As the saying goes, ” to make the change, we need to start from out homes”. By changing our household consumption behaviour, it is one of the measures to reduce food wastage. Several ideas listed are non exhaustive and can be further expanded on. It can allow for the possible bridging of the consumer gap to minimise food wastage.
- Use of Food Storage Chart
Food storage chart such as the one shown below is extremely useful in educating households on the freshness and edibility of products bought. These handy charts can be pasted on home refrigerators or freezers, enabling us to know how long they can keep their groceries for. Being equipped and familiar with crucial food storage information will prevent us from disposing food prematurely. Accurate methods in handling and storing can be adopted that can prolong the edibility of food before it spoils. Furthermore, learning when food actually goes bad rather than using expiry dates as our guideline also helps us to verify the edibility of food. We can also push food that are nearer to their date of expiry to the front for consumption first
Click here to find out more tips on how to store food properly for the best consumption!
- Refrigerator shopping before actual shopping
As consumers, we are often tempted to purchase and bulk purchase as we walk down the aisle of packed and colourful shelves. This is further exacerbated by us being spoilt of choices and often buying more than what we actually need. One way to counter this is to refrigerate shop before actually heading to the supermarket. The checking of our refrigerator and our pantry makes us more aware of the food supply we have at home. In turn, this will effectively reduce the likelihood of food wasting as the food pile back at home does not grow. Furthermore, we will also be less likely to discard food that is deemed as not fresh. In addition, a preparation of a food grocery list keeps consumers directed at what they need to buy, preventing bulk purchases or grabbing whatever they like. Consumers should also be resistant and wary of the advertising gimmicks and pressures that encourages them to bulk purchase or buy impulsively.
- Eating leftovers
A stigma is associated with having leftover food as being “cheap” or “poor” or even “unsavory”, but there is nothing wrong with it! Consider this, having leftover food kills two birds with one stone – we can save money, and more food is available to go around. More importantly, it helps to save and protect the environment. Furthermore, leftover food can also be combined to make new food recipes such as using leftover fried chicken to make chicken quesadillas, and that sounds pretty yummy!
To target the “unsavoury” aspect, we can start our takeaway before the start of our meal (especially with big portions), that way we will not be left with packing half eaten food that would appear as unsavoury to us.
- Us as the influencer
Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, our behavioural intent is influenced by subjective norms, such as the approval of our significant social other. The acquisition of proper knowledge surrounding food waste as imparted by our peers or significant others may serve to have a greater impact on us to not waste food. Social norms and peer-perceived endorsement are crucial and essential players in influencing the people around us to be more conscious of our food consumption behaviours, due to our desire to fit in and belong in a social group.
- Looking for substitutes
When preparing a dish or a meal, strict adherence to food recipes results in us buying new food from the supermarket. The perpetuation of purchasing new ingredients with every trip to the supermarket or when having friends 0ver contributes to food waste issue. Rather than always buying new ingredients, we could utilise what we have at home as the next best substitute. Foodsubs acts as a cookbook thesaurus that provides a complimentary list of food and ingredient substitute. This is highly accessible in a technological driven world!
- Donation of food
Donating safe and nutritious food to people who are in need is a better alternative than throwing away food that we aren’t keen to have anymore. With millions of people who are malnourished, donating these food away helps to feed the less privileged and reduce the amount of food waste caused.
- Composting food
One sure way that we can reduce our food waste back in our homes is to compost our food waste. Discarded or eaten food can be used as fertilisers for soils and that helps in soil enrichment. Nutrients are being recycled back into the nature and this simple and easy way will allow us to compost our waste much more efficiently. Horry County Solid Waste Authority provides a comprehensive list of food that can be composited.
Singapore could also have a common composite food waste in their local community garden. This serves as a common platform where people can use the common composite as fertilisers for the soil and plants. This serves and allow people the opportunity to compost their waste even if the lack one at home.
