Growing your own vegetables, herbs and fruits can bring many benefits, from flavor, freshness and nutrition to ensuring that your products come from healthy, pesticide-free sources. It can also bring in more fresh food than you and your family consume. Don't let it go to waste.

Food waste is a big problem in our country. Approximately 40% of the food in the U.S. supply chain is wasted, most of which is wasted in household kitchens. ReFED is a national non-profit organization dedicated to solving this problem. It is estimated that 43% of the food wasted every year, or 27 million tons, occurs at home. All valuable resources (such as water and farmland) used to produce these foods are wasted. We can do better, whether collectively or individually.

Here are some simple and practical ways home gardeners can help reduce food waste.

If you are like most gardeners, you like to share your bounty with friends and neighbors. You can also share with people in need. Piedmont Master Gardeners is adopting a new program-"Share your harvest"-to connect gardeners with local food banks and pantry to provide services to the food insecure in our community. Please visit www.piedmontmastergardeners.org and find detailed information under the "Share your gains" tab.

A simple storage strategy will help prevent the food you grow or buy from spoiling prematurely.

Place the food to be eaten in front of the refrigerator.

Do not wash fruits and vegetables before eating.

Store the onions and potatoes in a dry, cool place and store them separately; otherwise, the onions will sprout the potatoes.

Put carrots and beets in a humid, cold refrigerator; generally, the goal of storing crops is to convince the roots to stay dormant, and react as if they were still underground.

Separate foods that produce high ethylene from foods that do not produce ethylene. Keep bananas, avocados, peaches, pears, and cantaloupe away from apples, green leafy vegetables, berries, and peppers.

Quickly soak carrots, celery, broccoli, salad greens and herbs in ice water, or use them in cooked dishes.

Turn stale bread into toast or crumbs or crispy biscuits or chips in a toaster or toaster oven.

Use carrot skins, celery leaves, parsley stems, mushroom stems and onion skins to make a delicious broth.

Add fruits that are beginning to spoil to smoothies or baked goods.

When you buy food, please understand your label. "Best use time" means that the taste or performance of the food may not be as expected, but it is still safe to eat. "Expiration date" refers to foods that are extremely perishable and/or may not be safe to eat after the label date.

Food can be preserved in many ways. Follow the instructions closely and develop your skills through practice.

Most foods can be frozen and maintain their quality. Freezing prevents the growth of microorganisms and slows down the activity of food degrading enzymes.

The vegetables are briefly exposed to boiling water or steam to bleach, and then immediately transferred to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Once cooled, dry, then freeze. The National Family Food Preservation Center recommends the blanching time for different vegetables on https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/freeze/blanching.html.

Freeze meal-sized portions. Leftovers become a time-saving meal of the future!

Freeze a small portion of the remaining sauce, stock or chopped herbs for the next delicacy.

Place food in self-sealing freezer bags or sealed rigid containers. Ordinary storage bags are not durable enough. Leave head space for the liquid to expand.

Avoid freezing foods with high water content, such as lettuce or celery.

Put the old lemon juice or lime juice in the ice cube tray, freeze overnight, and put the ice cubes in the freezer the next day.

As one of the oldest and safest food preservation methods, dehydration can remove water and prevent the growth of bacteria, yeasts and molds. It can be used to make snacks such as dried meat, dried nuts, fruit slices, peels, dried tomatoes, dried peppers and other snacks. The optimal temperature for drying food is 140 degrees Fahrenheit. An electric dehydrator is a good choice.

The can is heated to destroy the microorganisms and enzymes to preserve the food, and then the air is removed to vacuum seal the can. Although this is the most technical and time-consuming method of food preservation, it is worth the effort. remember:

For highly acidic foods, such as tomatoes, the spores will not germinate when the pH is lower than 4.6. This means that food can be processed or "canned" in boiling water.

Low-acid vegetables and meat must be processed in a pressure tank at 240 degrees Fahrenheit with a pressure of 10 pounds at sea level.

Fruits can be preserved with sugar to make jams, jellies and jams.

To prevent botulism and other problems, please follow the USDA safety guidelines. Visit the website of the National Center for Family Food Preservation (nchfp.uga.edu) to find the USDA’s complete guide to home canning and other useful resources.

During the fermentation process, bacteria digest the sugar in vegetables such as cabbage or radish, which is controlled to a certain extent by the salt water. The resulting fermented vegetables can be stored in the refrigerator for several months. Pickling involves soaking food in an acidic liquid to produce a sour taste.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, more food enters landfills and burning facilities than any other type of waste, accounting for 22% of the national waste stream. Composting food waste will keep it away from the dump. The resources on the Piedmont Master Gardeners website (piedmontmastergardeners.org.) will help you get started. If you cannot compost at home, please consider using services provided by Rivanna Solid Waste Authority or Black Bear Composting. Their website provides detailed information about their composting program.

By changing the way we store and preserve food, we can reduce toss, eat well, save money, and prevent the waste of precious resources. 

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