This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. The food in this story was donated. For more information, see my disclosure policy.
I recently teamed up with Glad Food Protection to take the #SAVEITSUNDAY pledge to not only help eliminate food waste in my own kitchen, but to show you some cool and creative ways you can reduce food waste in yours.
What is the #SAVEITSUNDAY pledge?
Well basically, it’s about loving food more and wasting it less, one day at a time.
When I started this challenge and partnered with Glad, I really thought I understood how much people {myself included} were wasting. I didn’t. I had never quite grasped what it really looked like. Until now.
American families waste about 25% of the food and beverages they buy annually. That’s a fact. The estimated cost of food and beverages thrown out by the average American family each year is around $1,500. Sadly, that’s a fact too. FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS. That means people are throwing away and wasting more food than I’ve spent in an entire year to feed my family. Blows. My. Mind.
It’s easy to turn the other cheek and ignore the problem until it’s staring you in the face. Until you see what $1,500 in food waste looks like. Until one thousand five hundred dollars’ worth of food is sitting in your kitchen. It’s overwhelming really. And it’s a wake-up call I hope echos to each of you.
When I ventured out with Glad’s education grant for $1,500 to see exactly what this amount of money in food waste looks like, I wanted to make sure I covered all my bases. I know we all shop differently. We all frequent different stores and have different eating habits and spend our food budgets differently. So I shopped at 10 different stores, spending $150 at each on a variety of food products.
Grocery Outlet – I was able to get the biggest bang for my buck here. I had to pick through a lot of scratch and dent items and ignore expiration dates a few times, but I was able to get a solid variety of items.
Winco – Winco continues to be my favorite non-couponing store to shop at. Huge selection. Great stock. Excellent prices. I bought a few higher ticket items here including bulk sugar, salmon and a few hams.
Walmart Super Center – I’m not typically a Walmart shopper, but I knew, because they are the nation’s #1 retailer, I had to put them on my list. Lucy the Puggle Dog couldn’t have cared less about what I bought there, with the exception of that pineapple. Pretty sure she thought I bought it for her.
Pike Place Market – The most expensive trip, but one of my favorites. All of the products I purchased were local. I knew where every item was grown, processed, packaged, etc. Everything was organic and non-GMO {well, except maybe those cookies and the pasta sauce}.
Amazon Grocery – A random assortment from Amazon. A little of this and a little of that. Shopped in my pj’s so it was my favorite buying experience, as always.
Vitacost – Vistacost.com is a great site for getting specialty and organic products shipped right to your door. Shipping is always free if you spend more than $49, so that didn’t cut into my $150, and there were some great sales on some great products.
Costco – I had a plan going into Costco so I wouldn’t blow the entire $150 after getting distracted by all the awesomeness in the store. I stayed focused and, as a total bonus, had a full lunch consisting of a bunch of random samples. Score!
Filbert Acres in Puyallup, Washington- Filbert Acres grows according to organic standards & specializes in quality pork, vegetables, strawberries, cut flowers & pumpkins. I just hit them up for meat, but they have an awesome CSA shares program that features the best, freshly harvested produce. I even got to hang with the farmer/owner too!
Heritage Pork- This is all the meat I snagged from Filbert acres. I’d say that’s a great haul of quality meat for $150!
Trader Joe’s – I just love Trader Joe’s. It’s healthy organic foods at Winco prices. Sweet!
Whole Foods – I was a little worried I’d only be able to walk away with an item or two from Whole Paycheck, ahem, Whole Foods. But I was able to make my $150 spread a little further than expected. Plus, I know the quality of the products purchased here is excellent.
And there you have it. Grand total of $1,500 in food. That’s what it looks like. Now that might not look like the type of foods you waste, but I guarantee you’ve chucked something pictured in that image above. The magnitude of that food waste was shocking. That’s the average amount of food you, me and our fellow Americans waste every year. It’s appalling.
Once I began to grasp what $1,500 worth of food waste actually looked like, I began to get angry; at myself for not being more diligent and at our country in general for not caring more. I began to realize that, if we would just take a few extra minutes a day, or just be a bit more mindful, almost every last bit of that food could be saved. Simple things like properly protecting your fresh foods the day you buy them with food protection products like GladWare and ClingWrap, which have minimal costs, can help you save in more ways than one.
Can you image what it would look like if even a portion of the readers on this site decided to really make an effort to reduce or eliminate food waste? I know so many people who are struggling just to put a meal on the table and so many more who don’t even think twice about tossing unwanted, and perfectly usable food just to create space in the fridge. What if we found a balance there? What if the ones with excess or even simply enough made a few small changes, and suddenly, there was plenty to go around?
It’s not that far fetched of an idea. And it can start with you. {FYI – The food in this story was donated.} 🙂
By saving and preserving that $1,500 in potential food waste through proper food storage protection and mindful eating habits, we could instead bless charities like the Family Renewal Shelter {shown above with their therapy dogs} and Local Food Banks. Bins upon bins, representing annual food waste, instead driven to be donated to those truly in need.
I’m up for the #SAVEITSUNDAY challenge. Will you join me?
~Mavis
For more information about the #SAVEITSUNDAY Pledge and how you can help, head on over to SAVEITSUNDAY.com. You can also follow Glad on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.
Peggy Stenglein says
I did it! I’ve never considered myself a food waster, but have wasted because I made too much and didn’t give away or freeze it right away, or I bought or grew something in my garden I thought we would eat, or we couldn’t eat it while it was booming in production…zucchini! But that’s no excuse! I have gotten pretty good at not wasting so much the last few years, and last year and now especially since I must save money, it’s not an option!! Your blog posts and facebook posts are inspirational! I don’t care that you don’t have to do what you do to save money, I think you have morphed into a role model not to waste regardless of your circumstance! Thank you!! I always look forward to your posts!
Julie says
I’ll have to check out Filbert Acres, that’s my neck of the woods! I SO wish we had a Whole Foods or PCC close. Where did you go for that?
Mavis Butterfield says
Seattle. 🙂 And Filbert Acres is AWESOME!
Mrs. Mac says
That’s a lot of food! Were you able to keep most of it .. or donate it to a food bank? We used to waste food until we started gardening and buying from local farms, baking our own bread, etc. When you have an investment in the quality and the time to prepare, you can better appreciate the value AND be very creative with leftovers. Now days, we have very little waste. I fashion a hot school lunch for my son from the previous night’s dinner. Weekly soup and omelets are made from left over veggies. Stale bread is turned into croutons or bruchetta toast. Too much milk from the farm is turned into yogurt or farmers cheese. Having your family participate in the grocery planning and budget plans helps too. These pictures are mind boggling 🙂
Mavis Butterfield says
Hi Mrs. Mac, The food was donated to the Family Renewal Shelter and a local food bank.
Dawn says
That’s awesome!!!!
Johanna says
Thank you for donating the food to your local food pantry! I can only imagine what a HUGE blessing it was for that food pantry to receive such a variety of quality food, produce, meat and more!
Jessika says
That IS a lot of food! I too am curious as to what you did with it as that seems to be enough food for a whole year (if it wouldn’t go bad). Did you keep it or donate it?
Mavis Butterfield says
The food was donated to the Family Renewal Shelter and a local food bank.
Lisa says
I assumed by the last photo she donated it.
Lisa says
When you say “non-couponing” store, I hope you don’t mean you don’t use coupons there. Winco takes coupons. They even have a section on their website devoted to coupons.
My Trader Joe’s does not have prices to compete with my Winco! It’s always too crowded there too, and stressed me out to even try to find parking.
Nancy says
I’m such a cheapskate, that I really don’t think I waste that much food. We generally cook in big batches and are pretty careful about saving leftovers for lunch. In fact, I have often eaten the same soup three or four times over the period of a week just so it won’t go to waste. We also stopped buying large quantities of things like milk or fresh veggies when we know we won’t be able to use it all. And my daughter takes her lunch to school everyday because I found out she was trashing most of the school lunches. However, you’ve got me to thinking, so I’m going to try to track exactly what we toss out each week. It might be more than I thought!
ChrisM says
I’m tracking waste this year. It will help me see where to improve.
ilona Watzlawick says
I was thinking the same thing, ChrisM … I’d like to think I don’t waste nearly that much food, but to be honest, I certainly waste some … just this morning I tossed about 1/2 lb. of bacon, about 3/4 lb. of breakfast sausage and 3/4 of a bag of spinach … I see I need to be more mindful of what is in the fridge that needs to be used … I know there are several internet sites where you can type in the food you have on hand and recipes show for using those ingredients … when I think that I could have fried up that bacon and added some apple cider vinegar and tossed in the spinach for a yummy side dish … well, lesson learned … I WILL do better! good luck to you, too!
betsy says
Bacon! I can honestly say that that is the one food I’ve never wasted. 🙂
Mavis says
Because wasting bacon would be a sin!
Erika says
I’m pretty good about meal planning and cooking just the right amount of food that I know my family will eat, so we don’t have a lot of leftovers. Periodically, I do have to clear out old leftovers, but it’s not a lot and not often. It drives me nuts if my kids ask for food and don’t eat it ($ in the trash!) so we have a rule that if you take it, you eat it. It’s helping them learn to serve themselves more accurately at dinner and less food is wasted.
Cecily says
1 in 6 people in America go hungry. While reducing food waste is a good start the truth is that the earth already produces 50% more food than we need to feed everyone on the planet. Unfortunately, due to greed (selling food overseas is more profitable than distributing it locally), logistics of distribution, fear of lawsuits (grocery stores discard as much as $15 billion in food a year) and government influence people who need food the most don’t get it.
The Frugal Girl says
Wow, Mavis…this is great! Awesome visual, and I bet the food bank felt like Christmas had come again.
WilliamB says
I find myself thinking about all the work that went into just settting up the photos! Frankly, I find the idea of shopping for $1500 a bit intimidating Which is why i liked the idea of splitting it into 10 shopping trips.
Julie says
Waste of any kind (food, money, energy, time, etc.) is my biggest pet peeve. When meal planning, the very first thing I think of is what we have in the fridge/freezer/cupboards that need to be used. All appropriate scraps are fed to the chickens and the remaining goes to the compost. Even the potatoes, garlic, and onions that slip through the cracks and are growing eyes get planted in the yard for harvest later. The hardest thing for me is to not go berserk during the holidays when I see my extended family’s wasted food. However, I shall be sending a link from this article to them and maybe the next holiday we can all be on board!
PS – I love your blog and check it out every day.
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks Julie! All the food waste around the holidays makes me a little crazy too.
WilliamB says
You and me both! I try to think of it as a reason to have holiday meals at my house, but there’s not much I can do about restaurant meals when we’re traveling with family.
Desi says
Wow, what a visual Mavis, that must have been a lot of work to put those all in such neat piles and take pics. Now I want to keep track of what I toss, normally celery that goes to the compost. I like to buy it I seldom like to eat it. Thanks for all your hard work! By the way LOVE our Blue Sheets!!!
Mavis Butterfield says
Awesome! I am glad to hear you liked you sheets. 🙂
Kathy Stevens says
Without doubt you have hit on a vital subject. And it’s not only homes that waste food – restaurants, groceries, etc. are hampered by well meant but archaic laws. (Second Harvest, thankfully, has a large presence here in North Carolina.) Thanks to you, we’ll be keeping a close watch on our waste. Like Desi, I tend to buy celery and, eventually, toss it in the compost. Why do you suppose that is???
Mavis Butterfield says
The amount of food restraunts waste has got to be pretty epic. I can’t even imagine how much food that is. 40% maybe?
WilliamB says
Not as much as you think because restaurants closely track food costs. Anything that’s not put out on the table is likely reused in some fashion or another. The food that’s put on tables is another matter – once it’s on the table, the restaurant can’t reuse it. So bread, butter, nibbles – and of course leftovers – have to be thrown out.
elizabeth says
To combat holiday waste, we hosted a Christmas/New Years leftover pot luck. We had a few families over and dozens of things to eat. Many were 1 or 2 servings. It was great fun. Very little was left of the leftovers.
We share food among us. All during harvest season we traded produce in the church parking lot each week. Occasionally we do clean out the freezer nights and after the success of our post holiday potluck, I think we’ll invite friends for a freezer clean out party.
We have very little food waste-something that stems from skills I learned when we were struggling and I literally couldn’t waste anything or someone might go hungry.
Mavis Butterfield says
Wow! What a fun idea Elizabeth!
Karen at A Glimpse Into My Reveries says
Such a great post! I am guilty on occasion but I am sure I don’t waste that great, huge amount of food. Fresh produce sometimes gets away from me…
I keep containers in the fridge’s freezer, one for pork leftovers, one for chicken, and one for beef. I am a bit of a zealot about saving pan drippings, last bits of sauce from jars and bottles, and that last half spoonful of veggies or pasta that no one has room for, gets put into one of the freezer containers. When one gets full, it’s soup night!
I blogged about my approach to leftovers:
http://www.aglimpseintomyreveries.com/2009/03/works-for-me-wednesday.html
Another good use-up tips is to turn those leftovers into a quiche or frittata!
I am going to to rise to your challenge and make an effort to rotate and use the foods from my freezer on a regular basis, so it’s used while still tasty and nutritious!
D'Anna says
WTG on that visual! This came at the perfect time for me since the spouse, who does most of the cooking, has been making a conscious effort to make the right amount of food at dinner since we are not big leftover people. I just showed him your photo montage and I think he has a better idea of what it all adds up to.
Mavis Butterfield says
It does add up and that was the point. I don’t think people realize just how much they throw away. It doesn’t seem like a lot at the time, but over a long period of time {like a year} it’s a crazy big amount.
Barbara says
I began to wonder what I could do to improve my family’s waste. I will begin saving the peelings and ends of veggies in the freezer to make veggie stock. I will save all the bits of veggies and meat from dinner to make a soup and use the stock. Even if we go out and there is only a little bit of food on the plate, I will bring it home (rather than have the restaurant throw it out). Hopefully, these simple steps will help to reduce food waste from my house!
Lisa says
I wondered what Costco did with their unsold produce but one day I saw a Second Harvest truck there, yah! I also notice they package the chicken from their unsold rotisserie chickens and also use it in their ready-made meals, smart. I wonder if they’re boiling the carcasses there in the back to make soup : )
As for us, the food goes down the line: husband & kids: mom (I love pizza crust!): dogs: chickens: compost. So very little waste. But I do have 131 (exaggerating but not by much) bags of shredded zucchini in the freezer, I better start making zucchini bread again. (Mavis, I use your recipe you posted last fall!)
Kate says
Thanks for the wake-up call. I am guilty as charged…it takes a concerted effort to make sure that all food is used before it goes bad. My only rationalization is that at least most of what goes bad goes into the compost bin. I am starting a “shop from my already purchased items” menu planning until I cut the amount I already have.
As an aside: did you stop in at The Crumpet Shop when you shopped at Pike Place Market? My husband and I started and ended a vacation in Seattle with crumpets and I wish I lived close enough to get one this morning!
Mavis Butterfield says
I love the Crumpet shop!! 🙂
Beth DeRoos says
It’s rare we buy any packages food items, with Bobs Red Mill items being the exception. Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods are tops with us and WF’s allows us to bring our own spotless clean reusable cloth bags, glass containers for bulk items. Never buy ‘junk’ food like chips even at WF’s. The food we buy has to be organic and nutrient dense.
Being vegan/vegetarian also saves us 80% of what the meat eating person spends on food. Local farmers markets and local CSA’s are the norm for us, but this is California where we have them year round.
We are also huge Beth Terry (plastic free lifestyle) and Bea Johnson (Zero Waste Home) adherents.
Amy says
Wow – that’s scary and shocking! I try to limit our waste to only one kitchen trash bag per week, plus composting fruit and veggie scraps. Free compost and less spent on trash bags – a win-win!
Marcia@Frugal Healthy Simple says
I wonder how much of that is the “conventional wisdom” – eat your deli turkey within 3 days of opening, etc. I bought ham, my husband opened it, made a sandwich, then ignored it for a week. Bye bye 1/2 lb of ham.
Tiana says
I had a roommate in college who had the terrible habit of buying groceries without checking the pantry first. Invariably, she’d end up buying duplicates of items she already had at home, and her shelves become a confusing mess. Sometimes she’d have four or five open jars of pasta sauce in the fridge because she kept buying new ones. She’d buy meat, put it in the fridge to thaw, then forget about it (or decide she didn’t want it) and it would go bad. It was one of the reasons we ended up deciding to stop living together. She’s still one of my best friends, and a bridesmaid in my wedding, but looking in her kitchen always raises my blood pressure a little 😉
Evelin says
Thank you for sharing and it is inspiring. It is also very sad to see that you bought single serving coffee pod with non-reusable container. This type of packaging and coffee-making will be one of the biggest waste in our kitchen. It is bad for environment and for food budget (you are paying for the packaging as well).