Think.Eat.Save – Reduce your foodprint!

No doubt this last century has been one that has seen the most amount of waste.

After revolutions of differing nature (not going into details here), our lives became generally better. We have a shelter over our heads and enough food and clothes to keep us satisfied and warm. This situation holds true for most of us, that is.

And I am often thankful for all that I am blessed with.
While we take a moment to say our prayers for our beautiful food that fuels us to chase dreams and do what we wanted to everyday, I guess it will be good for us to consider how we can share the same beauty with other people who aren’t as lucky as we might be.

There are a few things I do when I go grocery shopping. Well, I might not be a saint, thinking about the less fortunate people all the time but I do take pride in reducing wastage. It’s a culture thing in my family and blood, so these deliberations just come naturally.

#1. take what you eat
easy to understand, yes? No matter if you’re at a buffet outside or eating a homecooked meal, just remember not to go overboard with what you put into your mouth.

By consuming what is needed, you don’t burden your body. Excessive eating can bring about potential health problems like diabetes, high cholesterol, heart attacks and other undesirable whatnots. Just for reference, a grown women only requires around 2000 calories/day and a grown man, 2500 calories/day.

Most importantly, you reduce the production of unnecessary demand of food and therefore, the food resources can then be allocated to other people who NEED them.

#2. less is more

Less packaging is good! Less packaging to get rid of and it also means you can see your food clearer, without the endless wraps of plastic around it. Or you can take note if they use recycled materials for packaging!

Another thing, check out the labels on your food package before you head down to the cashier’s next time. The lesser ingredients in the list, the safer they are for you to ingest. If the ingredients are all familiar names, that’s a bonus! That means minimal chemical additives.

The thing about “less” is you don’t have much to trash after cooking. The same goes for your kidney and liver; they do lesser work after your breakfast/lunch/dinner.

#3 Get creative
Sometimes, we can’t help it but leftover food situations happen. It’s alright, get your cool and use some imagination.

Make use of the remaining food and transform them into another meal. Use leftover meats to do sandwiches or wraps, veggies to make salads or add broth to rice to make some tasty porridge. If you are truly lazy, just throw them together and stir in some chilli paste or other pepper/soy sauce and here comes a plate of piping hot fried rice.

It’s easy to do something to reduce food wastage. It just takes some thinking but no worries, brain cells won’t be burnt out in the process. It might seem like a hassle but once you start to do it as a habit, it becomes a part of you. it’s awesome like this.

I know individual efforts are baby steps to make a change but if each individual starts to do something, something good is bound to happen, in time to come.

So quick, do your part to redistribute resources and love this wonderful planet for what she’s given us!

Comment to share your ideas!

And check out UNEP’s anti-food wastage movement here: http://www.unep.org/wed/blog-competition/