I don’t like letting things go to waste. I am that person who cuts up old t-shirts to make a rug or a grocery bag or a quilt or something. I have an entire blanket made just from yarn scraps. If I buy canned goods, I buy them in jars that I can wash and reuse for storing leftover soup or sending someone a care package of leftovers or coffee (or, last December, hot chocolate) to take home. I am big on recycling.
The thing I hate wasting the most? Food.
This is the main reason I was dreading cleaning out the fridge. I knew that there were things in there that were past their edible date. In fact, there was a whole grocery bag full of things. I dumped the buckets of rotten food into the bag and took it to the dumpster.
Then I cried. I’m even getting a little teary writing about it.
A few years ago, I chaperoned a group of student leaders on their spring break trip to Memphis where we worked at a food bank. Most of the week was spent sorting cans and stocking shelves. It was hard work (omg, so much work), but it was rewarding. The hardest part of the week – for all of us, I think – was the afternoon when they showed us how much food was donated that they had to throw away. There were two truckloads, and I’m not using hyperbole there. Two truckloads on one afternoon.
So much food goes to waste in this country. We produce more than we can ever consume, and we consume a lot. We also have people going hungry, because we haven’t figured out how to get it to them before it rots. Or we’re so concerned that they can pay for it – that they have a job and are contributing financially to society – that they’ve earned the right for their families not to go hungry. I don’t want to assume that the general consensus in this country is that we would rather have food go to waste and end up in a landfill than to give it to someone who didn’t or couldn’t pay for it, but our behavior sure makes it look like that’s true.
I haven’t worked fast food in about twenty years, and even then, I only did so for a couple of months. That was all it took, however, to know how much food gets thrown away there, and that was under the guidance of a careful manager. I can only imagine how much worse it would be under the management of someone who didn’t care.
I want to stop being a part of this problem. I NEED to stop being a part of this problem.
Themes, Observations, and Lessons:
– My dollar is my vote. Every time I spend money at a place that, as a result of its business structure, policies, codes, etc., inevitably wastes large amounts of food, I am rewarding that behavior, and I am a part of the problem.
– This ^ is an exhausting truth. Where the hell can I eat?
– One thing I can do is make sure that none of the food at home goes to waste. So my cooking schedule for November just got spread out:
10/26 – Caponata, several batches of beans that I can freeze, Kale/chicken egg rolls
11/2 – Enchiladas, chicken and dumplings, pizza puffs (snack for the following Tuesday’s book club)
11/9 – chickpea curry, roast
11/10 – lasagna(s) for Supper Club
11/16 – green bean casserole, something delicious with pasta, baked potatoes
11/23 – black bean chili
11/24 – Lazy Sunday casserole for Supper club
And Thanksgiving will be at Mom and Dad’s, so that should cover meals and leftovers for the month with (hopefully) no waste.
I’m going 31 days (and hopefully much longer) without fast food.
M. Suzanne Terry 
I hate waste and throwing things away GAH! I save old t shirts and use them for wash rags or for my DIY facial wipes because I just can’t throw them away. Food, like you is the worst. There are food banks that aren’t very economical and they just send you home with stuff whether you’ll use it or not. So then it gets thrown away at home rather than from their facility. That bugs me. I personally have to become more disciplined about what I cook and how I spread it out so that it doesn’t go to waste.
DIY Facial Wipes. I’m totally stealing that idea.
The Memphis Food Bank told us that some food banks do that – send people home with random items. It seems so counter-intuitive to me, to combat the problem of not having enough food with food that someone can’t use. They have a grocery store set up at their main location where people can choose what they want and will use. That seems so much more logical.
Facial wipes = whatever combo of apple cider vinegar and water you get comfortable with. I started with 25/75. I cut up a bunch of old t shirts and wash cloths and put em in a Tupperware. Throw them in the laundry and BAM!!
We go to a food bank now that I actually filled out a list for of food that we would eat, so that’s what we get. Which is awesome. Plus we get produce and on some occasions eggs and extra toiletries.
The food list is a great idea. I bet that cuts down on a lot of their waste.
Thanks for the facial wipes tip!