One-third of all food tossed out

At home, try these three simple steps to help reduce the waste

The amount of food that goes into the trash in the United States could feed a small country — literally. By most estimates at least a third of all food in the U.S. ends up as garbage, and, with a population of 325 million, that’s enough to feed almost 100 million people.

One of the biggest causes of food waste is strict interpretation of “Best By” and “Use By” dates. According to the USDA, food dates are not required by the federal government and are simply the manufacturer’s recommendation for the window for best quality. Infant formula is the only food that currently has a federally required expiration date.

Most products past their product date are still safe to eat, as long as those foods have been properly stored and handled. The USDA even states, “Foods not exhibiting signs of spoilage should be wholesome and may be sold, purchased, donated and consumed beyond the labeled ‘Best if Used By’ date.” Milk, for example, is generally stated to be safe to consume seven days beyond the “Sell By” date, as long has it has been kept cold.

Instead of just feeling guilty, what can we do to reduce food waste at home? There are a number of steps we can take, ranging from small actions like not cutting the crust off bread to larger steps like encouraging grocery stores to sell or donate blemished produce. Simply being willing to cut a bruised spot out of an apple or eat a banana with dark spots can save many pounds of waste each year.

In honor of Earth Day, here are three simple steps to keep food out of the trash.

FIRST, PLAN AHEAD WITH PERISHABLE FOODS.

If you buy something for a recipe that you only make rarely freeze the unneeded part immediately, before it sits in the fridge and goes bad. Take a guess of how much you will actually use in the next week, and freeze the rest. Before you freeze it, measure the extra into the portion needed for your recipe, and then you are ready for the next batch, whether it is in a week or a month.

NEXT, SHOP YOUR PANTRY.

Once a week, do a “Pantry Challenge”: don’t buy any new or fresh food for a day and instead dig into the bottom of your pantry, the shelves in the garage, or the back of the fridge for ingredients for your meals. Make oatmeal in the morning from those old instant oatmeal packets, and include frozen berries from the back of the freezer, plus the last little bit of peanut butter. For dinner, try

a chili made with canned beans, those dried chiles you bought a couple of years ago, the random vegetables in the back of the crisper drawer, and those mostly empty bottles of salsa or hot sauce. It’s kind of fun and deeply satisfying, in a weird way.

One way to make salsa or pasta sauce last longer is to make sure the jar is cold before you open it the first time. People usually keep jars in the pantry and only chill them after opening, but that means the food spends a lot of time in the “food safety danger zone” while it is cooling down to refrigerator temperature after opening. Pre-chilled, the food is already cold before it’s opened and exposed to the environment, so bacteria are much less likely to grow quickly and cause mold or spoilage.

I’m including a recipe that incorporates all of the above by freezing extra bananas before they get overripe, incorporating ingredients from the back of the pantry, and prechilling. Try this no-ice smoothie on a warm summer morning or as a post-workout treat, and enjoy the nutrition and the good feeling that comes with reducing food waste.

MEXICAN CHOCOLATESTYLE SMOOTHIE

1 frozen banana (cut into chunks and frozen on a plate, then bagged in the freezer)

⅔ cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt

⅓-⅔ cup water (depends on how thick the yogurt is)

1 tablespoon cocoa powder (unsweetened “baking” cocoa, not hot chocolate or cocoa mix) 1 tablespoon peanut butter 1 tablespoon ground flax seed (flax seed meal)

1 teaspoon each honey and molasses

Pinch each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cayenne

Combine everything except the banana in your blender and mix well on medium speed until well blended. The mixture should not be too thick at this point — it should be pourable, like a thin milkshake. If needed, add more water to thin it out. Finish by adding the banana chunks and blending on high speed until smooth and creamy.

PER SERVING (approximate, depends on type of yogurt and size of the banana): 410 calories, 20 g protein, 53 g carbohydrate, 14 g fat.