Did your last family meal conclude with extras being scraped into the compost or garbage can? Mine did.
Now I'm haunted by last week's Science Friday, "Waste Not: The Ugly Truth about Food Waste in America?
It haunts me. They estimate half a hamburger wastes as much water as an hour long shower!
With young kids in the house, waste is practically unavoidable.
Learning to eat a well-balanced diet is a process - parents are told to try, try again when kids resist healthy foods.
And my little ones are truly poor eaters in between growth spurts. When they're growing, give them (almost) anything and it disappears. Between times, even much-loved dishes sit barely touched at the end of the meal.
I'm not a fan of waste, of course, so I save what I can for the next meal.
Often, those saved bits get tossed.
If this issues haunts you as well, check out Rethink Recycling and their article "How to Keep Food Waste out of the Garbage."
Most helpful was their List of Companies that offer food recovery services in the metro area. Given the vast impact of institutional food waste, I'm choosing to worry less about the small scale waste of my own learning eaters.
Instead, I'm going to check out the institutions around me. If I can help an organization or two redirect unserved portions to a local shelter, the impact on waste, and on the community will be significantly greater.
And by talking about this issue with my children, perhaps they will be more aware about what they leave on their plate at the end of a meal.