Fall 2010

Tools to Minimize Food Waste

As kids, most of us learned that's it's a sin to waste food - with hundreds of millions of people in the world suffering from malnutrition, our parents were right to admonish us to clean our plates. But despite their diligence, food waste remains a serious problem: according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, field to fork, some 50% of all food produced globally is lost, wasted or discarded.

Granted, much of this loss occurs before the food makes it into the shopping cart, but consumers themselves are a big part of the problem. According to a 2008 New York Times article, the average family of four in the US throws away 112 pounds of food per month.

It's true, some people just don't like leftovers (who wants a meal that is already prepared and paid for, after all?), but even the most conscientious among us are sometimes forced to throw away food: giant bunches of wilting cilantro, moldy cream cheese, stale crackers, and countless other forgotten foodstuffs that can be found in refrigerators and pantries across America.

This waste is not only a waste of money, it's a waste of natural resources. From the water and land used to grow the food, to the water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions that usually accompany food production, every bite takes its toll on the environment.

Here are two very handy and useful tools that will help you waste less food, save money and reduce your ecological footprint. Your mother would be so proud.

ShelfLifeAdvice.com

When faced with a suspicious food item (a bit of a mold here, an expired 'best by' date there), what is the prudent consumer to do? In our haste to avoid food poisoning, most of us at one time or another have discarded food that was actually perfectly safe to eat. According to the folks at www.shelflifeadvice.com, most products are in fact safe to eat or drink for at least a couple of days past the expiration date.

This helpful site offers shelf life and storage advice for nearly 600 foods and beverages, opened, unopened, refrigerated, and stored at room temperature. You'll find everything from yogurt to ketchup to matzos. You'll also find lots of handy tips such as 'the harder the cheese, the longer it keeps,' and answers to questions such as "should hard cheese with mold be discarded?"

So the next time you're unsure if something is safe to eat or drink, visit www.shelflifeadvice.com. In addition to a Professor of Food Science and an editor of four food-industry publications, the site's writers include a self-proclaimed food safety fanatic whose greatest achievement in life is "never giving my family food poisoning." Sounds good to me.

FoodSaver®

One suggestion you'll find on ShelfLifeAdvice.com for extending the shelf life of foods and beverages is to use a vacuum sealer. Meat, cheese, wine, coffee grounds, giant bunches of cilantro, you name it: they'll stay fresh on average five times longer(!) when stored under vacuum-sealed conditions.

By removing oxygen, vacuum sealers retard both mold and bacterial growth. They also prevent freezer burn and are great for marinating: by removing air and "opening the pores of the food," vacuum sealers cut marinating time down to as little as 20 minutes.

There are several brands on the market, but as a long-time user of the FoodSaver® Vacuum Sealing System, I can enthusiastically recommend this product. There are now eight FoodSaver® vacuum sealers to choose from, ranging in price from $69.99 to $259.99. The one shown above costs $99.99.

For storage, you have two options: canisters or bags. The canisters are great because they can be reused indefinitely, and sealing is as easy as attaching the rubber hose to the lid and pressing a button. The bags come in gallon and quart sizes, as well as 8" and 11" continuous rolls. I'm a fan of the rolls because they allow you to create custom-sized bags. Once a bag is sealed, it's opened by cutting just below the seal. The bag can then be reused again and again until it is too small to hold anything.

Vacuum sealers have one other use worth mentioning: they're great for storing storing non-food items as well. Silverware, sentimental papers, open packets of seeds and survival kits are just some of the things you can keep fresh, dry and stain-free by vacuum-sealing. Get yours at www.foodsaver.com.

10/10/10
GLOBAL WORK PARTY

Environmental activist Bill McKibben is on a mission: to prevent a global climate catastrophe. The author of The End of Nature (1989), the first book to warn the general public of the threat of global warming, McKibben recently launched 350.org to "inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis-to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet."

Last October, McKibben and his team at 350.org organized an International Day of Climate Action to put pressure on world leaders to take meaningful action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With over 5200 actions in 181 countries, the event was declared by CNN to be the most widespread day of environmental action in history. Sadly, it was not enough: when UN leaders met last December, they failed to take serious, enforceable action against climate change.

Undeterred, McKibben and his colleagues at 350.org are now planning a "Day to Celebrate Climate Solutions." On 10/10/10, people all around the world will get to work "setting up solar panels or digging community gardens or laying out bike paths." There are already events planned in more than 140 countries. Impressive, but not enough. In order to send a loud enough message to decision-makers around the world, we need as many people participating in as many events as possible.

Help make 10/10/10 an even bigger, stronger and more effective movement than last year's. Go to www.350.org to register an event or join an event today!

Sincerely,


Kathleen Jacecko
Founder/Director