Not many people realize just how much food they throw out or waste daily. This could be leftover food, spoiled produce, or even parts of veggies and fruits such as peels that have a high nutritional value.

With the world being food "insecure" it is important for everyone to find ways of reducing the amount of food they waste. The EPA estimates that nearly one-third of food goes to waste in the United States. Those are glaring stats in a world facing a hunger crisis. With that in mind, reducing or even eliminating food waste should be a key personal challenge.

In this article, we'll explore ten practical methods that you can use to reduce food waste at home and thus live sustainably.

1. Plan Your Meals and Create a Shopping List

One of the easiest and most effective ways to minimize food waste is through meticulous meal planning. Always keep an inventory of what you have and what you need. With a little bit of time and experience, you will be able to know how much you use for certain things.

Write shopping lists for food items to ensure that you only buy what you need. You can also clean out your cupboard once a month. You might just chance upon some leftovers that you can use.

2. Cook Only As Much As You Need

Always cook with a plan, measuring out quantities before starting your cooking, especially with things like rice and stews. If you're following recipes, ensure that you're planning for the number of people who will eat the food.

If you do have some leftover food at the end of the meal, plan this for your next meal. As a busy college student, for example, keeping leftover meals for lunch is a great way to save on your food budget. Another way to save good money as a student, especially when it comes to academic writing and editing, is to use services such as do my dissertation UK.

3. Use Scraps and Leftovers

One of the best ways to get creative in the kitchen is to use vegetable scraps and food leftovers. For example, you can use vegetable scraps and peels such as broccoli stems to make nutrient-rich vegetable broth. You can also repurpose the peels from fruits such as watermelons to make even more wholesome and nutrient-rich juice.

For leftovers, you can also keep them in an air-tight lunchbox and reinvent them as another dish. For example, you can reinvent grains and meat into fried rice, scrambles, or soups.

4. Clean Out Your Freezer Occasionally

The freezer is the graveyard of a lot of the food that we throw out. Food and leftovers can stay in the freezer for as long as we don't remember that they are there. That's why a freezer sweep every week or so is quite important. You'll be able to catch any items that are about to go bad such as yoghurt and dairies. You can repurpose these food items if they are edible, thus reducing waste and saving you money.

5. Adopt a First-in, First Out Approach

Most commercial food items bought from grocery stores have a"use by" or "best before" date. To prevent food from expiring before use, adopt a first-in, first-out approach. You'll be able to do this by rotating items in your pantry. That will ensure that older items get used before the new ones.

6. BYOC

Restaurants are some of the biggest culprits of food waste in America. If the restaurant allows it, and whenever you are eating out try to bring an extra container or two. You can then store the extra food in a freezer and reheat or repurpose these.

7. Regrow Your Vegetables

When you put in hard work to grow food, it becomes quite difficult to let it go to waste. For veggies, you can try to regrow them by grafting them or using seedlings. For example, you can use onion bulbs to grow green onions, and you can use other herbs to cultivate an indoor herb garden.

The supply of fresh homemade produce will also keep you healthier and contribute to sustainable farming.

8. Composting

Composting refers to turning food scraps into manure or rather nutrient-rich soil. Remember to only generate compost with food items that have become inedible.

You can set up a compost system at home, for example, in your backyard. The easiest way to do this is to dig a well-covered compost pit. The cover will prevent odor and flies from making their home at the compost heap. Turning the compost occasionally ensures that the content is well-mixed.

9. Utilize Food Sharing Apps

There exist food apps that connect individuals and businesses with surplus food to those in need. An example of this is the app "Too Good To Go" which enables users to minimize food waste by connecting them with restaurants or stores that have excess food.

Such apps not only allow you to contribute towards food sustainability programs. They also allow you to join a community of like-minded folks. Food apps also come in handy when you're busy and just can't cook for yourself or have a meal plan. It's much similar to when you hire a professional writer for an essay to buy to save a massive amount of time.

10. Treat Leftovers Before Throwing them Out

Sometimes, you may have a fruit, veggie, or bread that hasn't started to go foul yet. With a little research, you can treat your leftovers, for example, by removing the visibly stale parts.

For example, bread in one pack can have parts of it suffering mold and other parts looking crisp. You can treat the bread by removing the stale parts and repurposing the okay parts.

Wrapping Up

Food waste not only makes the world more food insecure but also results in the wastage of billions of dollars annually. The glaring stats about how much food is wasted show a world disconnected as nearly a third of the world's population is food insecure.

By growing conscious of our food practices and habits, we can start making daily changes that will improve our habits. As you embrace the methods above, remember to share knowledge and teach others about how to live sustainably and mindfully.