$25 Anyone?

Remember how I was talking about food wastage recently?  Well, I found an interesting little article since then and now I'm wondering who wants $25? 

Anyone?  $25.  For free.  Yours to keep!  Just read on...

Healthy Food Guide February 2011 says, “Save the Planet: Stop Wasting Food. Scientists have found a way that the US could immediately save the energy equivalent of about 350 million barrels of oil a year, without spending a cent: stop wasting food. Estimates indicate that between eight and 16 percent of energy consumption in the US went toward food production in 2007, and the United States’ Department of Agriculture estimates that people in the US waste over a quarter of their food.” Source: American Chemical Society, November 2010.

That’s over 25% of all food wasted. Not used. Thrown out.
If you spend just $100 per week on food, you could be saving $25. Every week. Put it on your mortgage, perhaps. Now, $100 a week on groceries is pretty low. So maybe you spend more like $200. Well, as an average western consumer, you are probably wasting $50 every week on food that gets thrown out. And don’t try to tell me you aren’t average. I bet you are. Just like me. We manage to waste an awful lot of food.

I know it’s hard. I’ve been trying really hard in this area in recent months, and there are just times when I so DO NOT feel like eating something. Boring. Didn’t taste nice the first time around. Or I simply don’t know what I can do with it other than throw it out. Then there’s all the food that gets ‘lost’ at the back of the fridge. I usually find it when I do the shopping…by which stage it is growing little balls of dark green fuzz and is somewhat less than appealing! Grin. But I think this area of food wastage is worth doing something about. There seems to be something morally wrong that I should be throwing out food left, right, and centre just because it doesn’t appeal to me today or I can’t get myself organised enough to use it properly, while around the world there are millions of people literally starving to death. Food is expensive. Not just in financial terms, but in what it costs us to produce. There’s the soil, water, fertilizers, sunlight…all the products that go into making food. Food requires manpower. It takes effort. And we NEED food. It’s not like we can just decide to go without so we can spend the time, effort, and cost on something else.

Not really a saver? What if we look at it a different way. They do say that “A dollar saved is a dollar earned.” It has some merit. Maybe you aren’t interested in putting money aside for a rainy day, your kid’s university fees, or your mortgage. But what about all the other things you could SPEND that money on instead?! You could buy a new book. Every week! Or go on a romantic getaway every couple of months. You could sponsor a child in a developing community and ensure that they get to eat every day. You could buy new furniture, or spend the money on phone calls to your family overseas. You see, it really is worth finding ways to use our food wisely, so we have more money available for the things we are passionate about!

I'm contemplating a new CD and wondering how little food I can throw out to make that happen.
What would you do with an extra $25 (or so) a week?
Amy

Amy