Kia ora, my name is Jack Karetai-Barrett, and I’m a year nine student at Whakatane High School. This is my monthly column.
According to lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz, “the estimated value of food waste per New Zealand household is worth about $1510 per year.”
Today I’m continuing on from my last article, where I talked about my visit to Ecogas, where food waste is turned into methane, which is burned to heat a neighbouring greenhouse. It gave me a lot to think about. When we were driving back from the facility, the only thing I was thinking about was the fact that these kinds of places actually exist because we were so wasteful in the first place.
I didn’t actually realise that people waste food. If it’s not us eating our food, then it’s the dogs or the chickens. We don’t waste any of our food, and we grow a lot of what we eat. It’s funny that people can even accept the fact that they waste food. Some people dream of having food on their table, but then other people can just throw it away, even if it’s a day old. What is your food philosophy when it comes to wasting kai?
There are lots of ways you can minimise your food waste. The first one is the most obvious: only buy what you need. If you do end up with more than you need, there are ways you can preserve food to make it last longer. If you’ve got some old bananas, cut them up and put them in a tray for the freezer. Once they’re frozen, put them in a bag and keep them in the freezer. You can take out as many as you need at a time for smoothies, desserts, after-school snacks, etc. You can also freeze things like banana bread, zucchini loaves, and really any kind of cake. Cake thaws quickly and is always handy to have in the freezer. Extra fruit makes the best jam. And frozen lemon and lime cubes are super good in cold water in the summer, and a great way to keep lemon juice for things like guacamole. Speaking of guacamole, mash up your avocado, add some lemon juice, and freeze. You just add your tomato, onion, and garlic when you thaw it out. Mum says it is no accident that avocado and lemon are ready at the same time.
When we have extra veggies, Mum cuts them up into roastie sizes, vacuum packs them, puts them in the freezer, and takes them out to make roast vegetables. Soups are a great way to save extra veggies. Make some soup, then put it in the freezer. If you don’t have chickens, you could even use your clean veggie peels to make a yummy stock for veggie soups.
There are ways to manage your food to keep it fresh longer. Did you know that apples release a hormone called ethylene that makes other fruits mature faster? So don’t put your apples and bananas together (unless you want them to ripen faster). There are containers that are designed to keep food fresher for longer. The best is to plan your meals and only cook what you need, or plan how you can use your leftovers if you know you have some.
If you can manage those, then it should be smooth sailing. But if not, then you can still manage it. If it’s vegetable or fruit scraps, then you can give it to chickens, pigs, worm farms, or even put it in your compost bin. We have a lot of friends who bring us their food scraps for our chickens, and their scraps become eggs.
If people would start being more wise with their food, they would save a lot of money and save the environment! You could also start eating a lot healthier by following these steps and getting better food. You can buy local food and get your fruit and veggies from your local fresh market. Less travel miles, fresher, and a lot more nutritious. It also just feels great to support local growers who employ local people. That is the best kind of circular economy - best for everyone.
Thank you for reading my article.
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