Category Archives: Household

Attractive Magnet

A few weeks back, I wrote about a mysterious magnet that preserves food. Well, Richard Chua, President of the magnet’s manufacturer (ESMo Technologies), read that post and graciously offered to send me a sample. The package arrived late last week and I’ll begin testing its powers as soon as I think of a scientifically appropriate experiment. In […]

June 18, 2007 | Also posted in Technology | Comments closed

One word: Magnets

I’m not sure what to make of this but thought I’d pass it along. A Singaporean company called ESMo Technologies, claims to have developed a food preserving magnet.  In a supermarket test, the EsmoSphere supposedly increased meat’s shelf life by as much as 50 percent. Don’t believe it? Then you won’t be swayed by the company’s own photo case studies. […]

May 30, 2007 | Also posted in Food Safety, Supermarket | Comments closed

Hunger Stamps

Wasted food wouldn’t be as significant of a problem if there weren’t people without enough to eat. But there are and probably always will be. Throughout human history, hunger has persisted. Even today, when the U.S. has the means to marginalize it–imagine if we spent as much on ending hunger as we did on our defense budget–we don’t. […]

May 17, 2007 | Also posted in Hunger, Supermarket | Comments closed

Boxing Out Composting

It should surprise no one that San Francisco leads the way in food composting. The city offers green bins that sends household and restaurant food waste and yard trimmings to Jepson Prarie Organics in Vacaville, Calif., where they are composted. Combined with the regular, blue recycling cart and the black, garbage cart, participating San Francisco homes have three receptacles. In Oxford, England, […]

May 15, 2007 | Also posted in International | Comments closed

Cape Breton Curbside Composting

In a bit of food waste news, Cape Breton is starting to compost its household food scraps. On Monday, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality began the widespread delivery of green bins for separating all organic waste from regular trash. We here at WastedFood applaud the move to divert wet, heavy food waste and all organic materials from […]

May 8, 2007 | Also posted in International | Comments closed

Dinner Plans

My wife and I had guests over for dinner recently. For the main dish, we made a creamy mac ‘n cheese with chicken and broccoli. Because the recipe was for 8 to 10 servings, we halved it to serve four adults and a toddler. Given today’s serving sizes, that seemed pretty safe. Plus, we also were having salad […]

April 9, 2007 | Posted in Household | Comments closed

Composting Comestibles

In other news, I’ve started composting food scraps in earnest. Wednesday, I set up my compost bin, which looks like this: While I’d been composting sporadically with a half-hearted pile, I’m fully invested now that I have an actual bin. I keep a Ben & Jerry’s pint by the sink to store all of my scraps. This container seems […]

March 23, 2007 | Posted in Household | Comments closed

The Home Front

I recently came across stats for food waste in Orange County, North Carolina, where I live. My immediate reaction–Wow! It seems we waste a fair amount of food in N.C.’s O.C. In 2005, food waste was one-fifth of the county’s waste stream, its largest component. Considering overall waste for the county was 56,303 tons, 11,091 tons […]

March 14, 2007 | Also posted in Restaurant, Stats | Comments closed

Talk is Cheap, Food Cheaper

Let’s face it, food is cheap. It may not feel that way when you shop at Whole Foods, but it is when you compare today’s food prices to historical ones. How little we pay for food helps explain the lack of reluctance to waste it, i.e. that more than 40 percent of all food produced in the US is […]

February 20, 2007 | Also posted in Restaurant, Stats | Comments closed

Mindless Wasting II

I just finished reading Cornell food psychologist Brian Wansink’s Mindless Eating. While the interesting book examines how Americans unwittingly eat more than we think we do, it provides plenty of fodder for wasted food discussion. For instance, Wansink examines portion size at restaurants. American obesity can be partly blamed on gigantic servings that are now […]

February 13, 2007 | Also posted in Restaurant | Comments closed