interactive tool for wasting less food.) For example, in North
America and Oceania alone, approximately 5.8 million tons
of roots and tubers are wasted just at the consumption stage.
That’s according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations, and it’s the equivalent of 1 billion bags of
potatoes. Picture raw potatoes you forgot about in your kitchen
pantry, trays of excess fries tossed after lunch in a school caf-
eteria, or all those breakfast potatoes left uneaten at brunch.
At home, there are effective steps you and your family can
take to waste less food. Dana Gunders, a former senior sci-
entist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, authored a
fantastic book called the Waste-Free Kitchen Handbook. Her gen-
eral advice is to apply the waste management mantra “Reduce,
Reuse, Recycle” to food.
TOP 5 WAYS TO WASTE LESS FOOD AT HOME
1 Always use a shopping list. Making a list before grocery
shopping is obvious, simple, and highly effective. Yet sur-
prisingly few people use one. Those who do are less likely
to succumb to impulse buys. Also, before you check out at
the register, take a moment to review every item in your
cart and make sure you have a plan for using each one.
2 Of all the things not to waste, red meat is the most important.
Not all food waste has the same impact on the planet.
Tossing an uneaten hamburger wastes the water equiv-
alent of taking a ninety-minute shower. For a tomato, it’s
more like four or five minutes. So, in terms of lowering
your carbon and water footprints—especially if eating less
red meat feels like a tough lifestyle adjustment—not wast-
ing the red meat you do purchase is a great place to start.
What counts as red meat? Meat from mammals, which in
the United States is usually beef, pork, and lamb. Common
Stuff that Comes from the Ground 23