Spending most of my life in restaurant kitchens, I have seen and cooked more food than the average person will in their entire life. Recently I have been at the head of the Lionhearts Inc. Covid-19 Street Project kitchen team, preparing and serving over 125,00 meals to those in need in the Kingston community since March 19th, 2020. We have achieved this primarily using donated food that was deemed surplus and would have otherwise been thrown away. Throughout this endeavour I have been able to utilize my years of training and experience to come up with simple but creative ways to safely repurpose and redistribute this surplus food to those in need, and in doing so helping to prevent food from being needlessly wasted. When I was asked by Sustainable Kingston to write a blog on Food Waste, I took it as the perfect opportunity to help educate the public on this preventable problem and to offer a few simple tips on how the average person can cut back on their own food waste.

Food waste is a global problem and a modern problem. It occurs at all stages of the food supply chain, from production to post consumer disposal as garbage. While there are a range of factors that contribute to food waste in the production and retail stage of the supply chain, the solution to those problems are being addressed through the collaborative actions and decisions of businesses and government. 

While Canada has, albeit slowly, begun to take decisive steps toward the overall reduction of food waste nationally, we should look to internationally to see the adoption of successful laws and initiatives that have helped to reduce the worlds overall food waste. One example comes from France, with its rich history of food and culinary excellence. The French have taken large and impactful steps on reducing food waste through the 2016 enactment of a law which banned grocery stores form throwing away food products which are either edible or able to be used as animal fee. The law requires businesses to sign contracts with charities agreeing to regular donations. While this certainly is a step in the right direction, it is worth noting that this only addresses a portion of food waste created, and ultimately it is the consumer who has the potential to impactfully reduce food waste overall. 

Though our individual contributions may feel small, it is estimated by Value Chain Management International that we as consumers contribute nearly 50% of all food waste. We have been consumed by the abundance of food we have at our disposal. So much variety, so many recipes to try, we have become so used to our way of life and the pleasure it brings us that we too often overlook the waste and disparity it causes. According to the National Zero Waste Council, 63% of the food Canadians throw away could have been eaten.  For the average Canadian household that amounts to 140 Kg per year at a staggering cost of more than $1,100.

So, what can the average person do to cut back on their food waste? While there is no one size fits all answer to this, food waste is indeed a solvable problem. I find the best and most simple place to start is to approach your food like a grandmother would. Here are a few simple steps you can take to help reduce your food waste impact, spend less, and help support your local economy:

• Use what you have! Trying a recipe but don’t have an ingredient listed, google a substitution, you may very well have it on hand.

• Use up your leftovers! Getting creative with leftovers may seem like a challenge, but a quick addition of 1 or 2 new ingredients can create a whole new dish from the one you had the night before.

• Research and understand the difference between Best Before and Expiration or Use By Dates, too often we throw out food that is labeled as Best Before when chances are it is still good for some time.

• Don’t give up on imperfect food! Most food can be repurposed or revived with a little bit of effort.

• Buy local! While sometimes the cost may be a little bit more, the impact your purchase has on both the environment and the economy will far outweigh the few dollars added to your grocery bill.

• Buy food that is in season! Food bought out of season most likely had to travel a long way and has lots of packaging to make sure it lasts. If you really have to enjoy those certain summer vegetables in the winter, find locally grown greenhouse vegetables instead. A little research into where your food comes from goes a long way in reducing the impact of food waste.