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Are you buying more at

the grocery store than

you actually need?

by Maria Gracia Join our newsletter to be notified when the newest Statistics, Facts, and Figures are available. Did you know that 20% of the produce we buy goes from the store...to our house...to the trash can? Shocking, isn’t it?! If you think that’s bad, how about this? We waste 33% of all the meat we buy. Why is this happening? Because we buy stuff at the grocery store with good intentions, but then it ends up going bad before we have time to use it up. Not only is this killing your family budget, it is killing the Earth. According to the National Resources Defense Council, an environmental action group, our tossing away of food instead of using it causes waste all along the trail from the grower to your house. Count the ways. Wasted water, energy, fuel in shipping, unneeded packaging, wasted land stripped of trees, and tons of unnecessary chemicals are used and enter the environment. In the end, they say that 25% of U.S. polluting methane gases is from wasted food in our landfills. All that from the chicken you meant to cook, but went out for pizza instead! In my house, I never buy more than 3 days worth of groceries at a time...and always buy less than I think we’ll eat. Plus, in addition to a few days worth of fresh produce, I always have frozen vegetables on hand (they last much longer than fresh produce!). In doing so... 1. We save money at the store. If we happen to run out before my next shopping trip is planned, it forces me to be more creative for dinner for the next day or two. We might have tuna pasta or something I can whip up from whatever I have in the pantry. 2. We never throw any food out because we don’t have extra perishables. 3. We’re helping the environment because we’re eating what we purchase, and we have no wasted food being trashed. Back to Organizing Statistics, Facts, and Figures Index