5 Best Food Waste Resources Online

Even in a single household, there are likely multiple sources and causes of food waste. 

That means it isn’t always a simple thing to reduce food waste. Thankfully, there are many food waste resources available online (in addition to FoodHero) to help you better understand the problem and take real steps towards change.

Here are 5 of our favourite online resources

Plan to Eat

We say this often because, well, it’s true! Meal planning is SO EFFECTIVE at reducing food waste! It’s common sense. When you have a plan, you buy only what you need. When you buy only what you need, everything gets used. When everything gets used, nothing (or very little) gets wasted!

But we all live busy lives. And as much as good meal planning can help our busy lives run more smoothly, getting into the habit of doing it each week is not so smooth.

Plan to Eat is a super useful meal planning app that allows you to upload recipes (by hand or from the web), drag and drop them into a calendar, and generate a grocery list from your plan. It’s available on the web, iOS and Android. It’s not free, but it’s pretty inexpensive. They also offer a free 30-day trial that, unlike most free trials, doesn’t require a credit card, so there’s no “tricking” you into subscribing because you forgot to cancel.

Waste Reduction Week Canada

October 15-21 is Waste Reduction Week in Canada and the initiative's website has a page dedicated to food waste reduction. They’ve even designated October 19 “Food Waste Friday”.

The site provides a wealth of information from understanding the problem, to learn about the different solutions (since there are multiple causes of food waste, there are also multiple solutions) and ways to take action.

You can also take the 3 step food waste reduction pledge to first learn about the problem, take action, then share your experience with others to inspire them to take the challenge as well.

Save the Food

Save the Food is an awesome food waste reduction initiative filled with tips, ideas and even recipes. They provide helpful advice on:

• Using up leftovers
• Properly storing food
• Recipes to use up surplus food
• Reducing waste with kids
• Cooking with food scraps
• And more!

Our favourite feature is their “Guest-Imator”, a dinner party planning tool that lets you enter the number of people attending, how many are big, small or average eaters, what type of party you want (BBQ, buffet style, vegetarian, etc) and even how many meals of leftovers you want. It then generates a menu for you with a grocery list. 

That’s not just amazing for reducing food waste. It’s also super helpful for easier party planning.

World Resources Institute

The World Resources Institute is a nonprofit organization working to address the sustainability of resources and economies around the world. Food waste is one of the six main areas they focus on (the others being energy, cities and transportation, climate, forests and water).

This is a great resource for better understanding of the global food waste problem and learning about the many incredible initiatives underway around the world, as well as how successful they ultimately are.

Like any good nonprofit, they have a newsletter. But the best part is that you can choose the topics you’re interested in for your subscription. So you can get just the food news if you want, or add other topics. 

Given the global nature of the project, it’s a great way to truly feel part of the larger food waste reduction community as you move forward with your own heroic efforts.

Stop Food Waste

The Stop Food Waste initiative is chock full of tips and helpful resources for reducing food waste in your home. What we love are the helpful videos, the focus on using up what you already have, and the simple, but incredibly helpful resources.

One of our favourite tools is the “10-Minute Fridge Reality Check”. This is actually a two-part activity, with a second check done 4-6 weeks after the first check. The aim is to give you a clearer picture of how much you’re wasting and why, as well as tips and tricks to reduce that waste.

In the first check, you do a sort of audit of what’s currently spoiled or otherwise unusable in your fridge and why. You then review the tips to help reduce that waste in the future. Follow the tips to the best of your ability, then do a second check 4-6 weeks later to see how much you’ve improved. Super simple, super quick, SO helpful.