Reduce

Most people don't realize how much food they throw away every day — from uneaten leftovers to spoiled produce to parts of fruits and vegetables that could be eaten or repurposed.

One-third of all food in the United States goes uneaten. EPA estimates that in 2018, about 81 percent - 20.3 tons - of households' wasted food ended up in landfills or combustion facilities.

Preventing food from going to waste is one of the easiest and most powerful actions you can take to save money and lower your climate change footprint by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and conserving natural resources.

Preventing Food Waste

• Make a meal plan, then use it to help create shopping lists. This can help reduce impulse buys.

• Routinely search through your food to see which will go out of date sooner.

• Donate to your local food pantry or others in need.

• Compost

Share Overabundance 

• Ample Harvest: Find a Pantry

Reuse Foods

• Save savory scraps like onion skins, vegetables stalks and leaves in the freezer, and save it up to make soup stocks. (Some vegetables like potatoes skins MUST be blanched first or they will go black and nasty in the freezer!)

• Save citrus peels for candy making, potpourri, soap making, marmalade, teas, or dry them as confectionary ingredients.

• Coffee grinds can feed acid-loving plants like blueberry bushes. They can also be saved for facial scrubs, or natural dye for use with fabric or paper.

• Bruised or soft fruit can be frozen or baked Over-ripe bananas are perfect for baking bread, brownies, and other tasty treats. They can replace eggs by helping food to bind, but you may want to reduce how much sugar your recipe takes.

Food Storage:
Lunch Boxes & Takeout

One of the best ways to reduce our food waste is to bring our own, appropriately-sized meals instead of eating restaurant or cafeteria foods which often produce a lot of unseen food and packaging waste.

Proper vs improper storage will also affect how long your food lasts. Dry things like beans should be kept sealed in dry locations. Plastic containers or bags will make fresh produce like leafy greens go bad very quickly, while wrapping them properly in foil can help the same food items last for 1-2 weeks or more.

Some of the most environmentally friendly and food-friendly container options are:

Corn Husks

Banana Leaves

Bento Boxes

Bento boxes are from Japan

Life Expectancy:

Pro:

Con:

Solution:

Materials: It appears they can be made of various materials including metal, lacquerware, or even plastic.

Henkelmann

These were apparently quite popular in Germany in the 1960's, but have since fallen out of use.

Life Expectancy:

Pro: In the old days working people would pack their own home-cooked food to transport it to the workplace and to be able to warm up without with a water bath, but without getting the food moist. 

Con:

Solution:

Materials: sheet metal 

Pandan Leaves

Life Expectancy:

Pro: Biodegradable and compostable. Gluten-free, vegan.

Con: Energy is needed for packaging the leaves and keeping them frozen till they are needed. They can impart flavor into foods.

Solution: If possible buy them fresh from a local vendor or grow your own.

Materials: Pandan leaves

Tiffin Carriers 

"Tiffin carriers are known as rantang in Indonesian; mangkuk tingkat ('leveled bowls') in Malay; while in Thai they are known as Pin To (Thai: ปิ่นโต [ˈpìn ˈtoː]), and in Cambodia it is called Chan Srak (Khmer: ចានស្រាក់). In Hokkien they are called Uánn-tsân (Chinese: 碗層). In Arab countries they are called safartas (سفرطاس, from Turkish "sefer tası" meaning 'travel bowls'). The Hungarian word for a tiffin box is éthordó ('food carrier'). "

Tiffins are used in India with companies using them to cater to office workers. They are metal, and they come with latches which can help them be leak-proof. I stocked up on a few: one for each family member, and they are one of my favorite ways to bring packed lunches or grab takeaway when I can't finish my whole meal.

Life Expectancy: ~ 10 years and "A regular steel 3-tier container can keep food warm for almost 1 to 2 hours. Some Indian tiffins are made in 3-tier insulated boxes to keep it warm for 3 to 4 hours." If you don't care how long your food stays warm you can usually keep things in the fridge for a few days, and dry foods like fruit and nuts will be fine for at least a week: perfect for backpacking!

Pro: Tiffins can come in a variety of shapes and designs. The tiffins often come with 2+ levels, so you can have your rice in one compartment, curry or whatever on another, and another for something totally different like a salad or desert. I've read these aren't good for nut storage, but this probably mean long-term storage. For daily use, these work great for nuts or home-made trail mix, but be warned this can be noisy. Metal containers can be recycled at end of life. Despite being metal, these are pretty lightweight.

Con: These aren't always water tight, so be careful to test out a new tiffin before risking anything too wet while you'll be out. Sometimes just one or two levels are water tight, but another might not, and you'll want to remember which levels can be trusted with your wetter foods. Depending on what the tiffin is made of, you may need to be careful not to let it sit in a sink, or leave moist foods in too long.

Solution: Make sure to empty, wash, and properly dry tiffins if you aren't sure about the material it's made of, and want to help ensure it lasts a long time.

Materials: "Normally these containers come with two or three tiers, although more elaborate versions can have four. The bottom tier, sometimes larger than the others, is the one usually used for rice. Tiffin carriers are opened by unlocking a small catch on either side of the handle. Tiffin carriers are generally made out of steel and sometimes of aluminium, but enamel and plastic versions have been made by European companies." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiffin_carrier

Tupper Ware

Life Expectancy: Months-years.

Pro:  The most eco-friendly type are containers that you already own, usually these were the containers of food you already bought, but you can often get them from friends and family who might collect such things instead of throwing them away.  Tupperware with tight seals can be good for keeping insects out food, or from keeping them from escaping if you accidentally buy contaminated food. Water tight containers can be good if you are worried about flooding, evacuations, or other conditions where food may get wet and damaged.

Con: Plastic containers can make foods like raw vegetables and fruit "sweat" and start going moldy sooner than if stored in other materials. Plastic can absorb chemicals and smells. When heated, plastic containers are known to leak dangerous chemicals into food, which end up in our bodies. These chemicals can cause obesity and hormonal problems. They've been found to be especially problematic for teenagers.

Solution: Avoid heating up plastic containers, especially if they have food in them. Never microwave food or drinks in plastic containers. Only store cold or room temperature foods.

Materials: Plastics made from petrochemicals or bio-plastics. Companies are learning to make plastics from food waste such as wheat stalks.