talking trash

We’re talking trash at eco ike! We just read this staggering statistic, “Each year Americans waste an estimated 160 billion pounds of food”! Whoa! That stat is according to Jonathan Bloom, author of American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of its Food (and What We Can Do About It).

Here are some of his tips to help reduce food waste:

• Love your leftovers. You can look at leftovers in two ways: convenient or creative. It’s convenient to pack the next day’s lunch after dinner. It’s a culinary challenge to turn last night’s roast chicken into several meals from soup to enchiladas.

• Keep your refrigerator uncluttered. Pack leftovers in clear containers. Shift new items to the back and old items to the front. Designate a shelf as the “use it up” area for soon-to-expire items.

• Start a compost pile. If you do have to throw food away, you can avoid sending it to the land-fill and instead help your garden.


American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of its Food (and What We Can Do About It)

image courtesy of Land of Nod