Did you know that an estimated 30-40% of all food gets wasted in the United States? For Oregonians, that means we pay about $1,600 a year for food that goes to waste, or about 6.3 pounds per household every week! Based on a Department of Environmental Quality study (https://www.oregon.gov/deq/mm/food/pages/wasted-food-study.aspx), the top three reasons for throwing away food were:

1. Food is moldy or spoiled.
2. Household members didn't like or were tired of eating a food.
3. Food was not good as leftovers.

You can reduce this loss of food and improve the nutritional content of your household's meals by building a routine that includes a bit of advanced planning. We're offering a variety of ideas and resources on this page that can help you get into the habit of not wasting food. It starts with a meal plan and a shopping list before you head to the grocery store and continues after you've cooked your meals.