Consistent Reminder, Consistent Change

This past week I spent my meal times observing how much food I ultimately throw out.  For breakfast, little to no food is wasted since I usually just eat and finish a yogurt and/or a Clif bar.  I don’t buy the yogurt and Clif bars in super large quantities so I almost never have to throw either out due to them spoiling.

The trouble starts when I head to the dining hall for lunch and dinner.  For these meals I sometimes get a sandwich that I most likely finish, but sometimes I get a hot entrée that I no doubt leave food behind on.  I believe that the hot entrée presents more of an issue partly because I won’t know how it will taste.  It’s not uncommon that I load my plate up with something that looks delicious but then turns out to disappoint.  Furthermore, this behavior is no doubt more apparent at dinner; I believe this is so because I go to dinner straight from my cross country/track practice.  Arriving at Upper Farinon I am very hungry, so when I help myself to the all-you-can-eat buffet my eyes are definitely bigger than my stomach.

Another time a lot of food was wasted was this past Thursday night; I went out to a dinner as part of a job interview.  At this dinner, the appetizers were family style.  No doubt were they delicious and everyone had a generous helping, but there was a lot that wasn’t touched since there was simply too much food.  On top of that, no one asked for it to be wrapped up since most of us were staying in a hotel that night.  This made me come to the realization that eating out is a huge contribution to food waste, especially in settings where it’s not possible or the most socially accepted to take leftovers home.

Doing some outside research into wasting food, I found an article called “Written Messages Improve Edible Food Waste Behaviors in a University Dining Facility”.  Right off the bat, it sounds like an article that directly pertains to me.  The article concludes “simply making university students aware of the topic of food waste may be useful in improving their behaviors” (Whitehair, 2013).  Even though I’m clearly aware of the topic of food waste, I think that keeping a constant reminder of my efforts of trying to reduce my food waste (i.e. an alarm that goes off right before mealtimes to tell myself to be aware of my eating habits) will help me stick to my goals.

Speaking of goals, I have thought about ways to make my change a little more concrete in terms of setting more specific goals.  Throughout research, I have seen that the number “40%” is prevalent; that is because that most estimates state that up to 40% of food is ultimately wasted.  Thinking about that number, that isn’t too far fetched; there are days that I throw out half of what I help myself too (eek!).  Therefore, I am going to try to eat at least 75% of what I take, or throw out 25% at maximum.

Whitehair, K. J., Shanklin, C. W., & Brannon, L. A. (2013). Written Messages Improve Edible Food Waste Behaviors in a University Dining Facility. Journal Of The Academy Of Nutrition & Dietetics, 113(1), 63-69. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2012.09.015