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When we think about environmental problems, images of industrial pollution or car exhaust come to mind—not dinner. In reality, the food sector poses one of the largest threats to our planet.
Food waste occurs at all stages of the food cycle: when farmers leave unharvested crops to rot in fields because it is not profitable to harvest them; when inappropriate storage and handling causes food to spoil; when retailers turn away 'ugly' produce; and when confusing date labels cause consumers to discard food that is still safe to eat. Food waste at each of these stages contributes to 40 percent of all food produced in the U.S. going uneaten—a fact made paradoxical given that one in six people in the U.S. faces food insecurity.
Agriculture accounts for up to 80 percent of freshwater consumption in the U.S. To produce 8 ounces of strawberries, it takes about 10 gallons of water, whereas six ounces of steak requires an exorbitant 674 gallons of water!
Given that agriculture takes up 50 percent of land area in the U.S., proper water management matters greatly as droughts will continue to exacerbate water scarcity. California, often referred to as America's breadbasket, is already vulnerable to drought, and as climate change intensifies, these droughts will only last longer and happen more frequently.
When we waste food, we are also wasting the fuel required to transport it. Transporting food from farms to consumer households consumes 10 percent of the total U.S. energy budget.
The impact of food waste ripples into other issues, too, including municipal solid waste and greenhouse gas emissions. Uneaten food comprises the largest category of municipal solid waste reaching U.S. landfills, and it accounts for 23 percent of U.S. methane emissions, since methane is a byproduct of its decomposition.
[...] Confusing date labels cause a large portion of food waste. In the absence of federal standards, food manufacturers and retailers decide on labels and cut-off dates based on their own market standards. Consequently, American consumers find diverse and inconsistent food date labels in grocery stores. Various items read 'sell by', 'use by', 'best by', and/or 'enjoy by', and their meanings vary from product to product.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 30 2019, @09:18AM (2 children)
Do you have a freezer? Just wash and cut in half all the extra tomatoes, chuck them in a big pot with about an inch of water in the bottom and a good lid. Simmer for a couple of hours until they turn to mush. Take the lid off and simmer until the volume is reduced to about half. Let it cool, tip into washed out plastic containers and freeze. Use it in pasta sauces in winter.
Takes about 10 minutes of actual work and is way better than store bought tomato paste crap.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Saturday August 31 2019, @06:38AM (1 child)
I'm talking about tomatoes falling off the vine *after* I've frozen my quota. Last year I froze 30 pints. In fact, salsas are the only thing I like with fresh tomatoes so freezing is almost exclusively what I do with them.
Your freezing procedure doesn't sound so good.
First, Why would you add water to tomatoes? They're chock full of it. I wash, DRY with paper towels to get rid of excess water, and cut out the green bit near the stem end. Then I put them in the blender and hit them just enough to break the skins and let the juice out.
Secondly, you're cooking them way too long. I cook them just long enough to raise the temperature so the can lids will set down properly. It's almost like canning, but I don't add the lemon juice or citric acid needed for canning so I must freeze for safety. Excessive cooking during the preservation phase breaks down nutrients. I've heard it's particularly rough on Vitamin C. If I ever wanted to boil them down to paste, I still have that option but I've found that the extra cooking when making my sauces during the Winter gets out most of the undesired moisture. A slightly soupy sauce won't kill you anyway, or in some cases you can add just a bit of corn starch if thickness really matters (but it doesn't for me, so I never do that and I'm not sure if it would be good for a spaghetti sauce).
Finally, I use wide-mouth canning jars, no plastic. Regardless of how you feel about what the plastic might be leaching into your food, plastics can be hard to clean properly and might release flavors of whatever they last contained.
When I use my frozen tomatoes, I actually break off some clear ice at the top of the jar. I suppose I'm getting a little less volume of red tomato with my method, (you need to leave headroom in the jar too) but I preserve nutrients better.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 31 2019, @07:40AM
I add some water to prevent localised burning before they break down due to the heat. I have gas burners that tend to heat up a small circle especially when on low enough to simmer. It's not very much water, I put the tomatoes in first then add enough to fill the spaces a bit.
I also do some the way you say, that was a 'quick and dirty' method for making the sort of tomato paste you can chuck in stews, use on pizzas, whatever. The plastic is single re-use stuff, washed used butter tubs are good, and leaching is why I fully cool the paste in the pan before I freeze it. The tubs hold about the right amount for my cooking. :)