Category Archives: Supermarket

Holiday Spirit?

Playing the role of Scrooge this (and most every) year, is Wal-Mart. St. Louis’ KMOV-TV recently ran a great piece of investigative journalism on just how much food is wasted at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Clubs. The station went inside the belly of the beast and got some fascinating hidden camera footage. The piece smartly details […]

December 20, 2007 | Also posted in Food Recovery | Comments closed

The High CostCo of Waste

Bri, of Figs with Bri fame, recently wrote in with a tale of waste. She passed along a story from an acquaintance of hers who worked at a California outlet of bulk retailer CostCo. I’ll let him tell the story:  One night when I was helping close up the store, I overheard some of the employees who […]

December 6, 2007 | Posted in Supermarket | Comments closed

Say it ain’t so, Joe

After a Trader Joe’s recently opened in my town, I’ve had a chance to observe the store’s practices from a wasted food perspective. Here’s what I’ve noticed: Trader Joe’s does many things well. Produce, is not one of them. My main complaint is that the grocery chain encourages waste the same way CostCo or Sam’s Club […]

December 4, 2007 | Also posted in Household | Comments closed

Digester Digest

British grocer Marks & Spencer is now powering a few of its stores with an anaerobic digester. The machine converts food waste to biogas, which it uses to create electricity. Plans are underway to build another, and the two digesters should power six stores. So don’t feel bad the next time you pay too much for the […]

November 8, 2007 | Also posted in Energy, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Sneaky Supermarkets

Avoiding household food waste starts in the supermarket. While our big eyes and tempted taste buds are partly to blame, stores are adept at inducing excess spending. Since we waste, on average, a quarter of what we bring home, it makes sense to rethink our shopping habits. Along those lines, this challenging quiz will keep you on […]

November 6, 2007 | Also posted in Household | Comments closed

The Weekly Waste Word: Amounts

Almost every Monday I give little tips on how to avoid food waste in The Weekly Waste Word. Today, let’s talk about amounts. Just as shopping can lead you to wasted food, it can also prevent it. Purchasing the right amount of a fresh ingredient for a recipe ensures efficiency, keeps food out of the waste stream […]

October 22, 2007 | Also posted in The Weekly Waste Word | Comments closed

Pot Pie Pandemic?

After concerns that some of its Banquet poultry pot pie products may be linked to an outbreak of salmonella, ConAgra recalled all Banquet and store brand pot pies last week. The reason more than 165 people in 31 states got sick is because they didn’t get the freezer pies hot enough. Because these pot pies are not ‘ready […]

October 17, 2007 | Also posted in Food Safety, Processing Plants | Comments closed

Pick a Pepper

Would you pay a quarter for this pepper? That’s what I paid yesterday for this pepper that I found on my supermarket’s reduced price rack. It came packaged with a similarly blemished pepper (see below) for 50 cents. Not surprisingly, I’m a big believer in this idea. As we’ve discussed before, many supermarkets shoot for perfect-looking produce. Anything that […]

October 9, 2007 | Also posted in Food Safety, Personal | Comments closed

Higher Value?

Yesterday we visited the topic of bagged produce. Here are three more points on so-called “higher value produce,” fruits and vegetables that are washed, cut and sold in packages.  1. Cut fruit breaks down faster than cut vegetables. It starts to go about 4-5 days after processing, so don’t buy that fruit salad too far in […]

October 2, 2007 | Also posted in Food Safety | Comments closed

The Weekly Waste Word: Bagged Produce

As you might have guessed, I’m not a big fan of washed and cut produce. Sure, it’s convenient and has its uses, but for the most part it breaks down quicker than the uncut version because it exposes more of the fruit or vegetable to oxidation. It also further removes us from the idea that produce is grown and don’t […]

October 1, 2007 | Also posted in Household, The Weekly Waste Word | Comments closed