Tuesday, 7 April 2015

6 Great Tips for Reducing Food Waste


Employment and Jobs
Hello there and welcome to the first post for 2015. Today, 7th April is World Health Day and the theme for this year is Food Safety. WHO is doing a great job in campaigning on safer food but I have decided to write about what many of us overlook - which is food wastage. 

Here are a few tips on how you can reduce food wastage.

  • Shop with a List.
While food shopping, using a list reduces your chance of buying food that you do not need which would have ended up in the bin.

  • Don’t Throw away Leftovers.
That loaf of bread might not be fresh but trust me it will come out good when you toast it.  Learn to preserve and reuse leftovers as long as they are safe to eat.
For example; in the spirit of Easter on Sunday, I cooked jollof rice and I could not finish it that day. The remainder was very little, I could have thrown it away but instead, I refrigerated it and it became my lunch for today. Eventually, looks like 2-day old jollof rice is even sweeter than when freshly prepared.

  • Store Food Appropriately.
It is very important to store food appropriately as this will prevent early spoilage. This is much more important if you live in a house that has rats as these rats can totally destroy and contaminate your food. Hence, use air-tight containers when storing food.

  • Consider Splitting your Food when Eating Out.
If you find yourself eating out with a friend, you can both split a plate of food if it is in large portions. In cases where you can’t split, don’t be afraid (or shy or forming) to ask for a takeaway container where you can neatly package your leftover (anyone that visits Jevinik restaurant would agree that you can’t finish their food in one sitting, lol).
 I recently visited a restaurant and I couldn’t eat my chicken, I took it home, refrigerated it and shredded it in my noodles the next day. It was super delicious.

  • Always Cook Food the Proper Way.
So I did a very funny thing one morning. I wanted to have bread and boiled egg for breakfast. I proceeded to boil the egg using the gas cooker but unfortunately, I was out of gas. Eventually I decided to use the microwave. To cut the story short, it was a disaster and I ended up eating bread and butter. Lesson learnt: sometimes you don’t need to experiment, cook food the way it should be done.

  • Buffet!!!
How can I almost forget buffet. This is another avenue for food wastage. I think people change the word all-you-can-eat to actually all-you-can’t-eat because they ended up piling their plates with what they can’t finish and if they eventually finish the food, they end up in the toilet or hospital. Save your life and the environment by eating what you can.

Thank you for reading and remember before you waste that food, there are millions out there who do not have access to just one meal in a day.


Source: Greatist

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

October 15th - Global Hand washing Day

http://www.unicef.org.hk/news-media/international-news;news/468/GHD_2011_newsnote

Today, October 15th is the Global Handwashing Day and this year marks the 7th. It is no news that hand washing awareness was at its peak this year following the Ebola outbreak. I didn’t even know there was a ‘Global Handwashing Day’ until this week. According to globalhandwashingday.org, this day was originally created for children and schools but hey in these days and times, adults are also exposed to germs. As clean as your work desk may seem, check under the microscope and you will be surprised at what you see. So it is important for everyone, both young and old to make hand washing a habit.

So when should you handwash?
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has stated that it is important for hand washing to be done at these times:
  • Before, during, and after preparing food                    
  • Before eating food
  • Before and after caring for someone who is sick 
  • Before and after treating a cut or wound
  • After using the toilet 
  • After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet 
  • After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing 
  • After touching an animal, animal feed, or animal waste 
  • After handling pet food or pet treats 
  • After touching garbage

Handwashing should be done with soap and water. In the absence of this, hand sanitiser can be used.

The video below illustrates the proper way of washing hands as approved by WHO.

Clean Hands, Save Lives!

Source: CDC, globalhandwashing.org

Monday, 1 September 2014

10 Easy Ways to Save Water in your Home


Hello everyone and happy new month to you. Yes, we’ve all heard about the ALS ice bucket challenge. Even though it seemed to be for a good cause (raising funds for research on Lou Gehrig’s disease), a lot of criticism has followed this. Some people have argued that the challenge is simply a waste of water resources.

Well, in my own opinion, I would say we are probably wasting more water at home than just the bucket of ice. Come to think of it; a regular shower uses about 10 litres of water per minute and an average person spends 10 to 15 minutes in the shower which implies using 100 to 150 litres of water just for showering alone. Consider other uses such as washing, flushing etc. The emphasis of this post is not on ALS ice bucket challenge but to bring to our attention the high rate of water consumption in our homes.


Here are 10 simple ways to conserve water in your home.
Fix all leakages: Ensure all pipe leakages and faulty taps are fixed. You might think you are losing just a few drops of water but these little drops of water will amount to several litres of water wasted at the end of the day. Like the saying goes; little drops of water makes a mighty ocean. 
Water saving shower head


Spend less time in the shower: The lesser the time you spend in the shower, the lower your rate of water consumption. Don't turn your shower into a meditation spot. Also, using pre-measured amount of water in a bucket for bathing isn’t a bad idea. 
Replace showerheads with low-flow models: Low-flow shower heads use lesser volumes of water (about 6 lit/min).
Don’t leave the tap running: Ensure the tap isn't running while shaving or brushing your teeth. Ladies, instead of washing off your makeup, consider using a facial cleansing wipe which also moisturizes your face. 
Collect rainwater: During rainy season, you can collect rain water in storage drums which can be used for bathing, washing plates/clothes, cleaning the house or watering your lawn. 
Dual flush system
Get a dual-flush toilet: The dual-flush toilet uses less water for peeing (half flush) and more water for pooping (full flush).
Use water efficient washing machine: Front loaders use less water than top loaders. 
Use your washing machine with full loads. 
Use microwave to thaw foods. In the kitchen, instead of using running water to thaw frozen foods, use a microwave or rather still, bring out frozen foods from the refrigerator early enough to allow it to defrost on its own. 
Don’t run water while washing dishes. You can collect water in a washing bowl, add your washing liquid and wash from the bowl. Also, choose washing liquids that rinses off easily.
I hope these tips have enlightened you on how to save water. If you have additional tips, please share it in the comment section below.

Source: Eartheasy, Wikihow, Sun News

Friday, 8 August 2014

UNBELIEVABLE!!! How your Toilet is Helping to Save your Life

Believe it or not, your toilet is doing a great job in saving your life. How do I know this? Well, I am going to give you a short story. 

During my secondary school days (I attended a boarding school), whenever the toilet was bad and I needed to empty my bowels, I practiced the shot put method. The shot put was a slang given to open defecation in my school. Usually, I would go to a nearby bush with a nylon with which I would defecate. Sometimes, I would meet my fellow shit partners at the bush (so I wasn’t the only one doing it…lol). Whenever I‘m done, I would throw the ‘stuff’ into the bush like am throwing a shot put (that’s where the slang came from).
I have long realized that this practice is bad and unsafe because not only was this shot put zone characterized with foul odour and big flies, people living near this area could also be prone to diseases such as cholera, typhoid etc.
When people defecate in the open, flies will feed on the excreta and can carry small amounts of the excreta away on their bodies and feet. When they touch food, the excreta and the germs in the excreta are passed onto the food, which may later be eaten by another person. Some germs can grow on food and in a few hours their numbers can increase very quickly. Where there are germs there is always a risk of disease. ~WHO
According to an article by The Economist, India is the country worst blighted by open defecation but this doesn’t leave Nigeria out in the practice. We see people all around us defecating in the open and it seems like a normal thing (and we do not correct them***we all know its not normal***). Even though some might argue that they are pressed and can’t find a nearby toilet, I must say that DMT Mobile Toilet is doing a great job in creating mobile toilets around Lagos but I believe the government needs to make environmental sanitation a priority by creating public toilets in strategic locations in all the states of the country. People should also be enlightened on toilet etiquette.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2572752/Stop-standing-toilet-Now-Lloyds-Bank-issues-instructions-use-British-loos-foreign-staff.html

I guess more lives will be saved if every house (especially in the rural areas) owns a toilet. And not only own a toilet, keep it clean also. Toilet should be a place where to get rid of germs and not spread diseases.