Category Archives: Household

On Terminology and Terminals

I’ve been excited to see the press that Kevin Hall et al’s study has received. You know, the one that found that America wastes 40 percent of its food. It was featured in The Economist and then The New York Times “Idea of the Day” blog repeated the findings with a quote from the former. […]

December 4, 2009 | Also posted in Personal, Stats | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

A new study by a team of National Institute of Health researchers has some fascinating findings. After analyzing USDA and FAO data, the team of researchers found that US per capita food waste has increased by 50 percent since 1974. More interesting, they found that we now waste 40 percent of our available food supply. […]

November 27, 2009 | Also posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, International, Stats | Comments closed

A Video to be Thankful for

If I was going to make a short video summing up the problem of wasted food, it’d look something like this. Good did a great job of illuminating the problem and then suggesting ideas on how to take action. — Speaking of taking action, with Thanksgiving upon us, I just wanted to add a few […]

November 25, 2009 | Also posted in History and Culture, Stats | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

With a zero waste policy on the way in Britain, the discussion continues to focus on the number of bins per home. It will probably come down to value paid for source-separated recyclables vs. nuisance. Also, and here’s the waste industry’s reaction. — — I don’t think you’re a terrible person, Rachel, but I do hope […]

October 16, 2009 | Also posted in Friday Buffet, International, Restaurant | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Not sure how I missed this awesome photo spread of refrigerator contents, but I’m just glad we’re together now. Bonus points to the first person to find the truly bizarre item inside one freezer (hint: eek!). — — Here’s a priveleged response to traylessness at Stanford (where trays are still available on request). In my opinion, […]

October 2, 2009 | Also posted in College, Farm, Friday Buffet, International, Trayless | Comments closed

Goodness Gracious, Gazpacho!

This Friday I made gazpacho, or the cold soup of Spain, as it’s known in my house (from a favorite menu description). The soup served as the final destination for many of my end-of-season garden tomatoes. I think the soup will enter our regular rotation next summer, as it’s easy, tasty and a nice way to […]

September 21, 2009 | Also posted in Garden, Personal | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Here’s a little drilling down on the cultural barriers to asking for doggy bags in the UK. — — Green Seal restaurant standards just received a nice boost in the form of national recognition (from ANSI). Not that I have a clue about design, but I’m still not wild about the Green Seal logo–it seems more blue […]

September 11, 2009 | Also posted in Composting, International, Tree Gleaning | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Here’s a look inside the food-waste-to-energy plant in Oakland. Hey Bay Area folks, keep your oyster shells, rags and rocks out of the compost! — — Using watermelon cast-offs to make fuel? Seriously? I thought watermelon was about 99% water? And which have more energy–original or seedless? Of course, it’d be great if we weren’t […]

August 28, 2009 | Also posted in Farm, Food Recovery, Food Safety, Friday Buffet, Supermarket, Technology | Comments closed

Count me…In? Out?

We all have those fridge mysteries. Count On It labels are intended to solve those by reminding you when you opened a jar or bottle. The labels let you scratch off the day and month (what–no time of day?!) to eliminate the guesswork and possibly reduce the waste from unknown food safety. Lyndsey Young, a.k.a. […]

August 5, 2009 | Also posted in Food Safety, International | Comments closed

When Life Gives You Green Tomatoes…

I’ve been growing some veggies in raised beds in our backyard. As with most gardens, there have been hits and misses. Among the misses, thus far, have been the tomatoes. Thanks to the elaborate bamboo (quasi-native to my backyard, unfortunately) support structure, the plants are taller than me. Yet, I’m still waiting for my first […]

July 27, 2009 | Also posted in Personal | Comments closed