Christmas Food Waste – How to reduce it?
About a third of the food produced for human consumption is wasted every year and that comes with significant environmental and economic costs. 89 million tons of food goes to waste every year only in the European countries and 5 of them come from Romania.[1] Are you a part of the problem or a fighter against it?
Obviously, the most amount of waste takes place in the Holidays season, because besides a time of joy, Christmas it’s also a time of meeting with your family and friends. And eating together. Most of the time, each one of us is buying and cooking a lot more than we consume. Because we want to make sure that it’s enough. But enough might be slightly less than we think. So, here’s a couple of tips on how to reduce food waste in Christmas time:
- Take an hour or two and plan your shopping – make a list with all the people you expect for dinner and plan a menu for them.
- Based on the planning, make a shopping list and stick to it.
- Try to already use what you have left in the fridge before you buy all the things you need for Christmas.
- Store your food properly both before cooking it and the leftovers you might get after.
- Cook your meals for Christmas in medium portions. If there isn’t enough food, you can always fill in with a movie and some popcorn.
- Give your family members food to go. Don’t forget to share with the ones you care about!
- Get creative and use your leftovers to cook amazing new meals in the days following Christmas.
Use these tips wisely and enjoy Christmas with your family!
[1]ACTIF PROJECT « Zéro Gaspillage – pour une production et une consommation responsables en ECO » (Zero risipă, pentru o producţie şi un consum responsabil în Europa centrală şi orientală), financed by Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie en Europe Centrale et Orientale, https://actif.auf.org/actions/zero-gaspillage-alimentaire-4-universites-deurope-centrale-se-mobilisent/