Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Reducing Food Waste

Consumers in the U.S. throw away vast quantities of very good food every year, looking for ways to reduce food waste could save a huge sum of money. According to a recent University of Arizona study, an average family can save up to $ 500 a year simply by reducing corruption, waste and trips to the supermarket, and it is about fruit and vegetables alone! We are not the only wasteful nation in the United Kingdom about one third of all food bought ends up being thrown away.

Food prices in the U.S. is growing at an alarming rate, according to a Labor Department report, prices of basic foods as milk, bread, flour and eggs have risen sharply, surging in the past year at double-digit figures. Egg prices, for example, rose 40 percent and milk prices rose 26 percent during the year. The Boston Globe says that rising food prices, costs may pose a bigger problem than rising oil prices because the average household spends three times as much on food as it does on petrol.

We can all take steps to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and incineration sites and save money at the same time. Below are some tips that will help reduce the amount of food waste mountain:

Always store food in the refrigerator or freezer at the right temperature, keep your refrigerator at 40 degrees F or below will help keep food fresher for longer. It is important to maintain a cabinet temperature of 0 degrees F or below, and gave birth to freeze properly and to stop or prevent bacteria from growing. The most perishable items including meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy products should be stored in the coldest part of refrigerator. Do not the quantity of the refrigerator, as this will reduce the interior temperature and air must be able to move freely to cool food properly.

Keep refrigerated foods in hermetically sealed plastic wraps or containers to maintain quality, which also helps to keep foods from drying out and prevent odors or variations from the transfer from one food to another. Be sure to avoid using containers or plastic bags, there is no possibility for storage, and not recycle plastic bags.

Keep the refrigerator clean, spoiled food and spills create an environment for bacteria to grow and could contaminate other foods. Remember that the refrigerator temperature does not prevent bacterial growth, they slow down.

Plan your meals a week and create a shopping list, this way you will be more inclined to buy only what you need, rather than buying impulsively.

Not throwing the rest away, fridge them, so they can be used to make a meal later in the week, and remember you can always be creative with leftovers!

Keep a watchful eye on the expiry date "and be sure to cook until the expiration date, this can remove much of the waste.

Storage conditions in the pantry should be dark, cool and dry with a temperature between 50 to 70 degrees F, the higher the temperature, the faster degradation. Pantry should be as far away from the oven, stove, water heater and dishwasher as possible.

These tips will help you save thousands of dollars a year by reducing waste. You can save even more money through an incredible breakthrough in food preservation called eggstrafresh , which is scientifically proven to increase shelf life of almost all food and eggstrafresh will improve the taste, flavor, natural color and texture of your foods.

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