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Food Waste In Canada
- According to the CBC news article 2019, 35.5 million tonnes of food is lost/wasted each year which is worth $49 billion!
- As per the Second Harvest report, 4.82 million tonnes of food is lost or wasted during processing and the manufacturing process. This costs about $21 billion.
- Breakdown of food wasted according to percentage is listed below. Of the food wasted, 63% could have been consumed, and the rest is unavoidable waste such as bones, coffee grounds etc.
- Vegetables: 30%
- Fruit: 15%
- Leftovers: 13%
- Bread and Bakery: 9%
- Dairy and Eggs: 7%
What We Can Do About This
- Keep an inventory of the foods at home, and make shopping lists so only those groceries that are needed are purchased.
- Plan out the meals in advance. Start with the leftovers, and see if they can be utilized or incorporated in the new meal that is being prepped for the day
- Another strategy can be meal prepping on weekends for a busy week, and if the food is frozen then it stays edible longer.
- Measure the amount of raw food before cooking to prevent waste. Rice swell up while vegetables lose water
- Have a lazy night for the week where you consume just the leftovers from a couple days ago.
8 Organizations Tackling This Issue
