April Food Waste Month: How to keep food fresh and reduce waste

April is “Winning on Reducing Food Waste Month!” In the United States, more than one-third of food goes uneaten; even scarier, a family of four wastes an estimated $3,000 year on uneaten food.

Here are three quick tips for reducing food waste.

The sell-by, use-by, and best-by dates are not safety dates. Although it’s tempting to toss foods that have “expired,” the dates on those products are quality, not safety dates.

Meaning if you eat those foods, crackers in the pantry past their use-by dates, they won’t make you sick; they just might be a little stale.

The only foods that should not be used past an expiration date are baby food, infant formula, vitamins, over-the-counter drugs, yeast, baking powder, cake mixes, and pectin. Mainly because they may not be effective after they expire.

Know how to use the crisper refrigerator drawers. Humidity matters when storing fruits and vegetables, and when stored properly, they won’t go bad as fast.

Here are a few reminders on what the humidity should be set to in the crisper drawers:

• High humidity: Leafy veggies like spinach, lettuce, and collard greens, cauliflower, broccoli, and asparagus are all examples

• Medium humidity: Apples, grapes, summer squash, bell peppers, and “thin-skinned” fruit

• Low humidity: oranges, limes, lemons, grapefruit, pineapple, or other thick-skinned fruit

Try the USDA FoodKeeper app! This is a free app created by the United States Department of Agriculture to tell how you long food is safe to eat! This can be especially helpful for those fruits, veggies, and meat, and setting a game plan of what to eat first. Remember the bacteria that make you sick, you can’t see, smell, or taste.

Happy Food Waste Month, and feel free to reach out to the Extension office with all your food safety and food preservation questions.