How much food do Americans throw out after Thanksgiving?

Americans throw away $165 billion worth of food every year, but the largest amount of food waste occurs on Thanksgiving Day—about $277 million, according to government data.

Photo: depositphotos.com

Although sales of whole turkey carcasses for Thanksgiving Day have decreased, it is expected that this year the Americans will still throw out about 90 million kilograms of turkey after Thanksgiving Day. This is indicated by data from the Organization for the Protection of Natural Resources (NRDC), a non-profit organization based in New York.

“At a time when 1 in 8 Americans go hungry, taking action to reduce food waste is increasingly urgent,” an NRDC spokesperson said in a press release.

Here are some interesting ways in which you can minimize the amount of discarded products:

1. Before you go shopping, check the fridge, cupboards and pantry to avoid re-buying the ingredients that are already in stock.
2. If you understand that you cannot eat the entire volume of fruits, vegetables and greens you bought, freeze some of them to use later.
3. “Using pre-cut vegetables and pre-prepared foods will help reduce food waste,” said Patty Johnson, global food analyst at research firm Mintel.
   Some companies that sell already chopped fruits and vegetables use leftovers to make juices or turn them into animal feed or compost. There are hundreds of environmentally friendly ways how you can apply waste.
4. Carefully plan the required amount of food for guests. Dinners with a large number of guests imply a variety of dishes on the table. Cooks should keep in mind that it may be worthwhile to ask guests to bring containers with them where they can put leftover food to eat at home and not to throw them in the trash.
5. For apple pie or compote, you can buy fruit, the appearance of which is imperfect. Thus, you can get at least a delicious final product and prevent the product from being thrown away by stores.

In addition, according to experts, this situation arises due to the fact that in the United States there is virtually no clear labeling of food products. Thus, many products are marked “sell by” (“sell by date”) and “use by” (“best before”), while the first one was created for retailers and does not mean that the product has spoiled. In addition, individual manufacturers can indicate different dates with their own wording, defining them at their own discretion, writes “Interfax«.

As the study shows, more than 80% of Americans throw food away before its expiration date due to confusion with the markings.

Previously ForumDaily wrote about how much you can economicalrefusing restaurant food, and also offered some tips on how to spend the money saved.

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