In the U.S., we throw away more than 133 billion pounds of our total food supply each year, or more than $400 billion in unneeded costs.
With the price of most grocery store items still on the rise, food waste is costing us even more today.
Taylor (@climatecrisis.eco) is an Instagrammer who shares the choices people can make to reduce the amount of trash in their daily lives.
In a viral Instagram Reel, she shared three easy, money-saving tips on how to extend the life of produce:
Berries are notorious for getting "lost" in your fridge, only to turn up spoiled and moldy a few days later. To keep berries fresh for longer, store them in an airtight container, like the mason jar Taylor uses in her video.
Leafy greens like spinach are also easy to forget, but by wrapping them in a dry cloth or paper towel inside an airtight container, you can minimize the moist air that makes them spoil.
Carrots aren't usually a concern, as it takes them weeks or even months before they start to spoil visually. But in fact, these root vegetables can quickly lose their crisp bite. To extend the freshness of carrots, keep them submerged in water. This storage method can also keep celery crispy.
Instagram commenters had plenty of praise for Taylor's advice. One user commented, "I love this and use mason jars all the time."
Another added, "I've heard about using water to rejuvenate dehydrated carrots, sometimes we can think food is wasted when actually it just needs a bit of TLC."
One user shared more tips of their own.
"I've drastically reduced my food waste by properly planning meals & shopping for only quantities needed," they wrote. There are several easy ways to help reduce food waste, including by making scrappy soup with leftover produce that will soon spoil, by extending the life of bread between four to eight months by freezing it, and by better understanding best-by dates.
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