Despite a drought and skyrocketing food prices, a new study shows Americans are throwing large portions of their food in the trash. And that translates to cold, hard cash going down the drain.
“Imagine walking out of a grocery store with three bags of groceries, dropping one and not bothering to pick it up,” Dana Gunders of the Natural Resources Defense Council told WCBS 880′s Monica Miller.
Each year, the average family of four winds up throwing away the equivalent of up to $2,200 in food.
The National Resources Defense Council analyzed the data and found Americans aren’t eating what’s on their plates and throwing away 40% of their food. That adds up to about $165 billion in wasted food each year, according to the research.
Each year, the average family of four winds up throwing away the equivalent of up to $2,200 in food, according to the data.
“One of the causes of that might be that our portion sizes are increasing tremendously,” Gunders told Miller. “When you think about just more food being served, there’s more being eaten but there’s also more being wasted,” Gunders said.
To cut back on waste, Gunders suggested taking restaurant food home to use as leftovers.
“55% of diners do take leftovers home, but that means about half of the people out are not taking their leftovers home,” she told Miller.
Another tip to save food is to freeze it before its expiration date.
Source: WCBS 880
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Your headline is revealing one of my pet peeves. The issur which pertains to not destroying trees from which we learn not to waste food or other items is “BAL” thashchis. BAL means “DO NOT”. Maybe one who wastes or destroys is a “baal hashchasa”-a master or destruction, but the halacha is “bal thashchis.” Don’t even get me started on my other pet peeves!
Baalei simcha should make sure all leftovers find a proper home.
Have you been to a US chasunah lately? The amount of food wasted could feed a family for a week. In fact, some tzedakah organizations are working to make sure that the left-over food doesn’t get wasted, but does indeed get used. I forget the names, but they’re in the New York area, where poverty among frum families is a serious problem. Maybe spending less on the chasunah and giving a donation to tzedakah in the name of the young couple would be an additional zchus for starting their new lives happily? We Jews, who invented the concept of baal tashchis, should certainly be the ones to lead in practicing it.
Didn’t need a study for this
This sounds to me like a bogus report. It doesn’t quote any source for where they got their numbers. This is nonsense! I don’t believe this garbage, for even a second. Food doesn’t last forever. A lot of products have an exporation date like milk/cheeses etc… Even items put in a freezer, eventualy get “freezer burn” & taste horrible. Most people that actualy pay for their food (not getting any free hand outs from the Government), are careful with their food. Sorry Bloomberg!
It’s “Bal”(don’t) Tashchis, not “Baal” (master of) Tashchis.
sure theres tons of baal tashchis. cause todays generation of people are too embarrassed to take home extra food-even from their own simcha-cause their afraid someone watching will C”V think their poor.
if thats the case then donate it for a yeshiva or anonymous family to come pick it up.
SAD HOW MUCH GOOD FOOD GOES STRAIGHT DOWN LIKE ITS WORTH MERE PENNIES by poor families that can really use it