5 Fresh Ways to Reduce Food Waste

According to recent reports, from farm to table, 40 percent of food goes to waste. 

Not only is this a waste of money, it's also incredibly taxing on the environment.

Fortunately, there's a concerted movement to reverse that trend. 

Liz Weiss, RD, shares with host Lisa Davis five fresh ways to reduce food waste:

1) Shop your pantry for your dinner: What ingredients do you have in your fridge, freezer, and pantry? Use up what's on hand before you go shopping for new ingredients. One recent example of a pantry meal that Liz created was a lentil soup made with leftover cooked lentils (from her freezer), organic vegetable broth, a diced onion and a few diced carrots, a few handfuls of spinach that would have gone bad had she not used it that day, organic tomato sauce, and shredded Parmesan cheese on top.

2) Cook mindfully by re-purposing leftovers in creative ways: Let's say you roast up a chicken for dinner and you have leftovers. Either freeze your leftover chicken right away (be sure to label and date) or create a delicious chicken salad the next day by dicing the chicken and mixing with plain Greek yogurt, chopped nuts, fresh herbs like tarragon, and chopped organic celery or apple. As for that leftover tarragon, if you don't use it up, freeze it for later use.

3) Resist impulse buying at the supermarket by going to the market prepared with a plan: The more organized you are the more money you'll save. Impulse buying can result in purchasing beautiful organic produce that you don't use up or buying ingredients you already have. Plan your meals out for the week and then write a detailed grocery list.

4) Eat ugly fruits and veggies: Ugly produce gets tossed by farmers and food retailers, but if you buy it without complaint, they'll stock it. Organic apples, for example, don't look shiny because they are not waxed. The more consumers seek out less than "perfect" looking produce, the more retailers will end up buying from hard working farmers.

5) Play seek vs. hide with your food: Your fridge and freezer tend to hide food. Take stock of what's on hand each week and rotate older food to the front of your fridge so you use it up before it goes bad.