Today, more than a third of the food produced is wasted during transport, sorting in factories and shelving in supermarkets. But it is when these products arrive in our homes that the greatest waste takes place. According to the The Minister of Agriculture, this corresponds to 20 kilos of waste per year and per person, including 7 kilos of food still packaged! Or the equivalent of 130 euros thrown out the window. So how can we effectively reduce the amount of our waste? Julie Vandard, founder of the site ANTIGASPI INFO, helps us answer this question.
Very simple actions exist
ADEME (the Environment and Energy Management Agency) has just identified a ten “little things” which we do not necessarily think of. “Making a shopping list, making menus in advance, not shopping on an empty stomach or paying attention to promotions are all things that make it possible to avoid buying too many unnecessary products that risk ending up thrown away” , explains Julie Vandard. It is also advisable to shop in order, i.e. non-refrigerated products first, fresh products then and finally the frozen ones.
“When you get home, you have to quickly put away your groceries in order to best respect the cold chain and especially the tidy up intelligently ! “. Julie Vandard advises, for example, to put the closest expiration dates in front so that they can be consumed quickly and not to forget them at the bottom of the fridge. Not every product is also stored in the same way. Protect from light, dry, at room temperature or cool are details to pay attention to.
Pay close attention to the dates!
Two types of dates can appear on the packaging of our food: the DLC, for “use by date”, and the DDM for “date of minimum durability”. But what do they mean?
“Making a difference is never easy. Generally speaking, the DLC is for fresh products, and the DDM for dry products. However, certain subtleties exist, ”explains Julie Vandard. It is generally necessary to respect the DLC, because after this date, the food can potentially represent a danger to health. It is expressed by the phrase “to be consumed until …”, followed by the exact day. “But some sprains can be made, concerning yogurts for example “.
For MDDs it is something else, it is “to be consumed preferably before …”. This means that after this date the product may simply have lost some of these qualities, such as taste or texture, but is not necessarily toxic. Three variants exist:
• If the date is made up of the day, month and year, it means that the product can still be consumed within 3 months of this date.
• The date is made up of the month and the year: the product can be consumed up to 1.5 years after the date.
• If only the year is mentioned then the product has a durability of more than 1 year and a half.
“In England this date has been changed,” she explains. “It is now written on ‘best before …’ products. Translate “better before …”, which makes a lot more sense. In my opinion, we should also add “and always good after”! “
What if we need a little help?
Websites, applications and there is no shortage of books to help you in your fight against food waste. Some are for example specialized in the rescue of food, like the free application “Frigo Magic” which makes it possible to accommodate what remains. “You just have to put in it what is in our fridge and our cupboard, and presto, the application pulls out a recipe with the ingredients that we have indicated to it”. These are recipes for two people, with a preparation time of less than 30 minutes and without the need for special equipment.
Some sites, or applications, also allow you to buy unsold items at a lower cost. “In this idea, there is the Optimiams or Too Good To Go site. This makes it possible to recover products, often that we cannot choose, and to save them from the trash! “. Finally, if you have done too much shopping, or have cooked for a regiment, you can choose to sell or donate part of your meal on food sharing sites like “Mummyz”. “But the hardest part is trusting, because you don’t know how people cook. “
Read also :
Could you eat products made from wasted food?
Smart labels against food waste
