Rescued Food

Last night I watched a documentary, "Just Eat It", concerning food waste that was shockingly eye opening.
Forty percent (40%) of the food produced in the US ends up in landfills - which amounts to $162 Billion in annual waste.
The average family of four ends up tossing about 1,200 lbs of food in the garbage in a year's time.
Food in landfills is the third largest industrial emitter of methane.
Food waste represents 8% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
The water footprint of wasted food is astounding. The water used to produce just one uneaten 1/4 lb hamburger amounts to approximately 225 gallons...the equivalent of a 90 minute shower.
All of this while, according to the US Dept of Agriculture, 1 in 7 Americans are food insecure.
The photos in this collage represent a very small sample of the perfectly good, healthy food our soup kitchen collects each week from just three local grocery stores - food that would otherwise be dumped in a landfill because it isn't esthetically perfect or is approaching a misunderstood shelf date. We also glean produce from local farms whenever possible through the St. Andrew's Society...beautiful berries, tomatoes, apples, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. that would otherwise be plowed under in the field. I knew we were doing a good thing, but it's like a microscopic finger in a monstrous dike. I'm learning how overwhelmingly huge the problem of food waste is and the staggering impact that wasted food has on the environment.
Three Good Things:
1. Making delicious and nutritious meals with rescued food twice a week for those in need
2. Offering rescued food donation 'shopping' to supplement weekly food needs to those we serve
3. Personally buying less and using it all

[Barbara Paquette]

Wow, that is a ton of food! So glad you are able to put it to good use. Good planning in food service makes a big difference. My boss didn’t keep track of how many meals we served, and would under- or over-order, and sometimes the kids’ portions got skimped or the excess was dumped. A couple people quit seeing that, and I admit it was one of the reasons I retired early.

[Pat Knowles]

That is a vast amount of waste, terrifying statistics of all that needless waste! I can never understand how people manage to throw so much food away….have they never heard of eating up next day? The UK also has fantastic people like yourself Peggy that makes tremendous use out of surplus food. Lovely collage!