In my family, which contains six people, we tend to need a lot of food to eat. In order to make sure we have enough for everybody, we usually buy or order a lot of food products. When some of the food goes bad or we don’t want it, it gets thrown away and wasted. More than 96% of the food we buy gets thrown away or wasted. We can reduce the amount of food we throw away by eating leftovers, buying only the necessities at a grocery store or market, and freezing extra food items to help save them for later. If we can stop wasting as much food, then we can save money and conserve energy and resources which can overall help the economy and our community.
To find out more, check out this website:
http://www2.epa.gov/recycle/reducing-wasted-food-basics

That is so true! My mom always gets more than what is needed. Usually we forget about all the food we bought, so then it goes bad and a lot of food is wasted. I looked at the website and there are so many simple ways to prevent food from being wasted so easily. For example, we can compost food scraps rather than throwing them away, and plan your menu before you go shopping and buy only things on your menu. I definitely agree with you and these are great ways to lower our carbon footprint.

If buying more food than is needed is still a problem, you could always start a compost pile. My family has one because we ran into the same issue. Anything like vegetables, fruit, or just basic table scraps can go into your pile. This tactic not only keeps you from wasting food, but it also helps the environment. You can use it as fertilizer or soil to keep from buying these from a store, which will reduce your carbon footprint a lot over time.

Hi, this is Joanna from China. What you said is so true, it happens in China, too. In our school, we  order  three or more kinds of food for lunch and dinner, but usually we cannot eat up. Sometimes 2/3 food are thrown away and wasted. We noticed that so we decide to order less food or order 1 dish of meat with vegetable, so we can eat them all. Or we can eat less snack so we do not feel so full up to eat our meals.

I can't agree with you more, This happens a lot in China, it's like the most common situation. People dont care about the food, specially when family go out for dinner, they usually buy or order way more food than they can eat, and also for the leftover they will not take it home. I think there is only one thing we need to do, buy less food. Leftovers are not very health sometimes.

My mom really enjoys cooking too. We tend to end up with a lot more food then we needed. This food ends up going to waste, which is sad considering there are children starving who would do anything for it. I really like the idea of having a leftovers night or even composting the uneaten food. My family used to compost also. The compost is rich in nutrients that your garden needs.You could even take the food to a homeless shelter so that there is food for those who need it.

These are all really good ideas. I come from a culture that really expresses itself through its cuisine. Usually our refrigerator is full of leftovers or ingredients to make food, but sometimes we buy something that we don't really use right away, like bread. Haha my mom gets really mad when food goes to waste, so we all try really hard to either eat it, or find another use for it. I think it's a really good idea to take leftover food to a homeless shelter like Emma said, then you are helping other people and the earth! However, sometimes food gets kind of moldy and unsafe for anyone to eat. In situations like these, my family usually throws out the bad food, but I really want to start making a compost pile. It would be beneficial to the garden we have in our backyard and less wasteful. If this applies to you, check out this link to learn more about composting and how to start your own pile: http://www.planetnatural.com/composting-101/

I agree that wasting food is a huge problem in our society today.  I find that some people simply do not see the issue with purchasing as much food as they want, and others try not to throw away excess food but cannot eat every food item that they purchase.  This is a tough problem to solve because laws and regulations cannot limit how much food people eat or therefore how much they purchase.  I feel that if there could be a way to punish those who willingly waste food, it would be enough to at least plant the thought in the minds of careless people.  Also, I think large stores could at least contribute to worldwide hunger.  Perhaps if they have a large stock of items that is going to spoil, they can accept the fact that not all will be purchased and they can try to transport them to either locals in need or countries where many are starving.  Because this may be expensive, doing so may need government encouragement.  In the end however I feel like it would put us on track to a global solution.

I too have noticed this problem not only in my family, but also in a lot of my friends families as well.  Sometimes, my family goes over to another family's house or vice versa and loads of food is always cooked.  However, a large portion of it is not eaten, but instead of saving it for leftovers it is almost always thrown away.  So much money would be saved if perfectly good food was just saved and then eaten later.  I completely agree with you.  I think that to avoid this issue we should simply just save our food for leftovers.

Those are great ideas! Not only in my own home but also at school, I've noticed the amount of food wasted is tremendous. I've seen people just throw away entire lunches because they don't feel like eating that specific food. If you don't feel like eating the food, try offering it to other people. And if that doesn't work, take it home and feed a pet. The idea of freezing leftovers is great! My family always faces the problem of overcooking and overbuying. Making grocery shopping lists would also be a great way to not overbuy, sticking to only purchasing the thinks we need,

My family too buys a lot of food but most of the food that isn't eaten (which is often), is thrown away. I think what we can do to prevent food waste is to either compost, eat leftovers (like you said), only buy food you know you will eat, etc. Hopefully in the long run these small adjustments can help our carbon footprint and the amount of food wasted.

The food waste issue is a very complex one.  Much of it is wasted before it even gets to our table!  Fruit, for example:  only the best fruit makes it to the store.  And even then, the people in the store are constantly removing "less desirable" fruit and composting. Maybe we should sell "second rate" fruit?   How do you think we could do that?

I think a good way for stores to waste less food is to have stores that have the "less desirable" fruits and they would sell them for a really cheap price. Or another option would to have a smoothie stand that uses those "less desirable" fruits and makes smoothies out of them because for smoothies it really doesn't matter what the fruit looks pleasing to the eye or not.

[Article-2693000-1FA30DFD00000578-601_634x929](//muut.com/u/footprint/s1/:footprint:QHKV:article26930001fa30dfd00000578601_634x929.jpg.jpg)

Here's some cool pictures from a market in France that is doing just that- selling 'ugly' fruits for 30% off.
[Article-2693000-1FA30DC900000578-390_634x920](//muut.com/u/footprint/s1/:footprint:hLMB:article26930001fa30dc900000578390_634x920.jpg.jpg)  [Article-2693000-1FA30DBE00000578-387_306x463](//muut.com/u/footprint/s1/:footprint:83OM:article26930001fa30dbe00000578387_306x463.jpg.jpg)  [Article-2693000-1FA30DB000000578-128_306x463](//muut.com/u/footprint/s1/:footprint:ERBr:article26930001fa30db000000578128_306x463.jpg.jpg)

I help our school compost almost every day and one pattern I have found is that a lot of our garbage is completely uneaten food- that people just didn't want to eat.  For example, pears, broccoli, that weird pizza from the cafeteria.  I recommend one of two things a)  EAT ALL YOUR FOOD or b)  Be honest, and say you don't like or want to eat something in particular- don't get it/bring it to school in the first place.  Plenty of others can eat it, throwing it away is the worst possible decision in this scenario.

Also more cool photos of ugly fruits. 
[Article-2693000-1FA30DF000000578-34_306x463](//muut.com/u/footprint/s1/:footprint:TQo8:article26930001fa30df00000057834_306x463.jpg.jpg)
[Article-2693000-1FA30DE500000578-289_306x463](//muut.com/u/footprint/s1/:footprint:hXLS:article26930001fa30de500000578289_306x463.jpg.jpg)

I do believe that it is illegal to sell fruit that has gone "bad" in the U.S, because of potential law suits and such, and I think that's why stores are not selling it. I know in England you can buy food that's one day off expiring for a reduced price, but the laws are probably different there... (http://consumerist.com/2008/06/18/is-it … ired-food/)

ADSFJFLSDHFKLKSDLFJALFDKSK ACTUALLY BENJAMIN IT IS COMPLETELY LEGAL TO SELL MOST OF THE FRUITS THAT ARE THROWN AWAY IN STORES.   HOWEVER MOST BUSINESSES ARE TERRIFIED OF SUCH IMPOSSIBLE HYPOTHETICAL LAWSUITS AND THROW AWAY A LOT OF THE FOOD.   ALSO PEOPLE ARE SCARED THAT NO ONE WILL BUY 'UGLY' FRUITS.

So... In order to make it attractive for businesses to keep this food, there would need to be some sort of reward for doing so, and as you said consumers don't really want it... So whats in it for them? As I'm sure you know, a successful business model is based around making money, but if no one wants to buy it its just taking up space on shelves. What incentive is there?

Benjamin,
This question is too complex for a single person to answer.  However, it is something we need to talk about, and I will comment again tomorrow after thinking about it and getting some more  ~juice ~