Aim to Make Not Wasting Your Way of Life

Living in a first-world industrialized nation makes it easy to over indulge, over consume & easily squander our resources. But what's great about living in this type of society is that we are given the all-important choice to NOT do any of these things. I feel Blessed to be living in this great nation--The United States of America.  I would never want those choices taken away from me, but what I'd rather do is spread awareness and increase knowledge of alternative ways of living. And this post's message is about #NotWasting. Help out the cause and tweet out your positive thoughts and experiences of not wasting).

Make #NotWasting a way of life:

• 'Best Before Date' doesn't mean 'Thow Away After', although the product quality may be inferior.
• Whenever possible, shop local! 
• Compost

For more information go to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

And then there's this...

 Americans throw away almost as much food as they eat because of a “cult of perfection”, deepening hunger and poverty, and inflicting a heavy toll on the environment...“It’s all about blemish-free produce,” says Jay Johnson, who ships fresh fruit and vegetables from North Carolina and central Florida. “What happens in our business today is that it is either perfect, or it gets rejected. It is perfect to them, or they turn it down. And then you are stuck.”

For more on information on this "cult of perfection" wasting, please head on over to The Guardian.

Here's a beginning guide to composting (a mixture of various decaying organic substances, as dead leaves or manure, used for fertilizing soil--Dictionary): 

Source: Mind Body Green

Try to shop at your local Farmer's Markets as much as you can.  You not only help the #NotWasting culture but you help contribute to the "Shop Local" movement and support farmers and small business.

We're blessed to have several Farmers' Market options in our area.

I'm not sure if it's a culture thing or my mom thing, but I've always been taught to "waste not". We eat what's on our plate & if we can't finish it, we box it up & save it for later.  I'm mindful of the perishables I buy during the week so that we consume it all & not waste it.  Since I've been at it for many number of years, I'm in tune to what my family consumes every week so I'm proud to say that our food waste is minimal to none.  I've passed on these habits/virtues to my boys.  They still surprise me sometimes, as to how diligent they are about not wasting.  I remember how upset my boys were one day when they complained that adult lunch monitors at their previous school insisted that kids throw away uneaten food.  They were proud to report to me that at their current school, they see very little waste from their fellow students.  Well, this pleases me. ☺

As often as possible, I'd like to close with some humor....

I have two growing boys. Yeah...this is real stuff.

I'm not sure I can ever NOT say it this way ever again.

Have a great life & remember, aim to make NOT WASTING your way of life!