I need you to do something for me. Go outside right now, open your car door and put your key in the ignition. Leave the car running, then come back inside and do something to occupy yourself for half an hour. Watch an episode of the Barefoot Contessa, do the laundry. Whatever you choose, stay inside for thirty minutes. After the time is up, go outside and turn off your car. Then continue with your day.

What words come to mind: ridiculous? Perhaps wasteful?

According to Jonathan Bloom’s American Wasteland, a book documenting the facts and effects of food waste, the amount of money we waste performing such a task is about the same amount of money we waste every single day by throwing away food. Dana Gunders, author for the National Resources Defense Council, informs us that on average, forty to fifty percent of the food produced in the U.S. goes uneaten. With numbers like these, it is shocking that nearly all of us simply accept the amount of food we let waste away rather than questioning how much we really squander. Considering the amount of food America wastes, we should all be willing to make changes in our lives to reduce these numbers and preserve our food because despite popular beliefs, these changes are neither difficult nor time consuming.

Before hitting the statistics, it is important to define our terms: specifically, food loss versus food waste. The website Think.Eat.Save a campaign promoting food preservation in our land, clearly defines the difference between the two. Food loss refers to food that is somehow spoilt or stripped of its value before it reaches its final product stage. Most often, this occurs before food reaches the supermarkets. In other words, factories need be more concerned about this, than, say, us, the consumers. What we need to worry about is food waste, defined as food that has successfully reached its final product stage but is thrown away anyway, whether or not it has spoilt. This takes place in the home, and is something we all have experienced first-hand. We buy a package of spinach, use a quarter of it for a recipe, then watch as it becomes a “wet green mess in your crisper drawer”(Bloom), or we serve ourselves too much at dinner and cannot finish all of our food, which then is transferred immediately to the garbage can.
How much do we really waste though?

Despite the facts that one in six Americans do not have a secure supply of food (Gunders), and one in four Americans struggle to buy groceries, says Swan Noelle, writer for The Christian Science Monitor, the amount of food our nation dissipates is appalling. Each year through total food losses, The United States throws out the equivalent of $165 billion (Gunders). If we reduced our food losses by a meager 15%, we would have enough resources to feed over 25 million people (Gunders). Taking a look inside our homes, the average American family wastes about a quarter of the food they purchase. For a family of four, that amounts to approximately $2,000 annually (Swan). However, it is important to remember that not all food losses are directly linked to households. In fact, only one-third of all unused food in developed countries is wasted by households (Think.Eat.Save). That means the majority of our losses comes from factories, where food is thrown out in the production, post-harvest, and processing and distribution stages of the food supply chain. According to Noelle Swan, 40% of food produced in the U.S. never makes it to the table. Looking at these facts, it is vital that we question what we can do to reduce the amount of food we waste.

Despite common myths that saving food is time-consuming and not worth the effort, making changes in our lives to stop food waste are easy, adaptable, and beneficial to our environment as well as our wallets. In American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of its Food (and what we can do about it), Jonathan Bloom gives many options to the typical American consumer on how to buy and preserve food wisely. Planning meals before shopping is one of these ideas. If we plan our meals and figure out exactly what we need to buy before hitting the aisles, we will end up purchasing only what is necessary, and not giving into any pointless sales or products we probably will throw away anyway. Bloom offers “bonus points” to anyone who can find two recipes with the same ingredient. As an example, “One night’s eggplant parmesan may lead to another’s Asian stir fry with eggplant” (Bloom). As for shopping, Bloom encourages us to not go to the store on an empty stomach as it could lead to mindless purchasing of all foods that appeal to our hungry appetite. He recommends munching on a granola bar while shopping to decrease the likelihood of this happening.

As for returning from the store with our delicately chosen products, there are many tricks and tips Jonathan Bloom proffers to reduce food waste in the home. For example, the farther back in the fridge we go, the colder it gets, so we should try storing our milk more perishable items far from the door. Serving ourselves and our families sensible portions at meals and saving leftovers are more common-knowledge ways we can all save food. Even though many of us know these ideas, however, how many of us actually employ them in our everyday lives?

On babycenter.com, Betsy Shaw, a blogger, asks fellow moms if their families, like hers, waste food. She tells of her experience attempting to pack leftovers in lunches, and trying to make her children clean their plate at dinnertime before asking, “Does this happen to you? Do you find a lot of food going to waste in your kitchen? Please say yes. I can’t handle the guilt.” Fortunately for us, many in our nation, like Shaw, are becoming increasingly aware of our massive food losses to which we all contribute. And while this situation can seem to be hopeless, it is not, and there are many organizations and movements forming to stop food waste in our land. “Think. Eat. Save.” is an example. It is a partnership with The United Nations Environment Programme, Food and Agricultural Organization, and Messe Düsseldorf. This campaign’s goal is to “add its authority and voice to efforts that seek to galvanize widespread global, regional and national actions and to catalyze more sectors of society to be aware and to act” (Think.Eat.Save.) This movement is also supported by Zero Hunger Challenge and Save Food, among many organizations in America directly targeting our total food losses.

We can join forces to stop food waste just as we can make individual daily changes to stop it. Whatever we choose to do, we have to do something. These do not have to be big, life-altering changes. They can be as simple as cutting off the undesirable part of a bruised apple instead of throwing the whole thing away, or saving the leftover baked beans from dinner for another meal. If we all can reduce the amount of food we exhaust, we can help our nation, our fellow citizens, and even ourselves. Are you willing to make a difference?