Food waste is a serious problem in the United States. Consider everything you throw away, and then think about how much of that is food. If the average American throws away 600 times his or her adult body weight in garbage throughout their life, then it would be safe to assume that much of that is food waste.

Food goes bad though, right? There is also food that has parts that aren’t able to be eaten. While these might be true, your local garbage services might disagree. Much of what you throw out ends up in a landfill. So what can you do?

Get creative with leftovers
Not many people are overly ambitious to eat leftovers multiple days of the week, but it doesn’t have to be all that bad. Try using the food in new recipes each time. For instance, if you have turkey one night, use the leftovers to have turkey tacos the next day. Then you can make a stew with the carcass and leftover meat. There are many clever and delicious ways to make leftover night not feel so, leftover.

Regrow or reuse
You can actually use some of the food that you throw out to grow new food, which not only saves some space in landfills but some money as well. Food such as romaine lettuce, leeks, green onions, garlic, celery, fennel, lemongrass, and cabbage can be regrown. All you need to do is save the core or the end of the stalk and place it in a bowl of water. Replace the water every day and watch your new plant come to life. Other food scraps that you can’t regrow can still be reused in dishes like stirfry, smoothies, soups, and stews.

Opt for smaller plates
Food waste is generated in large part by people putting more than what they can eat on their plates. This is especially true for children, who typically like to load their plate with food only to eat half of it. Serving dishes on smaller plates is a great way to teach children not to waste food, and to get adults to do the same.

When you place your bins at the curb for your garbage services to come and pick up each week, consider how much of that trash is food. Consider challenging yourself to waste less and finding new and exciting ways to minimize your food waste.

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