Almost expired food is nearly always still good a few days past the due date. The country throws away so much food. We should have fruit bearing trees in cities, we should have an abundance of food programs- open to any and everyone- essentially a large scale community food bank
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Yep. This is a largely overlooked easily done thing that for some reason isn’t done.
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I work in restaurant- I think it should be donated as well. I have seen so much food waste- pounds upon pounds of food since I started working in food service industry. Started with Dunkin’ Donuts when I was a teenager- bagels, muffins, EVERYTHING trash bags filled to the brim of perfectly good food.
This is important though- the community food banks should be accessible to EVERYONE- open door policy. Not like going through a process to see if you are approved- food should be available to everyone in this country…this is an easy way to do this.
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France does something like this
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Can be worked by volunteers or Community service for people who need a second chance. Food is life. Meals bring people together.
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Maybe first start with groceries- it would probably be easier to start- and for restaurants, maybe not all the food but certain foods such as bread items- these I’ve seen be thrown away the most.
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And an idea to consider- if we were able to achieve a change like this on a large scale- could it alleviate the need for government food programs like EBT? Or could we implement an idea like this into these programs?
I think it should be a large scale food bank open to anyone!
Trying to tackle prepared meals from restaurants seems way too complicated- unless it had certain regulations like just bakery goods like bread. But then packaging would be a lot. If we could just start with food from groceries I think that would be enough to make a real change.
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I think that by this can be achieved just by lifting existing restrictions on retailers donating out of date goods. Canned goods especially are good WELL beyond their expiration date.
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I used to work in the resturant business around the time it became illegal for them to donate their food to shelters. Remove that law making it possible to do what most were already doing. They can take it to shelter or the shelter can pick it up. Totally optional for the resturant owners. It could go to an open to public buffet manned by local persons getting a wage that is decided on by the local community weather it be volunteer, below minum wage or even a high salary, the community should decide and police it themselves. Consumers could be asked to donate to help cover the cost.
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I love this idea.
I just typed my own just now and I’d love to hear your thoughts and maybe we can merge them together.
What do you think?
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YES! I’m so glad to see others who agree!!
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I would love to merge these ideas together! New to this website, not sure how to or if we can attach them together somehow…
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Would be government over reach. Create tax deductions and the companies will do it voluntarily…or not. But expecting the federal government to force it be done through legislation is over reach
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I submitted a merge so that way they both support each other. This is such a crucial need for America right now. I totally agree with you.
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In my proposal that’s exactly how I outlined it. Tax incentives and also a liability protection to promote participation.
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Why is this not practiced now? Legal issues if someone gets sick from the food?
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Nice idea. I think this is something that should be community lead (by someone like you!) instead of a government program. I think in general we need more citizen-driven initiatives and this would be a great example of one that could and should be done.
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One idea is for people like me. I am trying to raise my pigs to sell and for my own family. Animal feed is ridiculously expensive now but also the leftover food, a lot of it could be given to small farmers for their pigs.
Got it, my fault. Ok so, i can tell you from personal everyday experience. That this is happening. I am a Chef by trade, when I was working in private kitchens our waste isn’t/wasn’t enough for food banks to be concerned with, however pig farmers would take it.
I now work for a large retailer and manage a bakery. We have been voluntarily donating locally for years. With the recent ESG stock market monitoring, we are now doing it more because we need to turn in results of what we are doing. Poundage to food banks, poundage to pig farms, poundage of different recycling etc.
I know other retailers are doing the same thing. Some go to churches, food banks and homeless shelters.
I can tell you the problem is getting consistent pick ups and coordination from the food banks.
I consistently over produce on average $3k a week. Holidays I produce more, probably double that to capture increased sales. The food banks will not pick up after a holiday. We try to freeze it, but some things can’t be frozen without destroying it, like salads from our deli department. Then if you freeze it, it can only be picked up by a refrierated truck. If its an item that required refrigeration to be sold, it can only be donated to a group with a refrigerated truck. These operators are very few and again won’t consistently pick up. Not to mention storing it in valuable space waiting for it to be picked up.
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When I was in high school, I created an environmental program called green future and it was all student lead and we contacted a recycling company and just put recycling bins at school- within my club I started “apples for animals” - the school required kids to pick a fruit on their tray and many days it would be in the garbage- I made bins and quickly they filled every single day and we drove them to the local animal sanctuary. I did it, but it was hard and when I graduated high school my club fell apart without me being there to run it- I think if we can make it more popular and government could possibly help give resources we may need it could be a great and easy new way of life. Food waste should be feeding animals and people!! Hundreds of pounds of food wasted anyway we should be using to help.
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