Shopping. People have varied opinions about shopping, but the fact remains that most individuals are guilty of producing a little food waste now and then. Whatever approach you take to shopping, it’s critical to avoid wasting food at all costs. Read on to learn more about this crisis and how you can start shopping smarter to save our environment today!
How To Shop Smarter To Prevent Food Waste
Shopping. People have varied opinions about shopping, but the fact remains that most individuals are guilty of producing a little food waste now and then. Whatever approach you take to shopping, it’s critical to avoid wasting food at all costs. Read on to learn more about this crisis and how you can start shopping smarter to save our environment today!
Why Food Waste Needs To Stop
By now, everyone is becoming aware of the food waste crisis. This is a problem that we cannot afford to neglect since it has the power to devastate our surrounding environment. By consuming eye-watering amounts of land, freshwater, and labor to produce food, wasting this food defeats the object of manufacturing it in the first place. Consider a singular tub of butter. Think about what went into making it – the food and maintenance of raising animals, producing the final product, transferring it to local stores, and the consumer energy of traveling to the supermarket to buy it physically. Why on earth would we let all this effort and energy go to waste? Below are a few tips for how you can start shopping more intelligently today.
Check The dates
When shopping for particular items, it’s best to choose used-by dates that are further away for products that you know you won’t be eating immediately. By being aware of the dates, you can plan your mealtime dinners to ensure any leftovers can be used up in another meal the next day or placed in the freezer and defrosted another time.
Pick Loose Items
By picking loose products such as fruit and vegetables instead of pre-packaged products, you can control the amount of food you have, making sure you can access fresh ingredients without wasting any excess amounts.
Assess What You’ve Already Got
Take a peek at what you’ve already got in your cupboards and fridge at home. This can show you the items you do not need to buy, ensuring you only purchase what you actually need. After all, why would you buy a new bottle of tomato sauce when there’s already one lurking unseen at the back of your cupboard? The backs of cupboards and fridges should be the prime places to look before heading out to the shops.
Meal Planning
Meal planning is the most obvious way to become a smarter shopper. Consider what meals you’d like to make for the week ahead, and list out the ingredients you need to buy. By making a shopping list, you can observe what you actually need to purchase, thus stopping you from making unnecessary buys. Consider the timing of your next trip to the shops. Also, think about other factors - are you going to get a takeaway or eat out anytime in the week? This can be regular for some people, but others only go to restaurants for special occasions – filter these into your meal planning!
Try To Avoid Impulse Buying
Trying not to impulse buy can be challenging for some individuals, but there are specific tips you can take on to help practice this. For example, don’t shop when you’re hungry. This can be detrimental to your food bill, and you can buy a lot more than you’ll actually eat. Furthermore, try to be a little more mindful of your shopping habits. For example, stop and consider if you actually need to buy something. It’s worth waiting a day or two to see if you still want to buy a product – you may discover that you don’t even want the product after all…
Don’t Get Sucked In By Marketing
Marketing gimmicks are renowned for persuading customers to buy products they don’t need. If you get ten products for a bargain price but don’t consume them all, you’re still wasting food and precious cash.
Serving Up
After shopping for your food, you must be smart about serving up. So, you need to find an intelligent method of measuring your portions and only cooking what you actually need to avoid wasted leftovers. It can be easy to overestimate how many carbs you need, so using instruments such as a pasta measurer can be a great tactic to resolve this problem.
Key Takeaways
- Nowadays, too much food is designated to landfill sites, which only serves to rot down and disperse polluting methane into our atmosphere. Thus, we need to avoid food waste to decrease the concerning amounts of carbon dioxide we inject into our surroundings!
- Humans waste an eye-watering one-third of all food, making a problem that needs to be challenged directly. Thus, only when you direct attention to the problem can you start to tackle it.
- Finally, smart shopping has the power to change our world, so it’s time to get on board with it.
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Why food waste needs to stop
By now, everyone is becoming aware of the food waste crisis. This is a problem that we cannot afford to neglect since it has the power to devastate our surrounding environment. By consuming eye-watering amounts of land, freshwater, and labor to produce food, wasting this food defeats the object of manufacturing it in the first place. Consider a singular tub of butter. Think about what went into making it – the food and maintenance of raising animals, producing the final product, transferring it to local stores, and the consumer energy of traveling to the supermarket to buy it physically. Why on earth would we let all this effort and energy go to waste? Below are a few tips for how you can start shopping more intelligently today.
Check the dates
When shopping for particular items, it’s best to choose used-by dates that are further away for products that you know you won’t be eating immediately. By being aware of the dates, you can plan your mealtime dinners to ensure any leftovers can be used up in another meal the next day or placed in the freezer and defrosted another time.
Pick loose items
By picking loose products such as fruit and vegetables instead of pre-packaged products, you can control the amount of food you have, making sure you can access fresh ingredients without wasting any excess amounts.
Assess what you’ve already got
Take a peek at what you’ve already got in your cupboards and fridge at home. This can show you the items you do not need to buy, ensuring you only purchase what you actually need. After all, why would you buy a new bottle of tomato sauce when there’s already one lurking unseen at the back of your cupboard? The backs of cupboards and fridges should be the prime places to look before heading out to the shops.
Meal planning
Meal planning is the most obvious way to become a smarter shopper. Consider what meals you’d like to make for the week ahead, and list out the ingredients you need to buy. By making a shopping list, you can observe what you actually need to purchase, thus stopping you from making unnecessary buys. Consider the timing of your next trip to the shops. Also, think about other factors - are you going to get a takeaway or eat out anytime in the week? This can be regular for some people, but others only go to restaurants for special occasions – filter these into your meal planning!
Try to avoid impulse buying
Trying not to impulse buy can be challenging for some individuals, but there are specific tips you can take on to help practice this. For example, don’t shop when you’re hungry. This can be detrimental to your food bill, and you can buy a lot more than you’ll actually eat. Furthermore, try to be a little more mindful of your shopping habits. For example, stop and consider if you actually need to buy something. It’s worth waiting a day or two to see if you still want to buy a product – you may discover that you don’t even want the product after all…
Don’t get sucked in by marketing
Marketing gimmicks are renowned for persuading customers to buy products they don’t need. If you get ten products for a bargain price but don’t consume them all, you’re still wasting food and precious cash.
Serving up
After shopping for your food, you must be smart about serving up. So, you need to find an intelligent method of measuring your portions and only cooking what you actually need to avoid wasted leftovers. It can be easy to overestimate how many carbs you need, so using instruments such as a pasta measurer can be a great tactic to resolve this problem.
Key Takeaways
- Nowadays, too much food is designated to landfill sites, which only serves to rot down and disperse polluting methane into our atmosphere. Thus, we need to avoid food waste to decrease the concerning amounts of carbon dioxide we inject into our surroundings!
- Humans waste an eye-watering one-third of all food, making a problem that needs to be challenged directly. Thus, only when you direct attention to the problem can you start to tackle it.
- Finally, smart shopping has the power to change our world, so it’s time to get on board with it.
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