19 Ways to Prevent Food Waste With Kids: Part 1
Republished article from Reduce Reuse Renew Blog
You may have heard it before. Food waste is not good. Not only is it a huge waste of money (you’re literally throwing money into the trash), it is also a huge waste of resources that went into growing/producing/transporting the food.
Here’s the real kicker. Food that ends up in a landfill doesn’t just simply ‘decompose’ in the way we think (the way I used to think it did). Instead of breaking down nicely like in a compost pile, the lack of oxygen in a landfill causes the food to break down reeeeeeeaaaaaalllllllllllyyyyyyyy slow- which results in a production of methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide.
If you’re interested in learning more about food waste and how to prevent it in general, you can check out my tips on how to save money and reduce food waste here.
Let’s throw kids into the mix.
It’s one thing to work on actively reducing your food waste, and it’s a whole other thing throwing a kid or kids into the mix.
Because food waste with kids seems to be inevitable, right? I’m guessing it’s not just my family…
I don’t know about you, but my son used to be an amazing eater. He would practically eat anything we put in front of him. We were those parents who would tell anyone who would listen (sorry…).
But then we hit preschool age, and all that has changed.
It can be really challenging to be mindful about food waste when you have a kid(s) who seem determined to not eat anything put in front of them. I don’t know how many times this conversation has happened:
Son: “What’s for dinner”
Me: (insert whatever dinner)
Son: “Oh, I like that”.
We sit down for dinner 30 minutes later.
Son: Looks at food. “I don’t like this”.
As a family that tries to actively keep our food waste to a minimum, there are some things we have done to try and combat kid food waste. I’m sharing those with you in this post.
Note: the information in this post is approaching kids who are younger (for reference my son is almost four at the time of this posting), but I’ve tried to include tips that are applicable for kids aged elementary school and younger. My thought it kids who are in middle school or older can understand bigger discussions about why food waste is bad.
This post goes with the understanding that all kids are different, and what may work for some may not work for others.
Additionally, the majority of these tips are for preventing food waste in your own home. If you’re looking for information on preventing food waste at school, for instance, there are lots of other resources out there for doing so.
Without further ado, here are 19 ways to prevent food waste with kids.
Have kids help plan menus
Menu planning has been key in reducing food waste (and saving money) in our house (I have an entire post on how I menu plan to reduce waste if you’re interested).
One thing I’ve started doing, even with my son only being (almost) four, is asking for suggestions on what he would like to eat. Usually I get responses like ‘pizza’ or ‘spaghetti’, but I make sure to include at least one of his suggestions a week.
I also will have him ‘help’ me look through recipes online or in cookbooks which can open up conversations about why we menu plan, which leads to saving money and reducing waste, etc.
My hope is that by starting this ritual now, it will continue as he gets older and we can start to have more in depth conversations about the importance of not wasting food.
‘Eat me now’
I’ve talked about the ‘eat me now’ fridge section before on the blog, and here it is again. This tactic is probably the easiest ones you can implement right away, and it’s free. Basically, section off an area of your fridge (make a sign, a box, whatever) and make it an ‘eat me now’ place. Any item of food that needs to be eaten up- produce, leftovers, etc. gets added to that area. If someone is looking for a snack or something to make a meal with, that’s the first place to look.
To make it kid friendly, make the section somewhere your child can easily access.
Include at least one thing they’ll eat each meal
Another trick I’ve started doing is to incorporate at least one thing I know my son will eat with every meal. One example that comes to mind is broccoli. We eat a LOT of broccoli because it is one thing I know he’ll eat without objections. That way I know he’ll at least eat something, and I can give him more of the food item he will eat over other items which means less waste.
Keep portions small
One mistake my husband and I always seem to make is giving my son too big of a portion at meal time. I think it stems from the fact that sometimes, our son will eat a huge portion, and then other times, he nibbles. What I’ve tried to do is to give him half of what I “think” I should give him, knowing that he can always ask for more. This mindset has helped the amount of leftover, picked over, mushed up food that remains after a meal. And for the record, he rarely asks for seconds.
Eat what they don’t finish
If you’re like my husband and don’t mind leftover food from someone’s plate, you can reduce the amount of food waste by eating whatever is left after your kid is finished eating. I am of the mindset that we share enough germs (thanks, daycare), and I don’t enjoy polishing off someone’s seconds. Therefore, I try to utilize other tips. But if you don’t care? Save room on your plate for whatever is left after the meal is over.
We work with our son on listening to his body and to stop eating when he is full, so forcing him to finish food isn’t something we are comfortable with. Hence, other tips.
Serve leftovers for snack
It never failed. My son would ask for toast or oatmeal in the morning for breakfast, and after two or three bites, would tell me he was full. I felt like I was throwing away so much food- even with trying to give less food and utilizing some of the other tips mentioned in this post.
Then, I had a what-I-hoped-would-be-brilliant parenting idea, and that was to offer the food for snack later in the day. To my surprise, I received no objections! The caveat is that I’ve only tried this with breakfast foods which he normally eats with little conflict. But since I discovered this worked well, we’ve been doing it ever since and saved tons of food from the compost.
Get creative with leftovers
Got leftover spaghetti? Make spaghetti pie.
Repurposing leftovers can be a great way to reduce food waste and save money. And as I’ve mentioned, leftovers seems to be a constant with kids!
I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty of how to repurpose your leftovers because Pinterest is a great resource for that, but know that this is an option and a great way to ‘recycle’ meals into new ones which keeps your (my) kid from getting bored with the same food.
Even better: have them help you come up with different recipes and creations! Making it into a fun game can be a great way to get them involved in meal planning/eating.
Grow your own food and involve them
Gardening is a great way to reduce food waste- because you’re only utilizing the food as you need it throughout the growing season. It also is a great way to involve kids in understanding how much goes into a single piece of food- the time, energy, and resources. My son loves helping me in the garden. Not only that, but the magic of growing food from a single seed is pretty amazing, especially to a preschooler (heck, it still is amazing to me)!
I’ve noticed that growing our food also encourages my son to try foods he may not have normally tried- simply because the item has come from our garden!
You don’t need to have a huge garden to get these benefits. Anything from an herb plant, a single tomato plant, a small raised bed, to a huge backyard garden can be educational!
I’ve got a post on how to grow vegetables in any sized space and a beginner’s guide to growing, harvesting, and preserving your own herbs which can help you get started.
