A recent discussion, prompted by the Rev. Victoria Weinstein (PeaceBang; Beauty Tips for Ministers) concerned justice issues for those who do not have access to high-quality food. I responded that early adopters lay the way for re-localized food production and that food education would be a better way to open up use of available high-quality food.
Later, I suggested that food waste may be as big a problem as access and production.
How about reducing food waste at home? This approach locks well with conserving electricity as a cheaper and faster solution to carbon-emissions than, say, wind farms. “Use less” — there’s a concept.
The Rev. Andii Bowsher (Nouslife) recalls his mother’s hard wartime upbringing and suggests that some of our overpurchasing comes from guilt. (Buy healthy good food and convenient bad food. Eat the bad; toss the good.) He suggest we account for what we buy but toss — making a Lenten discipline of it — and adjust our habits accordingly.
Since paying more for my farmer’s market produce and Whole Foods necessities — and Hubby’s vocal revulsion for finding something mouldering in the fridge — I’ve been buying less, cooking less and trashing less, but not going hungry. A pad on the fridge couldn’t hurt.
I don’t make a lot of money so the food I do eat I do cook myself.
But then it comes down to whether you’re saving more by using the energy involved in using gas heat, washing pans in the dishwasher, and potentially using eco-unfriendly products to clean the dishes.
The way I see it, there may not be be anyway to win, but I do try to live by the maximum: waste not, want not.