Today’s zero waste challenge is about how to waste less food.
Roughly a third of food is being wasted every year. That’s 1.3 billion tonnes.
By 2050 our global population of nine billion will need twice as much food as we do today.
Prepare your meals for work can be an excellent way to waste less food. But if you are anything like me, then you might struggle with cooking, or simply don’t enjoy it as much.
I could never plan ahead like that, and so instead of bringing my own food to work, I would usually go to the next cafe or the sandwich bar and buy a meal.
Since you have become well aware of all the plastic that surrounds us, you probably couldn’t help but notice the styrofoam containers or the clingwrap the food from the “cheap” lunch place comes served in.
Sure, you could bring your own containers, but honestly, who does that, especially when they are empty?
Ok, so 30% of the food is being wasted. That’s huge, and that takes a lot of energy to create the food in the first place and furthermore energy to dispose of.
Related: The Ultimate Short Guide To Composting.
The Zero Waste Challenge
So the challenge today is to start preparing your own meal. Or at least get your wife to make a little extra.
It can be effortless if you just make more food for dinner, and you take it with you the next day.
Really it isn’t actually that much of a hard challenge when you look at it like that.
Put your meal into your stainless steel food container, or your glassware.
Stay away from the plastic ones as they leach endocrine-disrupting chemicals into your food.
More reasons why it is better to bring your own meal to work.
A:
It is better for your health (less sugar, less time spent on the shelves in supermarkets = more vitamins)
B:
Saves you money. The amount of money we saved was unreal.
Imagine I would easily spend $20 on lunch. Then I would also grab a coffee and maybe a croissant for smoko, and boom $30 -$40 gone. Everyday times 5. That’s roughly $150 bucks per week. $600 a month and around $6000 a year.
You could take your wife out for a nice dinner each week.
Sure your grocery cost you money too, but we managed to spend $200 per week on food. For the two of us.
C:
You are not participating to more plastic waste.
It’s a win-win-win situation.
If you want to go even more extreme, like me. Then becoming a Vego is the next step. In fact, I think being an environmentalist or trying to make this planet a little bit better. Becoming a vegetarian is the best form of protest you can possibly do. But more to that in another article, I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed.
If you think you can handle it, then check out this Raw Food Cookbook and go all the way in.
