A family of four wastes nearly $3,000 worth of food every year, according to a recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report. This figure has nearly doubled from the previous federal estimate of $1,500, which was based on 2010 grocery prices.
Understanding the Issue
The EPA report breaks down the waste to $728 per person annually, or about $14 per week. For a household of four, that amounts to roughly $56 per week in groceries that go uneaten. Over the course of a year, that totals $2,913, which is approximately 11% of the average family’s entire food budget, tossed in the trash.
The losses are not evenly distributed across the kitchen. Meat and dairy products are the commodity categories that offer the greatest opportunities for consumer cost savings through preventing food waste. Fresh vegetables and fruit may not cost the most to waste, but they are often the first foods to spoil in the fridge.
Summer and Food Waste
Peak produce season, roughly June through September, is also peak waste season. Farmers markets overflow with fresh produce, and grocery stores stock summer produce at prices low enough to encourage overbuying. This leads to kitchens filling up faster than families can cook through their hauls, resulting in wasted food.
The intention gap, the distance between what people plan to cook and what they actually cook, widens in summer. Warm weather shifts eating patterns toward lighter meals, outdoor activities, and spontaneous dinners out. Meanwhile, the produce purchased for ambitious cooking projects waits in the refrigerator, often going bad before it can be used.
Addressing the Problem
Recent consumer surveys suggest that rising food prices are prompting some changes, and more households report being conscious of using fresh foods before they spoil. One practical approach is cooking with flexibility in mind, such as making a quick fried rice that can absorb whatever vegetables need using up.
Buying less but shopping more often can also reduce the odds that produce goes bad before it gets used. Smaller purchases, made closer to when the food will actually be cooked, can help minimize waste.
Cutting the estimated $3,000 figure by even a third would save a family of four roughly $1,000 annually. This is money currently being spent on groceries, carried home, stored in the refrigerator, and thrown away without ever reaching a plate.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
