I was left speechless after watching a documentary about food waste.
I was curious to see who would actually throw away food, and what I saw in the documentary didn't surprise me at all.
The documentary was shot in Canada, so food waste values can vary by country. I watched it in one sitting - it's a 75-minute documentary.
The documentary is all about food - a couple in their 40s decided to stop buying food and only eat leftovers for six months.
They decided to eat food given to them by their friends and family, and the rest they'd scavenge from what people were throwing away.
At first, it was going great - their friends gave them a whole fridge full of food and said they were just going to throw it away anyway. For example, they didn't take the sour cream, but I thought I could make pancakes, a pie, or some omelets with it - it's just a different mindset.
I'm actually pretty frugal when it comes to food waste - I only throw things away when they're truly spoiled, like a rotten fruit or vegetable. I usually just cut off the bad part and use the rest.
Let's face it - we've all been there: forgetting to clean out the fridge and ending up with a bunch of expired or spoiled food. Summer's the worst, when everything seems to go bad in a snap. But 40%? That's a staggering statistic.
But then there are those people who have huge fridges with three doors and can store up to 400-500 liters of food. It's just not realistic for two people to consume that much, and of course, something's bound to go bad.
I love having a full table with a variety of dishes, especially when it's just the two of us. You never know what you'll be eating next, and you don't want anything to go bad. That's why we only buy what we know we'll eat quickly - the freshest food is always the tastiest!
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My friends who are big foodies would often find these huge trash bins in the supermarket where they'd throw away perfectly good food just because it was near its expiration date. They'd even ask the store staff to buy the food that was about to be discarded.
In one store, they even told us that the food was still good for three days, but they had high standards and would throw it away anyway - some of it not even allowed to be sold.
Let's be real - I've seen my fair share of expired products and discounted items in stores. It's like they're trying to get rid of anything that's still good.
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I was surprised to learn that agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to waste. We're always looking for perfect fruits and veggies, and it's no wonder they get tossed if they don't meet our standards.
It's a different story when it comes to large-scale operations, though. It's hard to implement changes when you're dealing with thousands of products.
The movie raises some really valid points, like how much food waste could be reduced if we just stopped throwing it away. It's staggering to think that if we managed our resources better, many countries wouldn't be struggling with hunger.
I have to admit, it's wild to think about how people can buy so much food and then just throw it away. It's like, people must be living some kind of different life or something!
I highly recommend watching this - it's only 75 minutes long, and it's totally worth your time.