Think. Eat. Save

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cityhippyfarmgirl

Food waste is currently costing Australians up to $10 billion each year, while two million people still rely on food relief. [Oz Harvest]

Standing next to the big tented kitchen and my stomach is grumbling. The smell coming out of it is incredible. Both in what it’s doing to my taste buds and also with the thought- that all those meals that are being created in there? Well, if it wasn’t for Oz Harvest, there would be no amazing tantalising lunches being handed out today and instead all that food would have gone simply into landfill. A sobering thought, that’s for sure.cityhippyfarmgirl

“Think.Eat.Save 2015 is to bring attention to the alarming amount of food wasted in Australia and around the world, where roughly one third of food produced for human consumption (approx. 1.3 billion tonnes) is wasted or lost along the way.” [ozharvest.com]

Monday morning saw me grabbing my camera and spending a part of the day with the wonderful people connected with Oz Harvest. The national Think Eat Save campaign was launched across ten cities around Australia, in conjunction with the United Nations- (UNEP and FAO) Oz Harvest is doing an incredible job in raising awareness for global food loss and waste reduction.

Oz Harvest is a company that collects good quality perishable food (that would otherwise be discarded and end up in land fill) from a variety of different outlets. They then deliver it to a number of charities around the country. 600+ charities to be exact, that’s some amazing work right there.

But back to Monday’s Think Eat Save campaign.

“Thousands of members of the public across capital cities will be served a free hot meal including surplus soup and rescued stews made from produce that would have otherwise ended up as landfill.” [ozharvest]

Getting more people to rethink food sustainability and security on a local level is something that should be on everyone’s thoughts. Why? Because this effects everyone, on everyone level, at every generation. We should be taking ownership of the waste that we produce. And food waste? It’s a big one that really needs a big reshuffle in this country.

cityhippyfarmgirl

So what did I take away from the campaign? Well a renewed sense of, ‘we really need to do better’ that’s for sure. Rethinking what we put into our shopping trolleys, the food we create for our families dinners and what exactly we are putting into our garbages. I was also blown away by the energy of the volunteers and wonderful people wanting to do more and say more about this issue…it’s really important stuff!

I’ve certainly got more to say, but will keep it for another post. To be continued, and in the mean time? Rethink what you are putting in the bin, it could be part of that $10 billion.

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Insta Lovers- Heads Up: Now if you are keen on sharing your delicious Sunday breakfast (or any other meal) with your teams of followers on Instagram, keep on reading. Oz Harvest and Virgin Mobile have teamed up for the #mealforameal hashtag. You take a pic of your meal (any meal), tag it and Virgin Mobile turns that into a real meal for someone in need. That’s a winner right there, so get snapping people.

Helpful links with more info

Oz Harvest

Food Wise

Love Food Hate Waste

oz harvest || cityhippyfarmgirloz harvest || cityhippyfarmgirl

25 thoughts on “Think. Eat. Save”

  1. Yes, Brydie, it’s so important! Having a dog and chickens to eat our left overs is better than throwing it in the bin, but it is still a sign of inefficient food purchasing and cooking…

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  2. Is that our own esteemed Maeve O’meara in that second to last image? Food waste is a terrible thing. It’s not just the food that is wasted when people are hungry but the inefficiency of a system based on pumping out profit over the realities of what we actually want and need and all of the smaller systems that have to bow to the pressure that need to be taken into consideration. A world where we could just head off to a lovely farmgate to buy everything is a gorgeous utopian dream but isn’t the reality for most of us and the case for managing our food production and post production system is huge. Lets all just try a bit harder, even contemplating the issue is a good start. Cheers for sharing this Ms Cityhippyfarmgirl 🙂

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    • Is in indeed Ms Maeve O’Meara, standing along side a few big chef’s, with Joost Bakker and obviously everyone’s favourite garden gnome Costa above them.
      I agree, those words of yours…’ let’s all just try a bit harder’. That right there, if everyone just stepped up a tiny bit more would have a massive follow on effect. Seriously, we have to do better than what we are.

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  5. Wow, thanks for sharing! We all need to make a difference in order to save the planet and this is a great way to achieve this goal. I hope this idea spreads around because the amount of food that is wasted is truly a shame.

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  6. The work OzHarvest and other food rescue groups are doing is SO important. Helping to feed those who would perhaps not have a good meal during the day and bringing to people’s attention the amount of food that goes to waste. It makes us all rethink what we buy, how we use it and what to do with the food that may not be used. I am doing some volunteer work for OzHarvest Perth and am very grateful I can be a part of it. Meal planning, something that was not a habit of mine, is growing better by the day. The food not consumed is going to my worm farm, which is now supplying my garden with beautiful vermijuice and castings to produce the food I eat. It’s a wonderful cycle at home. But outside of the home, when I eat out, I now think always of what may be going to waste when I see returned half eaten meals. And what of the end of day produce not used? I cringe too. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

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    • Wonderful to hear from you Simply Be, and fantastic to hear that you’re involved with the Oz Harvest Perth. I don’t do a whole lot of meal planning but I’m pretty good with making something out of whatever is on hand. The challenge of something delicious out of a couple of flaccid carrots and a quarter of a cabbage is a weird challenge that I love.
      As for eating outside, yep, it hurts doesn’t it. I’ve often wondered if I would dare take what’s been obviously left on someones plate after they’ve left. Ego, get’s me every time unfortunately.

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  8. OzHarvest is my favourite charity, actually posted about OzHarvest this week too.

    I am one of Canberra’s Ambassadors, so I fly the flag for this organisation as high and loud as possible. My household takes food waste very seriously, very rare to find any leftovers, it will always be reused in another dish or frozen for eating down the track.

    We had about 600 cups of soup handed out at our event, pretty great I reckon. 🙂 Looks like you guys had a brill day too.

    Great post lovely one. Happy weekend. xo

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  9. This is an important event and I’m so glad it received a lot of attention from media, politicians and celebrity chefs and your good self! I do hate waste especially as there are so many people who are going without xx

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    • Lots of celebrity chefs there CL. Some I knew, some I had to double check. I think it’s great that they are putting their names to a wonderful charity like this though. Beats plugging cat food ads…err, not that I’ve seen any do that.

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  10. I’ve read about a couple of films on food waste recently (it might have even been through you Brydie) one on a couple trying to have zero waste for a year, and one about living on what is thrown out in supermarket dumpsters – a real eye opener!
    I’ve been doing my (very) small bit this week by eating just from the fridge/freezer/pantry – and it’s pretty scary how much food I still have after the week…next up is seeing what I can make from some freezer burned meat I discovered in the bottom of the freezer…

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