Food is wasted every day by producers, distributors, and also consumers. Each year, about a third of all the food produced worldwide for human consumption is lost or goes to waste – 1.3 billion tons annually¹.

As individuals, we can’t control upstream food losses. Instead, what we can do is change our behavior and tend to zero food waste as a principle in our lives.

In this article, I’m sharing with you five easy tips to eliminate food waste in your daily life.

1- Only buy needed quantities of food

It seems trivial, but you need to exercise buying the required quantity that you will effectively consume.

In order not to have eyes bigger than your stomach, avoid doing your groceries when you are hungry.

2- It’s okay to pick ugly fruits and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are often thrown away just because of their appearance. While consumers only buy perfect-looking fruits and vegetables, it is crucial to remember that a relatively bad appearance does not change food taste.

• At the supermarket, consider buying even unattractive vegetables or fruits.
• At home, cut out the rotten part with a knife and eat the rest.

3- Store food wisely

There are simple things you can put into practice to store food properly:

• You can make sure that packets are closed to avoid insects getting in them.
• Also, in the fridge, you can move old products to the front and new ones to the back.
• Finally, you can also learn food conservation technics (I will publish an entire article about it soon. To get notified click here).

4- Avoid traps of food labeling

Do your research to better understand the labeling on your food.

It is important to learn the difference between “best before”, “use-by”, “sell-by” and “freeze-by”. While meat and dairy products need to be consumed by the date, other type of food can be eaten even long after the date. You can identify spoiled food from off odors, flavors or textures.

5- Learn ways to extend food shelf-life

Extending life of your food is so easy, you just need to know a few DIY tips. Here are examples:

• What to do with hard bread? Before consuming it, sprinkle it with water and put it in the oven; you’ll be left with a relatively fresh taste to enjoy!
• How to use out-of-date yogurt? Yogurt is an excellent nourishing product for the hair that you can use for your DIY cosmetics.
• What to make of a mature apple? You can either make applesauce or an apple pie.

By practicing these five tips daily, you will reduce considerably food waste in your life. Small-scale actions matter.

Will you become a food hero?

To understand why reducing waste at an individual level click here