The Food Issue

A few weeks ago, CNN10 did a story on the food wasted in America, and it got me thinking about the subject, and what I could personally do to help the situation. I had an idea, but I wanted to make sure this would work for my family. This would require more research.

For those that are unaware, America is the third largest country to waste food on the planet. We are third to China and India. Forty percent of all food grown in the US goes uneaten. This means that 108 billion pounds worth of food goes to waste every year. This is a 400 billion dollar problem in a country that is currently trillions of dollars in debt.

One of the issues is that farmers sometimes cannot sustain the food grown due to weather, unhealthy soil, and other uncontrollable circumstances, but one of the other issues is completely controllable. We simply do not understand how to keep food from spoiling, and purchase too much in bulk. This is an uniquely American issue.

In other countries, the people will create a menu in the morning, and shop for the day. In this country, we go grocery shopping to last us for a week, every other week, or monthly. Then we don’t know how to keep the food fresh until we are ready to eat it, or we buy more and forget that we have food already.

We are the glutenous nation. It is no secret. We overindulge in everything. Our portion sizes are bigger than needed. We have Sam’s Club’s and Costco’s in every city, and these are stores who specialize in purchasing in bulk. Not to mention, how much food fast food restaurants throw away every day. We are wasteful.

⅓ of all food around the world gets wasted so it is not just us here in the US. 2 billion people could eat from the food that gets wasted every year. This is enough for every man, woman, and child on the planet to eat. We could solve world hunger by simply being less wasteful. The UN’s current number one goal is to cut the food waste in half by 2030. I plan to do my part.

My great idea was to start shopping the way they shop in other countries. It is a small change, but it is one that I can control. There is no reason for me to shop in bulk, when my family is slowly shrinking with the children getting older.

The next step is to learn all I can about food preservation. How can I keep my fruits and vegetables fresh until I am ready for them? How long should I actually be keeping fruits and vegetables? How much can I actually grow in my own backyard garden?

Lastly, I need to know what is the safest way to get the food that would be wasted by my family to the people who would need it most. Hunger is a basic human necessity to be filled. It is up to us to take care of our fellow human beings. Especially those who cannot care for themselves. When I stumbled upon the fact that if we weren’t so wasteful, we could feed every man, woman, and child who are suffering from hunger because of poverty, it broke my heart. We could all be doing so much better, and it wouldn’t even take more money than what we are already spending for our own families.

I have decided to be more mindful of others in this new year. I’m going into a new decade with my 40s. I feel very adult now. It is time I start working on leaving the planet a little better than when I came in.