Edgar Martinez
6/01/2021 2:42 AM
Reading about the differences between all the dates was very informative. I will not lie I often got very confused between all the different types of dates and because I have eaten a few meals that were spoiled when I was younger I had tended to throw away food once it reached the "best if used by date". However, reading about the differences and the impact on the environment really changed my mind about it. I was interested to learn that the production of food was responsible for 8% of the total emissions and with 30% of the entire food supply going to waste it made 8% figure even more impactful. I realized that I need to change the way I look at the "best if used by date" and only take it as a suggestion. There is no need to throw away perfectly good bread just because it was one day past the "best if used by date". Another thing I realized while reading about food longevity was the amount of extra food I had to throw away because it went eaten and spoiled. I realized that I often bought too much food at once and needed to spread out my purchases throughout the month. The perfect solution for me to do is then buy less food during the weeks I would go shopping and add an extra mid-week shopping run to get the necessary food to get through the month. I could add this to my workout routine and instead of driving, I could take a brisk walk or even a short run to the grocery store. Another thing I could do is maybe improve the way in which I store my food. I would sometimes open up a package of ham and just throughout the month eat it or cook it. I realized that it would be much better if I planned out my meals and plan to eat or cook food when I open up the package instead of waiting so long after the package is opened. This way the food I have will last longer and have a better quality taste.
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Hector Acosta 6/02/2021 8:32 PMHello Edgar,
Much like Suraj I really liked your response to the prompt and it really informed me. Also like Suraj I did not even know there was a difference between all of those different labels. I thought the labels all meant to through away the food once that is reached. I know I have definitely done that in the past specifically with bread and muffins. I was completely oblivious to the fact we throw away over thirty percent of our food. Instead of it being thrown away why do we not have local donation centers in every town and city in order to feed those who may not have any meals for the day. One suggestion that you made Edgar that I definitely will try to implement into my own life is to try and buy less food per week so I do not end up wasting any. I have tried meal prepping in the past, but I was horrible at it. Many of my meals would end up being thrown away because I would eat something else and the food I would have prepped would go bad. I am actually surprised how low the carbon emissions to make food actually is. I thought it would be higher than twenty percent. So it is actually very encouraging and helpful to hear that the carbon emissions are that low. I also really liked your idea of adding an extra trip to the grocery store and add it to your workout routine. When I was living in Los Angeles I also would do something similar. I would run to the store and then do my grocery shopping. Once I was done I would walk back to my apartment with my groceries and it was a good workout, while being eco friendly. You will definitely feel the burn if you are caring gallons of milk or other heavy things back! -
Suraj Doshi 6/01/2021 9:57 PMHi Edgar,
I enjoyed reading your response to this and learning about expiration dates. I had no idea there was even a difference between all of the terms ‘use by’, ‘sell by’, and ‘best by’ as I all thought they were essentially telling us all the same thing. Clearly I was mistaken. I think its ridiculous that thirty percent of our food supply is wasted. I could think of so many options of what we could do with that food, so long as it is not expired and not scraps. Whole meals could be assembled for homeless individuals within our communities and it could possibly be transported out of the country to help other less developed countries feed their people. While the total contribution to global emissions is not huge, I still think that there needs to be less of an impact on food production and cleaner ways to produce and store food needs to be one of the top priorities for these food producers. I think there is definitely something to say about meal planning and prep. I have also fallen in the trap where I have bought too much food and am unable to use all of it and thus have to throw away whole unopened packages of food just because it has gone bad. I like your solution of adding a detour in your workout or making an additional mid-month trip to the grocery store just so that you know you have ample time to use all of the things you have bought. I think that meal prep is a slept on practice as there are so many benefits. You know exactly what you need for each meal and you could save yourself the stress of trying to cook while doing other class work or other work in general. I like to plan out at least a weeks worth of meals where I try to use up everything that could go bad in my fridge just so that I am at ease that I will not have to throw away unnecessary stuff.
