I watched the documentary A Place at the Table by Director Kristi Jacobson on Netflix last night and it was heartbreaking.  It has been on my mind all day.  There are so many people in our country without enough to eat.  I am so blessed, I have enough to feed my children and still have enough to eat myself.  I cannot imagine the pain those parents must feel when they have to look into their children’s eyes and tell them that there is nothing to eat. I pray that I never know. 

I am on a personal mission to reduce food waste in my home.  This will not end the hunger our nation faces,  however it is in my opinion sinful to waste food that others would be so grateful to have.  This is a simple thing to do and involves two simple steps. Mindful shopping based off of a menu/meal plan and consciously using up what is available.  By shopping with a list I can avoid unnecessary purchases. My meal plan tells me exactly what I need to buy. Sticking with my menu instead of calling for a pizza saves me money and uses what was purchased to avoid wasting it. The final step is consciously using what I have available.  This week for example I ended up with much more leftover food then I anticipated. We already have a leftover night in place in my home,  but it was clear that one leftover night was not going to use everything up. While it was a meal my family enjoyed most people given the choice would not easy the same meal three times in one day . So my sausage  (turkey) peppers and onions was turned into different meals.  For breakfast it was served as is with fried eggs. Then for lunch and dinner (I was the only one who had it at lunch) it was incorporated into a spaghetti sauce and served with pasta. All it took was a little creativity to avoid putting perfectly good food into the trash.

Now I know this is not going to end the food crisis. However it does help to cut down on the amount of food we waste as a nation. It also inspired me to try to help others. Every bit of food that I can stretch to its max and not waste saves my family money.  If I can even save $10 a week I could take some of that and pick up a few extra pantry staples when I’m shopping to donate to the food pantry. Or I could donate to a charity such as Share our Strength who works to end hunger. With such a big problem every penny or item donated counts.

Hunger is unacceptable.  Food is required to survive,  it’s not a luxury.  No child should go to bed hungry.  I hope that anyone who reads this feels the same and joins me in my effort to find simple ways to help prevent a family from going hungry .