. Yogurt is usually good 2 months past its sell-by-date. If it reads “consume before x” that means the food will likely not be good past this date and especially animal products could be hazardous to eat.

*Title image by Colin Czerwinski; orange and pomegranate image by Israel Egio; asparagus image by Foodism360. Thank you!

  • Monthly Challenges
  • No More Foodwaste!
  • Respecting Resources
  • 1 thought on “Nature Care Challenge | July 2020: Zero Food Waste”

    1. utz says:
      July 2, 2020 at 7:39 AM

      Hmm I assume, the good news in that story is: There is food for all of us, so don´t mess with it. The good news from to day: It rained finally, so trees can breath al little. If plants do grow food for us we should be thank- and respectful for there ecosystem service.

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    About me

    My name is Malu. I am a conservation-ecologist currently living in Germany. I’ve always been wild about the outdoors and can spend hours looking at an insect labouring away at its daily challenges, or a bird building its nest, or … there’s just so much amazing stuff happening out there! I’m really glad you’ve made it onto this page so I can share my joy with you.

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    We only have about 6 to 8 years left to turn this environmental mess of a ship around. So much has to happen politically, but the people also need to change habits and start to appreciate our environment more. So every 1st of the month I post a nature care challenge with environmentally friendly lifestyle choices of habits for you to try for 30 days and, if you like, let it stick with you for longer, maybe even for life.

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