Roughly one third of all food produced globally is wasted. In households, food waste happens in small, everyday ways — a forgotten vegetable in the back of the fridge, a portion too large, a best-before date misread. Reducing waste at home is one of the most effective ways individuals can lessen their environmental impact.
The first step is understanding dates. "Best before" refers to quality, not safety — many foods are perfectly good well past this date. "Use by" is more serious but often still conservative. Trust your senses: if food looks, smells, and tastes fine, it usually is.
Store food properly to extend its life. Keep herbs like cut flowers in a glass of water. Store mushrooms in a paper bag, not plastic. Keep onions and potatoes separate — they cause each other to spoil faster. Most produce lasts longer in the refrigerator, but tomatoes, bananas, and potatoes prefer the counter.
Plan meals to use what you have. Before shopping, check the fridge and plan meals around what needs to be used first. A "use first" shelf in the refrigerator — where older items are placed at eye level — keeps forgotten food visible and used.
Learn to use parts you might normally discard. Vegetable peels and trimmings make excellent stock. Stale bread becomes croutons, breadcrumbs, or panzanella. Slightly wilted vegetables are fine in soup or stir-fry. Citrus peels can be candied or zested.
Freeze what you cannot use in time. Almost any food can be frozen — cooked grains, soups, sauces, bread, and most vegetables (blanched first). Freeze in portion-sized containers so you can thaw exactly what you need. Label everything with the date.
Compost what cannot be saved. Food scraps that cannot be eaten or frozen can become compost, returning nutrients to the soil rather than producing methane in a landfill. Even a small worm bin can handle a household's food scraps.