The Non-Consumer Advocate

Thank you to everyone who entered to win a copy of Jonathan Bloom’s American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of its Food (and what we can do about it.) The randomly chosen winner was Barb, whose comment will see her becoming quite the expert on issues related to food waste.

In all there were 101 comments, and I’m glad I randomly choose winners, as you guys really had a lot of interesting insight into the issues related to food waste. Here’s just a small sample of some of the comments, and again, thank you to everyone who took the time to enter. Click HERE to read all the comments.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

Barb:

“I try to only cook what we will eat for that meal. My husband however, cant seem to remember that there are only two of us now. So when he cooks, we have way too much food. He always thinks we’ll eat the leftovers for lunch, but he’s never “in the mood for it”. We also have a problem with our weight so I try not to “push” food we don’t want to eat. It’s getting better, but is still a struggle. I have started composting, so produce that gets forgotten about at least gets composted.”

Rena:

“I grew up with “waste not, want not” values. My parents were very good at buying and preparing food that was not excessive. Leftovers were eaten in the same or different form. We hardly ate out only on special occasions. I now have three school-aged children. I work from home full-time, along with assist my husband and his businesses. Time to shop and cook is hard to do. If we eat out we spend too much and end up bringing food home that doesn’t get eaten. If I shop, I think big with good intentions to create a wonderful dinner. Fresh food spoils fast, frozen food gets lost and forgotten. I am consciously working on changing the way we live so my kids will learn how to value and appreciate money and food.”

Kristen Harrison:

“My mother thinks I’m weird because I love it when my fridge is near empty, it feels so freeing to me. When my fridge is full it stresses me out a little as I hate food waste and I worry we won’t be able to use it all up in time.”

Sandra Jensen:

“My husband has decided he likes to cook. This is great, except for the fact that we are now empty nesters – and he comes from a family that had NINE people at the table. Needless to say we have leftovers coming out of our ears. The freezer is stuffed full and yes I throw away moldy stuff that gets pushed back into the dark reaches of the fridge. If I win this it is going in his Christmas stocking! (after I read it)”  

Raven:

“Food waste and guilt. That’s my relationship to it. I feel tremendously guilty when I waste food. I try so hard not to, but last week I actually managed to put my avocados (sale!) under the loaf of bread and I recovered them too late. I was so sad, because an avocado and tomato sandwich sounded amazing. I lose veggies and fruits that way. I’ll just misplace or forget them and then they go bad. I’m definitely getting better. And I’m pretty good about almost always finishing my cooked leftovers before they go bad. (That’s probably why the fresh stuff gets overlooked.) There are only two of us, no kids yet, so I’m trying to get better at meal planning to prevent this waste. Would LOVE to read this book!”

Missy:

“Although I try not to waste food, it feels so good to now have curbside composting available. All my food waste (yes, including meat bones, eggshells, etc) can go in this container and be turned into rich compost in a high-heat composting facility. I feel truly lucky to have lived in two cities that have offered this fabulous re-use of food. Also, I hope to get chickens soon to minimize even what goes into the compost. I’m interested to read about the issue of food waste on a larger scale, though.”

Patrice Wassman:

“My husband and I made friends with the manager of our local grocery store. We have a trash can out back now, where they throw out all the outdated bread and “rotten” produce. It is ostensibly for our chickens, but it is amazing how much of it we can use. All the bread is fine, usually just outdated that day, or not even! Lots of veggies get thrown away because they have a soft spot. They are salvable. The end of the summer I got so many red, yellow and green peppers it was amazing. They got washed, sliced and frozen. I have also blanched and frozen broccoli, and pre-peeled cut up squash. What we can’t use goes to the chickens and our rapidly filling-up compost bins. It is tragic how much food goes to waste in this country.”

Nupur:

“Food waste makes me mad and sad. I try to minimize mine by making fridge-cleaning meals a couple of times a week, because practically anything can go into a soup, burrito or fried rice to convert leftovers into fresh new meals.”

Jen:

“I wish I could say I don’t have much food waste, but I can’t. I am, as they say, “a big eater”, so I usually clean my plate. It’s the ends of bread and the half jars of mystery food at the back of the fridge that get me.

On the other hand, we often gather at our local artisan bakery to take the extra (and free) loaves off their hands at the end of the day. It’s an interesting mix of people: homeless men, academics, business people, moms, students. All vying for a great deal, and doing their part to reduce food waste. I’m proud to be one of them.”

{ 3 comments }

Thank you to everyone who entered to win one of two different $35 TisBest charitable gift card giveaway packages. Your comments about how you incorporate charitable giving into your lives were both inspiring and thought provoking. Congratulations to Erin G and Jennifer whose comments were randomly chosen to win this week’s Non-Consumer Advocate Monday Giveaway. And a great big thank you to Non-Consumer Advocate reader Tegan, who set up this week’s giveaway!

Here’s just a small sample of the comments about how readers give both their time and money towards charitable giving. Click here to read them all. And make sure to check back in next Monday, when I’ll be doing a giveaway of Jonathan Bloom’s American Wasteland, which is his fantastic exploration of the issues related to food waste.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

Erin G

“I help my church feed the school kids across the street. A lot of them rely on school lunches for food, so we give them a bag lunch to take with them over the weekend.”

Jennifer

“It’s hard to give back with two young kids, I hope when they’re a little older we’ll be able to volunteer as a family. I’d love to work in an animal shelter–though it would be hard not to take all the animals home. I do donate old towels & blankets to animal shelters when they start to go thin & I always participate in food drives. We always bring our outgrown clothes to Goodwill or other charities/thrift stores.”

Barb @ 1 Sentence Diary

“Giving is a part of life in my household. Two examples:

– Our synagogue collects cereal and pasta for the local food bank (each institution collects different items, so that there will a variety). My kids and I donate cereal and pasta, as well as bring all the donations monthly to the food bank. We also volunteer at the food bank sorting and organizing food for other volunteers who deliver it.

– The 8th night of Hanukkah, in my household, is charity night. The kids pick a charity they want to support, and donations are made in lieu of gifts that night.

I love the idea of these cards. I’m going to look them up right now to consider as gifts. Thanks so much for letting us know about them!”

Sarah

“I give my time (and money through buying supplies) to my local elementary school my son attends. I’m not into the PTO/PTA volunteer situation. I actually spend my time, at least 10 hours a week, inside the classroom. I take care of anything I can for the teacher so she can focus more on the students such as; grade papers, make copies, gather and send out homework, etc…

In addition, I work a lot one on one with the kids. I tutor the children that are having difficult times. Some kids just need that little one on one attention and a quiet atmosphere to learn. Yes, they excel but I literally get a high when they progress. It is the greatest feeling and I get so excited for them.

I give money as well. Actually, I had a New Year’s resolution to never say no to people raising money. I give a minimum of $10 everytime I am asked. Funny thing is, karma is such a good thing. We have been financially blessed beyond belief this year unexpectedly and I truely believe it is because we opened out hearts and wallets to others in need.”

Lucy

“How do I give back to the community? Well, I help people with fundraising projects when they ask! I do a lot of grant proposal writing… paid and as a volunteer.”

Tammy

“I work with a friend of mine and her Mom to provide loaned prom gowns and accessories to local girls who might not get to attend their Jr/Sr proms. We collect donated and thrifted gowns, shoes, accessories, toiletries and if available dinner certificates, hairdo certificates, etc. We ask for the gowns back and cover cleaning, etc. My friend and her Mom are great seamstresses and have been known to hem, tuck, etc. to make a girls dream gown “fit” and I provide handknit ribbon shawls, custom beaded jewelry, etc. We have some local beauty pagent participants help the girls as their personal shoppers to put together that special look. We’ve done this 2 years so far and everyone who has participated has seemed to really enjoy it as we try to make it a really fun shopping event from which the girls leaves with everyone she needs or a plan on how to achieve her dream prom. It’s truly one of the best experiences of my life and we hope to continue for years to come.”

Alicia

“When I had a job, I would donate to the food pantry if I had extra money left over at the end of the month. It didn’t happen very often, but three or four times a year. When I was younger and had no money, I would volunteer to take donations at the local public radio station. Now that I’m a mom, I have little extra money or time — if we do have extra money, I wind up feeling guilty if we don’t add it to our son’s college fund. So I recently decided that for his first birthday (and probably for the first few birthdays) we will ask our guests for no gifts — he has enough stuff already — and instead put out a call for donations to a local charity. If we decide to donate to the food pantry, then I’m going to have my sister make robot decorations out of canned food cans. If we decide to donate to a different kid-centered charity, we will try to find a way to make that part of the party theme.”

Christine

“One of the ways we like to help out our community is with the homeless. During the winter, we always have some blankets in our trunk to give to those who need them. And when we see someone asking for food, we stop by the grocery and buy bread, peanut butter, fruit, and a hot deli item like chicken for them to eat for a few days. We also try to take a few minutes to listen to the person. Its a hard life out there and sometimes people just need to have someone care.”

{ 1 comment }