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
Photocredit: Woolworthslimited, Huffintonpost
