Image via Shutterstock; Edited by Syok
You’re at a restaurant with your friends. Since you see many things on the menu that you want to try, you order all of them. But of course, it’s way too much food, and all of you end up nibbling on some and throwing away the rest.
You’ve probably been nagged by your mother for doing this—wasting food—and well, she has a point.
While you’re wasting your food, there are people in our country who need them badly. Did you know that 25% of school-going children are forced to skip breakfast at least three times a week? A survey conducted last year among low-income households in KL and Selangor also showed that 22% of children under the age of 5 were stunted and that 15% are underweight.
These are troubling numbers, considering the development Malaysia aspires to achieve.
Fortunately, there are efforts to curb food wastage while also helping those in need. Since 2016, Tesco Malaysia along with its partners, Food Aid Foundation and Kechara Soup Kitchen have donated 4.8 million meals to the underprivileged. They’ve made quite an impact to the community too:
These meals come in multiple varieties, made up of Tesco’s unsold but edible fruits, vegetables, and bakery surplus donated from all 60 stores nationwide. So, if you happen to be shopping there and wondering where the unsold goods will go—now you know!
Image via Tesco
Tesco CEO Paul Ritchie, however, maintained that there’s still more to be done, especially if they were to achieve United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 2 of eliminating hunger by 2030.
That means we need to do our part too! Here’s what you can do with the leftovers at home:
#1 Turn super mushy ripe bananas into banana-egg pancakes.
#2 Use veggie peels as soup stock.
#3 Add your wilting carrots into soup!
#4 Save meat bones! Put them in a slow cooker and wait for a while—you can make a delicious bone broth with them.
Image via Shutterstock
#5 Save your leftovers! Put them in a glass container so that you won’t forget about them
Image via Shutterstock
#6 Use your food scraps as fertilizer if you have plants!
Image via Shutterstock
#7 Sprinkle leftover coffee grounds in grassy areas so you can prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs
Image via Shutterstock
So next time, you won’t feel too clueless about how to deal with your leftovers and food scraps!
