
Reducing Wasted Food at Home - adrian_mrd
https://www.epa.gov/recycle/reducing-wasted-food-home
======
ciconia
In practically all developed countries, agriculture is wholly dependent on
subsidies financed with taxes. The price of alimentary products in the
supermarket does not reflect the true cost of production. This, coupled with
countries like China subsidising exports, leads to a "race to the bottom"
situation in which there's constant pressure to drive prices down.

One way to reduce waste would be to stop subsidising agriculture on a global
level. This might be also be accompanied by raising the price of fuel and
electricity. Before screaming bloody murder and downvoting, please consider
the following:

\- roughly 50% of food in the US goes to waste [1]. Meaning you already pay
double what you think you pay. \- About 40% of people in the US are obese [2].
We're eating too much. \- Modern agriculture is an environmentally destructive
practice [3]. Reducing food consumption can reduce its environmental impact.
\- We have all become used to abundance - in practically all domains of life:
water, food, energy, travel, communication. We have become desensitised to the
real value of things, we have no conception of the externalities involved in
producing them, and pass our lives on an infinite binge of blind consumption.

On a personal level, each of us can make the transition to consuming food in a
more reasonable and sober manner. Finally, educating people about food waste
is not enough. What's needed is rather a coordinated effort to move to a new
model where people consume what they physically need, rather than indulging
momentary craving.

[1]
[https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/america...](https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/american-
food-waste/491513/) [2]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20190629233657/https://www.cdc.g...](https://web.archive.org/web/20190629233657/https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html)
[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_agricu...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_agriculture)

~~~
vollmarj
Can you provide references to the subsidies you mention? I think you will find
that this is a common misconception with only some truth to it. I hear often
that US agriculture is subsidized, but never hear specifics. I'm genuinely
curious where people get this impression.

The majority of ag subsidies are not given to farmers for growing things. Crop
insurance is subsidized, but that doesn't necessarily lead to overproduction
as is only really kicks in when conditions are very poor. Conservation
programs (to NOT farm land) are also subsidized. This again doesn't encourage
over production.

There are many things that could be improved in modern agriculture, but my
view is that subsidies have little to do with our largest problems.

~~~
packet_nerd
I'd always heard that dairy gets quite a lot of subsidies, including from
advertising like the "Got milk?" ads. A quick search seems to support this.
It'd be interesting to hear from someone who's dug into this a lot more.

[https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/dairy-
subsidie...](https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/dairy-subsidies-
government-farm-programs-surplus-cheese/)

[https://qz.com/944630/the-us-government-program-behind-
the-g...](https://qz.com/944630/the-us-government-program-behind-the-got-milk-
campaign-attacked-vegan-mayo-and-is-now-under-congressional-scrutiny/)

[https://www.idausa.org/government-meat-dairy-
advertising/](https://www.idausa.org/government-meat-dairy-advertising/)

~~~
18pfsmt
How is the National Diary Council paying for advertising, which is a lobbyist
group made up of dairies, a subsidy?

Their subsidies are in things like the farm bill where they are protected by
tariffs and our weird obsession with pasteurization. Our dairy industry does a
bunch of exporting milk powder to the 3rd world.

[https://www.forbes.com/sites/bethkaiserman/2018/12/30/farm-b...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bethkaiserman/2018/12/30/farm-
bill-dairy-industry-decline-2018/)

------
Merrill
Buying frozen, rather than fresh, vegetables is a good way to avoid waste.
They are processed and frozen soon after picking, so nutrients are well
preserved. They are kept in large frozen food warehouses which are energy
efficient. There is no reduction in nutrients during transport, distribution
and retailing, compared with fresh produce which spends several days
deteriorating in refrigerated trucks and warehouses before it gets to the
store. And, frozen vegetables can be kept a long time once they're in your
freezer, especially in a chest freezer without automatic defrost.

~~~
2T1Qka0rEiPr
Tinned goods are also great for a similar reason

~~~
Merrill
Yes, especially for fruits that don't freeze well and for vegetables like
crushed tomatoes, pickled beets, sauerkraut, etc. But one needs to watch the
sodium and sugar content.

------
bane
We've managed to eliminate a ton of food waste (and cost) by simply not buying
frozen or bulk foods. Paradoxically, whenever we buy food like this, it always
comes in boxes that are much too large to use at once and inevitably will end
up forgotten at the back of the freezer or pantry until we throw it out later.

Now we buy maybe 2 or 3 days worth of food at a time and our fridge basically
just has raw ingredients and a few condiments in it. Usually a package of
never frozen meat (beef or chicken mostly) and a few fresh veggies and
mushrooms for side dishes (many of them keep well or even better outside of
the fridge). The most prepackaged thing we eat these days is on pasta night,
and that's just for the sauce out of the jar and some premade noodles. The
rest of the sauce is fresh chopped veggies and it makes a delightfully chunky
sauce. A favorite side dish is mashed squash in lieu of mashed potatoes.

It takes time to cook a nice meal, and if it's possible to get the time (it's
not easy!) I think everybody should do it. The frozen and bulk foods never
resulted in a meal half as good. One nice side effect, if we increase the
portions a bit, we get a quality packed lunch from the left overs.

Our meals also have dramatically increased the volume of fresh vegetables and
are definitely much more healthy than anything we used to eat. Are we trying
to reduce waste? Not really, just trying to cook and eat better, but the side
effect is great (and much cheaper as well!) It's also a nice change in daily
routine to stop at the grocery a couple times per week.

Our fridge went from slam packed full to mostly empty and we eat far better.

~~~
emj
It takes ~15min-60min to cook, serve and eat a meal, that is time that you can
spend together. It has never been hard to find the time to do that, is this
really a problem people have? (But I do live very close to a nice little store
~2 minutes, that do help.)

~~~
sfifs
How many kids do you have & what kind of a job?

~~~
emj
Does it really matter, my question was why would you not cook food yourself?
I'm not offering a model that other people should copy.

From experience cooking daily for 8 people is not that much worse than for 2
people, it's just a different kind of project both have hurdles and
highlights. Not going to lie, being able to take time off each day to take
care of your kids really did help with time but it mostly it was to socialize
and being less of a eat-work-sleep machine.

Ordinary day now is, breakfast 0600-0730, work things 0730-1630, cook and take
care of kids 1630-2100, other things 2100-~0100.

------
foxhop
I love when I tell people that I garden and they say things like "that's a
nice hobby".

Growing your own food is not a hobby, you are literally participating in the
economy.

It is great exercise and really helps you understand just how much labor and
time goes into making food from seed to harvest to storage and consumption.

I feel like there is a growing movement of more and more people trying to
relearn these skills.

As for food waste, the way I compost kitchen scraps is to dig a 1-2 foot deep
by 1 foot wide hole in my yard where I dump a week's worth of scraps into. I
chop it with my shovel and bury it while chopping. In 1-2 months time it will
be completely taken in by the soil life.

I use a 5 gallon bucket with a lid that seals in the kitchen to collect
scraps.

Each year I pick a new place to dig my holes. I keep the holes about a foot
apart and I remove rocks as I go.

They next year I plant a crop in the location.

I like this method of composting because it enriches the land and the soil
life does most of the work without any smell.

I'm slightly tilling, preparing, enriching, and de-rocking(?) My land over the
course of months. It takes about as much time as emptying the trash.

You end up doing a lot of work, but it doesn't feel that way because you are
"eating the elephant one bite at a time".

~~~
18pfsmt
As a renter I gardened for years, but I finally bought a condo and no longer
have a yard. Early attempts at establishing a community garden program have
been failures. I will continue the quest. However, I think you are overselling
the idea, growing your own vegetables is not "part of the economy" even while
it may have economic impact. You are not selling, correct?

~~~
surfmike
So if you sold it, then used that money to buy food, would it count?

~~~
foxhop
Thanks, this was what I was going to say. Anything you can do for yourself
that _needs_ to be done, that you would have to pay for if you didn't do it,
is participating in the economy.

~~~
18pfsmt
I noted the economic impact, but I was talking at-scale, not anecdotaly. There
are many states that have over-regulated this market. It now costs $15/gal for
raw milk. Most people are not able to have a garden was my point.

------
louismerlin
A huge change in my food waste output took place when I stopped going to the
supermarket, and instead started going to the local market once a week.

Having to plan out what I needed for the week really changed my behavior for
the better.

(+ supporting local farmers + reducing plastic consumption)

~~~
vonmoltke
> Having to plan out what I needed for the week really changed my behavior for
> the better.

Trying to plan for the week and shop for it on one day is the _cause_ of most
of our food waste, because we inevitably change plans (voluntarily or
involuntarily).

We are actually trying to be better about going to the store more frequently
and buying less in advance. We are also trying to actually use things we
stockpile in the pantry, since we also have a problem with stocking canned and
dry goods we forget about.

~~~
18pfsmt
I buy mostly fresh food, so I go the store every other morning at 6am. They
are still stocking shelves (a job I had in college), but there are no crowds.
I live 2 blocks away from the store, so small takes are easier to carry home.
The only canned stuff I buy are beans and olives.

------
pard68
We waste practically zero organic waste. We have chickens which eat our waste
food, which is minimal in itself. What they don't eat becomes compost n about
three months time. We eat the eggs, approximately ten a day, and use the
compost to grow food in our yard most of the year. All of this is on a .25
acre of land in a downtown setting.

~~~
kendallpark
One of the perks of owning a rabbit is that we rarely have to worry about
fresh produce going bad. The rabbit eats all the scraps from our own cooking
(stems, carrot tops, etc) and any surplus veggies we happened to buy. It's
wonderful because our fridge is always full of veggies.

~~~
pard68
Yes, we have rabbits, turtles,and lizards that help out with eating food as
well.

------
m0zg
I've found that the best way to reduce wasted food at home is by establishing
and maintaining your food budget (groceries _and_ eating out), and gradually
reducing it until you don't have any wasted food.

People (myself included) get carried away buying stuff, even groceries.
Without planning you will quite easily blow past your budget and then stuff
will sit in your fridge and rot.

Or another scenario: you buy a bunch of groceries and then eat fast food all
week and throw most of your groceries away. Gotta use what you bought or it
will go bad.

It's very easy for a family of 3 in the US to spend $2K/mo on food and throw
most of the groceries away. If you drive that down to $1K/mo, you can eat
pretty well, and there won't be much wastage.

~~~
lame-robot-hoax
I think part of the problem is, at least in my experience, buying stuff you
tell yourself that you’ll eat but rarely do.

If I were to be more honest with myself in a store, I’d cut down on food
waste. My problem is I see certain things, and think to myself, oh I’ll eat
those. But in reality, only ideally I’d eat those. What ends up happening is I
get hungry and look into the fridge for something to eat, only to see that
exact thing staring me right in the face before I say, damn nothing to eat.

As well, going to the store more often. Buying only a couple or three days
worth of groceries makes it easy to lower food waste. When I try to buy over a
weeks worth of groceries I find myself having to throw away things more often.

~~~
m0zg
There's an easy solution to the problem you describe: intermittent fasting
once a week. You eat your dinner, and then eat nothing at all until the next
dinner. Longer intervals are also possible, but I've found that for me 24
hours works the best. You won't believe how appetizing even the most
unappealing items in your fridge will look after just one day of not eating
anything, especially if you're physically active.

------
brahmwg
Personally, I've reduced my food waste by eating almost primarily freeze-dried
foods. They have a 30 year shelf life in most cases and just need a bit of hot
water to be rehydrated, and it tastes just like fresh. The process of freeze-
drying apparently keeps the nutritional value intact, as opposed to other
preservation methods. It's great for planning meals for the week, and it's
excellent for making delicious backpacking recipes!

It seems in any given pack of fresh
blueberries/strawberries/brocolli/whatever, inevitably some part of it gets
moldy or subpar eating conditions. With the freeze dried equivalent, I know I
have as-good-as-fresh ingredients that won't spoil anytime soon. I don't see
myself ever buying fresh berries or brocolli or chicken ever again now that
I've discovered freeze dried foods. It's just too efficient and convenient to
have all these good quality foods on-demand that virtually never spoil.

Edit: well actually I'd still buy fresh food... If I had my own freeze drier
and freeze-dried them myself!

------
vturner
Do these food waste statistics count what factories throw out? Recently, I met
someone who works in quality control on a Kelloggs line. He told me that day
they threw away 1,500 lbs of food on his line alone and that is a fairly
common stat.

I'm personally very conscientious of my food usage and throw little away, but
the EPA telling the consumer this is their problem is irritating.

~~~
d-sc
Percentages matter more than absolute amounts. I probably throw away 10-20% of
what I buy. I suspect factories and you are better than that.

------
ketzu
> Find out how to store fruits and vegetables so they stay fresh longer inside
> or outside your refrigerator.

That was my first thought when I opened the website. I kind of expected to see
the answer to this on the site, not a tip this general, or maybe a reference
to look it up.

~~~
JeanMarcS
Wouldn’t it be wiser to stop selling packs ? Like when you go to outdoor
markets where you can buy 3 carrots if that’s what you only need.

And it’ll stop all the plastic waste too.

But I understand it will be a supply chain nightmare

~~~
timthorn
> But I understand it will be a supply chain nightmare

I'm not sure why? It's standard practice in UK supermarkets, although
prepacked bags are also available.

~~~
bengale
There was an interesting BBC show the other day about plastic waste and they
were pointing out that buying loose vegetables in major supermarkets was
between 20-50% more expensive than buying them prepackaged.

~~~
fredsir
For the consumer or the seller?

I think I easily save 20-50% when I buy the amount I can eat before it goes
bad instead of having to buy a larger amount because it's prepackaged in a
too-big-for-me package.

Come to think of it, I never throw out stuff like fruit which I buy "per
piece" instead of prepackaged, where as carrots which usually only comes
prepackaged where I shop is something I often have to throw out of because the
last ones have gone bad before I got to them. This have meant I rarely eat
carrots anymore and instead buy something else that isn't prepackaged.

Same thing with bread actually. But then they started selling smaller breads
all over the country to combat food waste, and it really has, I don't remember
throwing out bread in the last couple of years.

~~~
krsrhe
Have you tried eating more vegetables? It’s not hard for one person to eat
2lbs of carrots in the weeks before they go bad in a fridge.

~~~
fredsir
I just don’t like that many carrots. Would prefer to be able to buy the couple
I want.

And yes, I do eat plenty of vegetables. I follow a whole-food plant-based diet
and have done so for almost 7 years.

------
amthewiz
People go their entire lives without knowing what it is like to go without
food for a day. They take it for granted.

Also, I believe parents generally don't teach kids to respect food. It
probably starts by letting a toddler feed him/herself too early and in the
process normalizing food wastage.

There is also a first world etiquette of leaving some food in the plate. I
have seen people habitually do it.

~~~
rangibaby
> There is also a first world etiquette of leaving some food in the plate. I
> have seen people habitually do it.

I think it’s a status thing, to show that you are rich enough that you can
just throw away food. You have probably heard or seen the horror stories about
(rich) Chinese tourists and buffets when they visit overseas.

OTOH My friend majorly pissed off our (normal for China) dinner host in
southern China by putting food on his plate then not eating all of it.

It’s the same in Japan, and Japanese buffets literally fine people for taking
food and not eating it.

~~~
benj111
"I think it’s a status thing"

I'd say its a politeness/not appearing greedy thing, certainly from a food in
the centre of the table point of view. Drives me mad when at the end on a
dinner party you have one potato, one carrot stick, one chunk of bread.

This is from a UK point of view, I understand there are different motivations
elsewhere.

~~~
asark
Food portions and being (or acting) unable to finish all but the daintiest
serving sizes definitely has a class component to it, at least in the US. I
think this behavior's shifted "down" a notch or so, alongside fitness-as-a-
class-marker (see also: athleisure wear) as the upper-middle and more
perceptive anxious/striving middle classes have latched onto it. In tech
circle's I'd guess it's very common, they consisting largely of those two
class groups (using a Fussellian system of classification, here).

Of course our meal serving sizes do probably vary more than in most (saner)
countries. On the low end of the dining-out spectrum, one is often served
enough food for two or more meals. There's an "if I don't feel stuffed to the
point of nigh-immobility, I got ripped off" attitude in that sector of the
market.

------
atoav
I rarely ever throw food away, and if I have to (once every two months or so)
I consider it a shame.

Storing things the right way is important, but much more important is not
buying too much. My solution is that I never use a shopping cart but my own
bag. When you have to carry it you will have a much better feeling if it is
too much.

This is ofc harder if you have kids.

~~~
spodek
> _harder if you have kids._

Bea Johnson's family of four produces less than a mason jar of trash per year.
[https://www.youtube.com/user/ZeroWasteHome](https://www.youtube.com/user/ZeroWasteHome)

Not speaking to atoav in particular, but it's tempting to make excuses why we
don't do what others do that we want to but aren't. If we look for role models
instead of excuses, we motivate ourselves to reach more of our potential.

In her case, reducing the waste seems to have brought her family together
more. It doesn't seem to be a burden, just a one-time shift.

~~~
krsrhe
Bea Johnson wastes a lot of jet fuel, which likely dwarfs everything else she
does with her lifestyle.

~~~
spodek
I have other role models for not flying, though mostly I'm motivated by how
much avoiding flying has improved my life, now in my fourth year.
[http://www.inc.com/joshua-spodek/365-days-without-
flying.htm...](http://www.inc.com/joshua-spodek/365-days-without-flying.html)

------
agumonkey
There's an app (I know) called toogoodtogo that let businesses to sale things
that won't be allowed to be sold next day. It's a cute step in the right
direction.

ps: also, who made a kind of compost bin to at least avoid bagging organic
material to go into the recycling system ?

~~~
lucb1e
When I was in Finland for a few months, we used Resq Club for this. I loved
it. Wasn't as cheap as one might expect of leftover food that would otherwise
be thrown away, but it's still worth it. I think the operate also in other
northern European countries.

------
mogadsheu
The American food supply chain has a luxuriously high waste rate. It’s an
issue that a few companies are trying to tackle, eg Imperfect Produce.

Wasted food in the home though is mostly a cultural/price issue, as well as a
misalignment issue between seller and consumer. Grocery stores try and
increase AOV by selling you a 3lb bundle of carrots because they believe it to
be profit maximizing to do so, at the cost of deadweight loss borne by the
customer if they don’t eat all that they buy.

~~~
afarrell
Is ugly fruit/veg a significant cause of food waste? My understanding was that
ugly fruit/veg gets turned into soup or sauces.

~~~
sureaboutthis
You can do that but most home cooks don't make soups or sauces from scratch
and don't know how.

~~~
randomdata
Home cooks may not, but industry does.

~~~
sureaboutthis
The subject is wasted food at home.

~~~
randomdata
The subject of this thread is ugly fruit and vegetables. They don't make it
into the grocery store, let alone all the way to ones home (in fresh form).

~~~
sureaboutthis
Which has nothing to do with my comment to the poster.

------
alleskleber
There's a tiny grocery store just a five minute walk away from my apartment. I
treat it like an extended fridge. Whenever I need something it's just a short
trip away. So there's no need to overstock food at home for me.

But I get that not everybody has that opportunity.

~~~
yostrovs
Stocking the fridge is not related to throwing away food. People that cook a
great deal get a lot of benefit from having ingredients available.

------
Theodores
This message is not a new one and it isn't really working. People kind of know
- nobody walks into a supermarket to specifically buy stuff just to put in the
rubbish bin, do they?

I think there needs to be more radical solutions. For instance a sugar tax or
a different tax band for microwave ready meals.

We have all been there, after a hard week to have gone shopping to get the
healthy veg and some ready prepared meal items, e.g. microwaveable or just a
pizza that can be shoved in the oven. We get back tired from the shopping trip
and don't make that salad, we put the pizza in the oven. The next day we do
the same. Then the working week takes over and that once prime condition veg
is not looking so good. We can't bring ourselves to throwing it out so we hold
on to it until it is truly rotten. Meanwhile we have some other lazy beige
foods.

It is an easy trap to fall into and we have all been there. But what if that
instant pizza cost as much as a restaurant pizza? Or that microwave meal cost
the same as a pub meal?

You would probably go for proper food. People could reduce food waste in the
days before refrigeration, to not waste a thing. Ask anyone who is old enough
to have known WW2. Rationing was a way of reducing waste, but, what else has
changed? The junk food. This needs to be taxed so that people don't leave the
good stuff to go rotten. Junk also needs to be taxed so poor people who view
vitamins as a luxury don't eat it.

------
JustSomeNobody
> Keep a running list of meals and their ingredients that your household
> already enjoys. That way, you can easily choose, shop for and prepare meals.

> Make your shopping list based on how many meals you’ll eat at home. Will you
> eat out this week? How often?

> Plan your meals for the week before you go shopping and buy only the things
> needed for those meals.

> Include quantities on your shopping list noting how many meals you’ll make
> with each item to avoid overbuying. For example: salad greens - enough for
> two lunches.

> Look in your refrigerator and cupboards first to avoid buying food you
> already have, make a list each week of what needs to be used up and plan
> upcoming meals around it.

> Buy only what you need and will use. Buying in bulk only saves money if you
> are able to use the food before it spoils.

Great list. We keep a wiki page on our server that contains "menus" for the
week along with the shopping list. We are able to rotate those every couple of
months (ie: we have a couple months worth of menus that we rotate through) and
it is just grab the list, check the pantry/fridge for what we have and get
what we need from the store. Super easy.

Recipes do get tired, so we do rotate those out and some new ones in, but the
above is the general flow.

We eat reasonably healthy. We can maximize our spend by looking for deals. We
don't have to expend too much effort planning now.

------
GordonS
I find a good way to reduce food waste is to plan your meals a week in
advance, so you do 1 big shop and get everything you need for the coming week.

That way, you buy exactly what you need.

You also know _when_ you're going to need everything, so if there are any
short-lived things (cut herbs, for example) that you need for a meal later in
the week, you can get them just in time.

------
blarg1
Our chickens love all our food waste.

And any chicken meat waste goes to the local magpies so they won't bomb us.

------
wyldfire
> Compost food scraps rather than throwing them away.

I wonder: my neighborhood has some common area that I could ask that we set
aside for composting. Have anyone on HN ever setup a neighborhood compost? Any
tips/suggestions?

~~~
lucb1e
In Germany, the municipality maintains those. Bio waste is picked up every two
weeks or so. We have a large (5x5x13dm or so) container that we share with our
upstairs neighbors and is mainly filled with mowed grass and kitchen waste,
though I think we only fill it up once every month and a half, or maybe two
months, and that's in summer when the grass grows.

In fall, there are also solutions for fallen leaves, but I don't remember what
(we've lived here less than a year, I vaguely remember reading it but I've yet
to see it). In the Netherlands, they put collection baskets (of like 1x1x1m)
on many streets in that season.

------
tobtoh
If you don't have a garden (ie live in an apartment etc), is there any benefit
(reduced methane?) to composting food scraps before throwing the soil in the
trash/landfill?

~~~
my_username_is_
Not my area of expertise here, but I would think that doing so would help by
reducing the overall volume of your waste. As food breaks down into soil, it
packs tighter and reduces its overall volume. I assume that garbage trucks are
limited by the volume that they can carry, not the weight, so reducing your
waste volume should help reduce your overall carbon footprint by marginally
reducing the number of vehicle-trips that it takes to collect your waste.

That being said, I would have to think that reducing the amount of waste that
you create in the first place will have a bigger impact than reducing the
volume of a given mass of waste.

------
blisterpeanuts
I'm surprised there's been no mention in the article or comments of gardening
to grow one's own food. Gardening (generically encompassing both in-the-ground
vegetable gardens and alternative growing methods such as greenhouse,
hydroponics, and indoor grow stations in the basement etc.) inherently limits
waste, encourages you to eat exactly as much as you grow, and allows
sustainable replenishment of the soil, the atmosphere, and the general
ecosystem.

Of course, if you fill your yard with nothing but squash plants and harvest a
ton of squash every fall, that's a bit of an extreme counter-example because
you're not likely to eat that much squash, but even then you're going to give
it away or sell it at the local farmer's market.

But for the average food grower/amateur homesteader, you'll gradually develop
a self-adapted menu of homegrown foods which you will be very pleased to
consume as soon as they are ready, free of nasty chemicals and ripeness
inhibitors, and full of nutrients that have not been lost in the production,
transportation, and storage phases that commercial produce must necessarily
undergo.

You will eat locally grown produce that is adapted to your region, when and if
it comes to maturity, and waste will not be your main concern, but rather the
opposite -- if you have 12 potato plants, and they each produce 5-10 potatoes
in August, you will accommodate the bounty by building a rack in the basement
to store them over the winter -- literally a root cellar, which is what
basements were originally for.

Plus, it's fun, and vastly educational for children. Nothing is more
satisfying than having your child help build the raised beds and plant the
seeds, then seeing the seedlings come up and develop into mature plants that
provide bounty for the dinner table. Experiencing the full cycle also
encourages them to eat their vegetables. Raising egg chickens is also highly
fulfilling and rewarding.

Lawns are largely wasted in our society. When I visited Hungary a couple of
decades ago, newly freed of Communism, every back yard had a garden, a chicken
coop, as well as larger farm animals such as pigs and goats. Sadly, this level
of self-sufficiency has probably diminished as their society has developed and
moved to the Western model of centralized food production and distribution.

Growing your own food means next to zero waste, and what clippings and husks
and greens remain after the harvest are recycled into the compost bin or
straight into the bed. If you have chickens, a lot of this material, such as
tomato skins, carrot ends, etc., are eagerly devoured. In return for your
generosity, the chickens provide high quality fertilization of your yard and
garden, and as a bonus they eat insects including ticks.

------
m3kw9
Costco is partly responsible

~~~
lucb1e
That's an awfully short statement / quite a baseless comment. What does Costco
even sell, are they a normal supermarket? Are other supermarkets not at fault?
What does Costco do wrong compared to competitors (even if they are not alone,
you seem to think them particularly responsible)?

~~~
lkbm
Costco's thing is that they're bulk quantities at a lower price. They'll
either have larger bottles/bags/cans, or they'll package 2+ of the regular
ones together.

At my local supermarket, I can buy a single onion if I'd like. If I want a
them pre-bagged, it's a 3LBs bag. At Costco, the option is a 10LB bag. 5LBs
bags of mozzarella. 5LB and 10LBs bags of carrots.

It's a great place to shop, especially for large families/groups, but if
you're a small household then it will lend towards over-buying, simply because
you can't get a 1-2 person quantity of most things. This morning, I walked to
the store and bought a single avocado. If I'd gone to Costco, I would've had
to get a bag of five. (Which is surprisingly few for Costco.)

Here's a product list for Costco: [https://queenbeecoupons.com/costco-price-
list/](https://queenbeecoupons.com/costco-price-list/) Compare the quantities
with what I can get from my local supermarket:
[https://www.heb.com/](https://www.heb.com/)

