People tend to make more food around the holidays and that means more food waste. Indiana Public Broadcasting talked with experts about how to get the most out of holiday meals — whether you're cooking at home or for your business.
Marianne Peters is with the Marshall County Solid Waste Management District. She said food waste doesn't decompose well in a landfill — there's not enough air circulation. That leads to a toxic, smelly liquid that produces methane — a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Peters said the first step to reducing food waste is to figure out how much food you really need — get a head count and look at serving sizes before you go to the grocery store.
Then, have a plan for your leftovers. Will you send food home with guests, make it into new recipes or freeze it for later?
"You can take just servings of certain dishes and freeze them, maybe pull them out a few weeks later and have them for lunch at work," Peters said.
Lastly, consider composting fruit, vegetables and other foods that don't have meat or oils.
Peters said when you reduce food waste, that also cuts down on the amount of land, fuel and packaging needed to get that food to your table — and that's good for the planet too.
Ways food service businesses can reduce waste
Jim Conklin is the executive director of Cultivate Food Rescue in South Bend. It takes excess food from places like restaurants, grocery stores and farms and makes them into frozen meals for food insecure grade schoolers and other community members.
Conklin said there are two main reasons businesses waste food. They don't want to risk running out of food for customers, so they make extra. Then, there's all the food that's perfectly good, but not very pretty — think of a misshapen, small or blemished potato.
"A lot of the food we rescue, the everyday person never sees. It stays behind the scenes. It stays in the ground, when it comes from the farmer, and the resources have been spent to grow it. It just doesn't have a home," Conklin said.
Though many food banks don't take prepared food, Conklin said some food pantries will if it's from a licensed kitchen. Second Helpings in Indianapolis is one example. Conklin said charitable food donations of this kind are also legally protected.
Conklin said he'd like to see a federal law requiring expiration dates instead of just best buy dates. Some food that is past its peak, like eggs, can still be safely eaten weeks later.
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Rebecca is our energy and environment reporter. Contact her at rthiele@iu.edu or on Signal at IPBenvironment.01. Follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.
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