According to the USDA, in the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30-40% of the food supply.
Our first impulse is the thought, we should be ashamed. But Brené Brown says shame is unproductive. We aren’t bad, but our less-than-mindful behaviors around food—buying or cooking more than we need and throwing the extra out—are. We’re just as guilty as anyone.
We should care about food waste because:
Wasted food could help feed families in need
Save money
Conserve natural resources and
Reduce greenhouse gasses generated from food rotting in landfills
Let’s turn guilt into mindful action!
Many of us have in-date home pantry items we purchased to make dinner…but we ordered pizza. Don’t let these items be your pantry equivalent of “aspiration jeans.” Give them to your neighborhood mini pantry and feed hungry people! (It’s at the top of the USDA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy.)
Mini pantry stewards might also approach local businesses about donating usable food that would otherwise go to waste. Even if businesses do not partner, initiating the conversation will market the mini pantry movement and make business owners more mindful of their own food wasteful behaviors.