Your Dietitian: Simple ways to reduce food waste

Shockingly, 80 billion pounds of food are thrown away each year by Americans. The average U.S. household wastes 31.9 percent of its food, according to a study in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. This equals about 219 pounds of food wasted per person and costs approximately $1,866 per household each year. You may not think you throw away much food, but every little bit adds up over time. Fruits and vegetables are the most commonly wasted foods, with bananas, apples, tomatoes, lettuces, sweet peppers, pears and grapes topping the list. Have you ever thrown out any of these foods? I have. Besides saving money, reducing food waste is something simple we can all do to help improve the earth for April's Earth Day. In addition to wasting money and food, discarded food wastes the earth's natural resources. Water, fertilizer and energy must be used to produce food. It also wastes the gasoline used to run farm equipment and transport food to stores. For example, bananas, the most wasted food, travel long distances from the tropics to stores in cities around the world. Food is the largest component of landfills, taking up 22 percent of municipal solid waste. This increases methane gas production, a gas which is 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide and contributes to asthma and the warming of our climate. Here are a few things we can do to reduce food waste. Write a grocery list: Studies have found people waste less food when they write (and stick to) a grocery list. Plan menus: Carefully planning your menus can also reduce food waste. Instead of discarding leftovers, enjoy them for lunch, plan to eat them for another supper or freeze them. If an entrée or side dish will not use up a vegetable, such as a green pepper, look through your recipes to plan another entrée or side that includes that vegetable. For example, extra green pepper can be added to a stir fry, rice pilaf, omelet or soup. Or simply enjoyed raw atop a salad or dipped in ranch dressing and eaten with a sandwich. Buy smaller amounts: Instead of trying to figure out how to use up a vegetable, such as a large bunch of broccoli or lettuce, consider buying smaller amounts like a few broccoli florets or half a bunch of leafy greens, such as kale. The same goes for other produce. For example, don't be afraid to ask a produce department worker for just a little of some vegetables like green beans or grapes, instead of a large bagful. Since bananas are inexpensive, most people buy them by the bunch. Once at home, many people forget about them and reach for other snack foods, leaving the bananas to overripen and eventually be tossed out. But bananas ripen quickly, so only buy what you realistically will eat in a few days. Remember, you can always break off just a couple of bananas from a bunch in the store. Organize your refrigerator, freezer and pantry: Use masking tape to label leftovers in the refrigerator and freezer with the date it was made. Place the foods that need to be eaten first in the front of the refrigerator, pantry or freezer shelf. Always follow the rule of eating foods older first so it doesn't go to waste: "First in, first out." Use refrigerator crisper drawer settings: Using crisper drawers correctly can extend the life of fruits and vegetables. Separate fruits and vegetables into two separate drawers based on whether the produce keeps better in low humidity or high humidity. The humidity of a drawer can be adjusted using the sliding cover on the drawer's vents. Correctly setting the vents makes a big difference in how long produce will last. Place produce which produces ethylene gas (such as apples) in a crisper drawer with the vent in the open position. Ethylene gas speeds up the ripening of produce. The open position allows the gas to escape and prevent produce from spoiling as rapidly. In the crisper with an open vent, store apples, pears, ripe bananas, kiwifruit, cantaloupe, mangoes, peaches and nectarines. Closing the vents increases the humidity in the drawer. Produce that needs high humidity include leafy greens (such as lettuces, kale, spinach and other greens), broccoli, carrots, celery, cauliflower, peppers and summer squash. Storing grapes in a bowl on the refrigerator shelf will cause grapes to shrivel up. According to the California Table Grape Commission, the optimal way to keep grapes fresh longer is to store them in a high humidity crisper drawer in the plastic bags with ventilation holes in which grapes were packaged. Similar to berries, never wash them off until you're ready to eat them. Moisture on the grapes will cause them to mold. Embrace the freezer: Instead of wasting overripe bananas, sprouting potatoes, unused peppers and excess amounts of tomatoes (from a summer harvest), freeze them for later use. Freezing preserves the nutrients in fruits and vegetables without adding any salt or sugar as in canned produce. Freeze ripe bananas for making delicious banana bread, banana bars, smoothies or frozen banana ice cream (also called nice cream). Excess potatoes can be cooked as mashed potatoes and frozen. Homemade frozen mashed potatoes are much cheaper than the store-bought frozen mashed potatoes. Plus, they're handy on days when you're short on time. Extra green or colored peppers (or portions of peppers) can also be frozen. Simply dice and place in a freezer bag. They're convenient to grab and use in omelets, soups, casseroles and Spanish rice. So, this year, try reducing (or eliminating) your produce waste to save money, food and our environment. Phyllis J. Molnar is a registered and licensed dietitian who writes about food and health for The Chronicle-Telegram and The Gazette. Email her at pjmolnar56@gmail.com. Chocolate chip banana bars 5 very ripe bananas ¼ cup brown sugar ¼ cup oil ¼ cup milk 2 eggs 1¾ cups flour (or 1¼ cup all-purpose flour plus ½ cup oats or whole wheat flour) ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking powder ¾ cup mini chocolate chips, divided Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 15x 10-inch pan with cooking oil spray. Peel and mash bananas well. Sir in brown sugar, oil, milk and eggs. In another bowl, combine flour, salt, cinnamon and baking powder. Add flour mixture to banana mixture. Mix well. Fold in ½ cup mini chocolate chips. Spread batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips over the top. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely, then cut into 24 bars. Notes: Save overripe bananas in baggies in the freezer. When you accumulate five frozen bananas, try making this recipe. Thaw frozen bananas and drain any water in the bag. Then add bananas to recipe.To freeze chocolate chip banana bars, wrap each one individually in plastic wrap and then place in a freezer baggie. Then you can remove one at a time from the freezer. Makes: 24 bars Variations: Substitute a mixture of raisins for the ½ cup chocolate chips and add some walnuts. Or, simply add some walnuts to batter, if desired. SOURCE: butterwithasideofbread.com with modifications by Monica Rogers Soft banana oat breakfast cookie 1 cup tub margarine ¾ cup packed brown sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup mashed over-ripe bananas (about 2½ bananas) ¾ cup all-purpose flour ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour ¼ cup wheat germ ¼ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 cups rolled oats 1 cup dried cherries (or raisins) ½ cup chopped walnuts, optional Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat margarine till creamy, about 30 seconds. Add brown sugar and beat well. Add egg, vanilla extract and mashed banana. Beat well. In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flours, wheat germ, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Add these to creamed mixture in large bowl and stir well. Stir in oats and dried cherries (or raisins). Drop by heaping tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 13 minutes, depending on size of cookie. Cookies will be soft. Cool on wire rack. Serve within 24 hours. Freeze or refrigerate in airtight container for longer storage. Makes about 2 dozen cookies. Note: This cookie is delicious not just for breakfast, but any time of the day. Variation: Peanut butter may be substituted for half the margarine and the walnuts omitted. SOURCE: Adapted from a recipe from Midwest Living