What can be done to convince people not to throw away unspoiled food?

I bring uneaten fast food home to feed the crows. I also will buy them food off the dollar menu at McDonalds to help them get by.

It drives me nuts when I walk into a convenience store at night and they’re in the process of throwing away a ton of donuts and bagels that are only 1 day old. The fact that it is store policy to throw this food away every night rather than give it away also blows my mind.

I saw on an episode of Undercover Boss, the boss was from 7–11 and the 7–11 he was working in threw away bagels each night. It was corporate policy to donate those to the homeless, and so he made sure they weren’t thrown away any longer.

I think this is part of a much larger problem, and sadly I don’t even know where we could start. I think the world is so overpopulated, most people have no grasp of what food even is. The majority of their diet isn’t real food, it’s food made in a huge gross warehouse, frozen, they eat it months later. There is no appreciation for the cow that was killed to make your burger, or the vegetables you’re eating. So it’s not a big deal to them, just toss it! Add to that the fear of germs that has been blown wildly out of proportion. Expiration dates are mostly a scam. Usually I will have milk in my fridge, but I use it rarely and most times it is still good a month or so after the “expiration” date. UGH! It is a frustrating problem. I have no idea where we could begin to start doing something about it.

@deni and god forbid you get an icky bug on your food. toss that too.

Organize food reuse groups to give it to the needy.

It’s actually just common sense that we use food to stay alive and if we can’t use it, someone else can.

We all see the commercials with starving children in Africa and animals in ASPCA, yet we refuse to believe there are starving children and animals in our own cities.

How do we overcome the human capacity for denial and selfishness?

Being forced by circumstances to starve for a few days helps…

The only thing that would stop that is not having enough. There is no way to take an uneaten hamburger off the table in New York and find some way to feed it to a starving child in Africa.

First, people would have to start thinking in terms of World Wide resources, and how to distribute them properly. Then people would have to realize that eating off the top of the food chain is not sustainable. Instead of raising food for cattle and pigs, the crops should be raised to provide food for far more people. An all vegetarian world would make a lot more sense.

That’s a fucking disgusting idea. Might as well offer people a cocktail made out of used syringes.

You don’t know what kind of disease a person has and a lot of different foods spoil quickly.

Even if this crazy idea was put in motion, the only way I would personally do that is if I was being paid to do it and if it didn’t require me to waste any of my time – like an “unspoiled food jar” at the place you eat. Still…that’s gross as hell.

Some charities in our area have a great idea. It’s called the Empty Plate event. People pay for a meal, but they don’t come to the event to eat. The money goes to support the local food bank or some other food charity. There is usually an auction of donated items, and some type of entertainment.

At home, learn how to use up leftovers. I admit I lose track of occasional leftover food and it gets moldy before I use it, but, for the most part, I use up everything, mostly in soup or salad or by combining leftovers or adding another ingredient to make it a new dish. You have to start by deciding you don’t want to waste food, whether it’s a company that serves food or your family. I’ve never understood families that refuse to eat leftovers.

Thanks for your suggestions.

@YARNLADY – This isn’t about shipping uneaten hamburgers to Africa. It’s about putting them in the fridge for the next day, instead of throwing it away, which requires buying new food. This is about shrinking the areas in use for agriculture to reduce the strain on our planet.

@mattbrowne In our family, I am the Queen of left overs. I am infamous for taking home everything that is uneaten and untouched at restaurants. My relatives often set aside a portion of their food for me before they even start eating.

At a recent school picnic, there were 80 taxpayer funded picnic bags passed out. Each bag contained a sandwich, a bag of 6 baby carrots, and an apple. In the trash, I saw what appeared to be at least 50 sandwiches with one or two bites taken, probably 70 or more unopened bags of carrots and at least 40 apples with none, one or two bites taken out. They also provided one pint cartons of milk, two or three for each student and nearly every container was empty, They love their milk.

The teachers told me this was typical. The children are also provided a morning meal, and they eat nearly all the food they are given. They are given a mid-morning snack which is generally 80% consumed. The school receives taxpayer food funds for every student, because it is in a very low income area.

There is free after school care and they are given fruit and whole grain snacks in the mid afternoon as well. These are about 80% consumed as well.

She also said some of the students take all the packaged food they can get and stuff their pockets since there are other children at home that have little or no food. She tries to get those children on the Food Bank list.

My son is unemployed and volunteers at the school.

@YARNLADY – In Germany we have food back organizations. Most of the almost expired food in grocery stores lasts much longer. To avoid having to throw it away, these food banks distribute it to welfare recipients.