#food waste

#food waste

If you watch food shows on TV, you'll see a lot of talk from chefs and restaurateurs about working with the freshest in-season ingredients. Which is true, up to a point; we all want to do that. But in practice, we often end up working with what we can get or what we have on hand. The name of the restaurant game is turning a profit, after all.

In 2025, refrigerators can track contents and make you a grocery list based on what you need, automatically refill your pitcher of water, and provide calendar and weather updates - as well as your favorite playlists - from a touchscreen on the door. But can their shelves move to accommodate different items with the click of a button? Can those shelves swing out so you can get to every little thing even if it's fallen to the back?

Recipes rarely call for a whole container of tomato paste, but once opened, you're left with an entire can of the stuff - minus a tablespoon or two. Without a resealable top, it's hard to simply close it and place the paste back in the fridge. Thankfully, there are easier ways to store leftover tomato paste and get your money's worth.

When I first met Fadell and Rogers above a store above the Town and Country Village Mall across from Stanford, the two were on a quest to build internet-connected home devices at their startup Nest. They didn't know me, but they let me in, and that act of generosity changed my career. "I'm gonna show you something, but you have to promise not to write about it. Yet," Tony said at that first meeting 15 years ago.

After carefully choosing the freshest produce at the market, people face even more choices with vegetables, fruit, meat and dairy products at home that can help prolong freshness, minimize waste and prevent foodborne illnesses. There are several methods to store and preserve food, such as canning and pickling produce, freezing leftover ingredients and storing food in the refrigerator. Although refrigeration is effective and most households have the appliance, experts say it is safe to say most families simply set it and forget it.

Some of us will cut off the bruise and eat the rest, but evidence shows that a lot of bruised apples are tossed out. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, about 45% of all fruits and vegetables are wasted. That's 3.7 trillion apples. The creators of Arctic apples saw that as a major problem they needed to fix as they attempted to design an apple that wouldn't turn brown, allowing it to stay fresher longer.

From a business standpoint, offering the complementary appetizer is (perhaps counterintuitively) a profitable tool. Tortilla chips and salsa sit at a uniquely advantageous intersection for restaurants: light enough to avoid dampening patrons' appetites, yet flavorful enough to stoke their palates and prime the taste buds for greater enjoyment of the meal to come. Still, there are roughly 286 calories per two-ounce serving of chips and salsa. Not enough to kill an appetite, but a substantial snack.

It opened in 2015 as a sister to the now closed Contra, an impeccable fine-dining restaurant, and the same precision and ingenuity was applied to Wildair's dishes, which have that perfect balance of elevated refinement and skilled execution, all combined with a casual playfulness. You can probably imagine my excitement, then, when I found out that one of my favourite

Basil stems, like the stalks of most soft herbs, are entirely edible. While they may be too tough to blend into a smooth pesto sauce or to used as garnish, they still have some of that sweet, peppery basil flavor that can be infused into the syrup. Moreover, turning basil stems into a herby and flavorful syrup is easier than it sounds. Just whip out a pot, add some water, sugar, and, of course, the basil stems, and reduce it into a syrup.

Between sky-high grocery prices and a need to reduce waste and clutter, downsizing your kitchen to the essentials is now more important than ever. When it comes to appliances, basics such as a toaster, microwave, kettle, and the like are certainly vital. Though it was once America's favorite kitchen appliance, it seems that the air fryer has waned in popularity to the point where some critics - including this writer - deem it a waste.

From a nutritional standpoint, both canned and frozen vegetables can be every bit as good for you as fresh. That's because preserved produce is often packaged straight from the field at the height of its freshness, which protects its vitamins and minerals at their peak. So you aren't doing your body a disservice in any way by making a side of frozen spinach.

Aiyer, who leads the Rotary Club of Cupertino's fruit harvesting pilot program in collaboration with hunger and homelessness nonprofit West Valley Community Services, has harvested more than 850 pounds of fresh fruit since the idea came to life last spring. Her team of roughly 10 volunteers has picked fruit three times from residents who offer their trees to the program, including lemons, oranges and plums.

In India, inadequate cold-chain infrastructure and soaring heat are taking a heavy toll on farmers. Roughly 25-35% of fruits and vegetables spoil before reaching market, leading to a loss of about $11.5 billion yearly.

Kiko Ochoa-Beovides and Madison Hodges told Business Insider they snapped up around 20 Happy Meals to collect the toy sets and Pokémon cards, often ditching the food.

Experts have noted that overflowing bins and food waste contribute significantly to the growing sizes of rats in urban areas, leading to larger and more difficult-to-manage populations.

Costco does not mark down items as they near expiration but donates leftover food to food banks and shelters, helping to fight hunger and reduce waste.

A good farmers market is absolutely brimming with colorful produce looking fresh and inviting. On a sunny spring or summer day, it can be easy to want to try everything.

Jeni Britton aims to address the fiber deficiency in diets with her new company, Floura, launching its first product, a fiber bar enriched with 13 grams of fiber.