Assignment 7: Testing the Hypothesis
Reducing Food Waste at Home
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Opportunity:
Food waste has been a big environmental and economic problem and it starts at
home. In three major cities in the U.S, 3.5 pounds of food were being wasted at
home per week per person.
Who: College students who
cook at home frequently
What: Wasting a good amount
of food bought
Why: Forgetting about it and
having it expire
Testing the who: not just
college students have this need but those who cook at home frequently/ buy a
lot of food during the week
Testing the what: Sometimes
the problem comes before the action itself. For example, before going to the
supermarket it is better to have planned what you are going to buy so you don’t
get anything unnecessary. The problem is also overbuying, which increases the
likelihood of wasting more food later.
Testing the why: I don’t
believe that people purposefully forget about their food and intend on wasting
it, but there are precautions that could be taken to be more responsible that
people may be too lazy to implement when they go out grocery shopping.
Interviews
#1: Female, 21
-
Spends
on average $80 a week; usually knows what she is going to get but ends up
buying snacks as impulse buys; 10% of her food ends up going to waste by the
end of the month because it is perishables that she forgets are going to go bad
soon such as avocados
#2: Female, 21
-
Spends
on average $60 a week; usually buys the same food items so doesn’t feel the
need to write a list;10% of her food goes to waste in a month but says that
sometimes it has been much more because she forgets about things that she keeps
frozen like chicken or meat
#3: Female, 21
-
Eats
out a lot more than goes grocery shopping but admits that when she does go
grocery shopping for perishables such as fruit or chicken that she usually has
to end up throwing them away; also revealed that sometimes she throws away
these perishables because she isn’t sure if they are still able to be consumed
#4: Male, 20
-
Spends
on average $300 a month; usually has his meals planned out for the week so
doesn’t end up wasting a lot of food; said that before, more of his food ended
up in the trash but that was because he had just started cooking on his own and
wasn’t sure what to buy so he would end up getting too many things
#5:
Female, 19
-
Shares
that her monthly grocery cost alternated a lot because she goes home often and
gets already prepared meals to bring back with her; reveals however that she sometimes
forgets about some foods or doesn’t necessarily eat them because she realizes
that what her mom packed isn’t something she likes so it ends up in the trash;
admits to not being that responsible with food and that she feels that
sometimes it’s because she doesn’t keep track of what she has
Given your interviews , what
do you know about the opportunity that you didn’t know before?
One thing that became very
clear to me is that people need to be taught or at least be more aware about food
safety and tips that help to reduce food waste. The problem as I had previously
suggested, isn’t just that people waste food. After the interviews I realized
that the issue is also that they buy unnecessary amounts or mistakenly throw
away food not knowing that thy can still be used.
Hey Nicole, as someone who cooks and eats ninety-five percent of their meals at home, this post was very relatable to me. I, too, end up throwing out some of my food at the end of each week. For me, it comes down to buying too much and it eventually going bad because of it. I wish stores would sell smaller portions so this would not happen as often.
ReplyDeleteNicole, I think you hit the nail on the head. I believe the reason college-age students tend to waste food than any other age group is that they have not learned food management behaviors in this stage of their life. Most students usually had their parents cook for them. Then they get to college and are on a meal plan. Having a plan for education and organizing or having an inventory of household items is the first step.
ReplyDeleteHi Nicole, I completely agree that there is an opportunity for food waste amongst college students. I have this problem all the time. I try to eat at home majority of the time and I throw away food that I forgot about or can't eat in time. It is difficult when you are cooking for just one person. I need to be more aware in order to minimize food waste.
ReplyDelete