Dear Kayla,

I don’t know if you’ve addressed food waste before, but I’ve realized one of my biggest struggles is overeating because I struggle tremendously with throwing food away. I’ll even eat other’s leftover food sometimes because I can’t stand the thought of them throwing it away. I know putting leftovers in the fridge is always an option, but then I have the issue of leftovers piling up in the fridge because meals just keep happening, and then I find myself overeating on leftovers because I don’t want them to go bad,the and have to be thrown away. I don’t know why I have such a huge struggle with throwing food away; it feels wasteful and wrong to throw food away, but I’m not necessarily sure that it is wrong, it just feels wrong. I’ve had others tell me that it’s either waste in the trash can or “waste” on your hips, but this advice, although logical on one level, has not been enough to convince me to throw food away instead of overeating it.

I’m hoping you can offer me some insight, spiritual or other, that might be more solid, and convincing, to help me move beyond this struggle. Thank you!”

Signed,

Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

Avoiding food waste was a big contributor to my weight gain too. Eating for the sake of not wasting was another one of those bad habits intermittent fasting woke me up to. I’d be in my fasting window meandering around the house when I’d spy a few bites of sandwich left on a plate in the living room or a partially eaten apple on the counter. My first instinct back then was to want to pick it up and eat it. I had to learn to ignore that instinct and keep fasting.

I’m a Southerner, born and raised in Northeast Georgia, and it was instilled in me from an early age that you just don’t waste food. Period. My parents’ parents were raised during the years of the Great Depression, and I imagine that has something to do with it. “Waste not, want not,” is a phrase I hear automatically in my head when I see leftovers sitting on the table.

In addition, there is still true hunger in the world. 9 million people die each year because of it. I can’t help but feel it is almost a moral issue. I know this is not quite rational. After all, my throwing away half a sandwich doesn’t mean that I could’ve given it to a poor person. However, getting a handle on my food waste can mean that I spend less on groceries and that I can give the excess to organizations that feed the hungry. (One of my favorites is Forever Angels, an organization in Tanzania that saves the lives of malnourished infants by providing them with formula milk. Click here to learn more.)

My goal is zero food waste in our home. I never hit this goal, but it is how I approach it. We do not throw much food away at all. Here are some strategies that have helped me:

Get everyone on board. My kids and my husband are all aware of why it’s important to not waste food. The rule is that they should stop when they’re full. If there’s still food left over, they are responsible for wrapping it back up. (An additional rule I had when my kids were younger: the wrapped-up food was their next food. So, if they had half an apple at breakfast, and then wanted a mid-morning snack, the apple was to be eaten first. If they didn’t want a mid-morning snack, it was eaten first as a part of lunch.)
Only buy and make things people will eat. This may be controversial, but I don’t make dishes that I know my family will not eat, no matter how “healthy” they are.
Eat leftovers. I know that eating the same thing night after night is tiresome. But, there are a few ways to overcome this. First of all, make sure the food you’re making is stuff people love to eat. Encourage them to eat leftovers for lunch instead of having something like a sandwich. If there’s still a lot left, try making the leftovers into something new. For example, roast chicken on Monday night could be chicken tacos on Tuesday night. Let your creativity run wild! Other nights we do a simple “use up the leftovers” meal. I take out all the leftovers in the fridge, and we warm up plates of (sometimes very odd) combinations.
Make less. As kids grow up and move away, you may find that 9×13 of lasagna is just too much. Make half the recipe instead. Or make the full thing and give the other half away to someone else. Elderly shut-ins, those who are sick, and those who have a new baby in the house are some people who would likely truly appreciate the gesture.
Freeze it! It’s hard to split some recipes. If you prefer making the full batch, freeze the portion you won’t use. (Google is your friend. There are instructions on the Internet for freezing and reheating practically everything.) Presto! No food waste, plus you’ve got an easy meal for those times when life is hectic, or when you just don’t want to cook.
Learn from what you do throw away. If you need to throw something out, ask yourself what happened. Did it get pushed to the back of the fridge? Did people not like it? Was there just too much? Start putting your leftovers in plain sight. Make it a habit to look through the fridge to figure out what you need to use up when you’re figuring out your supper plans.
Put the thrown-out food to work. We have a compost pile, chickens, and pet rats. Depending on the state of the food, it goes to one of those three places. If the chickens get it, that ends up as eggs which we eat, and chicken manure, which then helps our garden grow. The same goes for the compost pile. The rats are just there to be cute. (Photo at bottom of email.)
Shop wisely. Don’t buy things just because they’re on sale. Before I put a thing in my cart, I ask myself if we’ll actually eat it. I only buy the things I know we can eat before they go bad.

There’s also another aspect to this, which is a scarcity mindset. When we are in that mindset, we can start to fear that we won’t have enough food in the future, which can then lead us to want to overconsume it in the present. What if you throw away that spaghetti tonight, and then the economy goes caput, and we have a famine, and there are shortages and…

Maybe I’m the only one who has thoughts like that. And I’m ashamed to admit it because I’m a Christian. Jesus spoke of these worries: “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” -Mathew 6:28-34

So yes, I think there is a spiritual aspect to this. When we worry about food so much so that we’re scared to throw it away, or so much so that we hoard it by buying far more of it than we can use, I think we’ve taken things too far.

My best advice is, to do your best to not waste food. Stick to your fasting. And then, if despite your best efforts, you have to throw some food away, use that as an opportunity to thank God for such abundance.

Sincerely,

Kayla