• Blog
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Tips & Tools
  • International LOVE
  • Love Notes
  • Shop
  • Powered by MSI Media Group

Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Food Waste

September 25, 2015 by Mary 17 Comments

I have to step up on a soapbox now. Most of you know of my desire to tackle the hunger problem in the United States and the world at large. That’s one reason I started the MARY’s secret ingredients subscription box business, as we are donating 10% of our profits to Feed The Children in their work to support a wide range of services to empower communities and wipeout hunger worldwide. No one should go hungry. In the US alone, over 48 million people suffer from food scarcity and over 15 million children go to bed hungry every night. In our super rich country, this is an atrocity. On the other side of the coin, the amount of food waste is horrendous.

Take a look at this John Oliver video:

Clearly this is a distribution problem. How can we get surpluses of food to the folks who need it?

And apparently many expiration dates on food are arbitrary at best. Maybe they’re put on to increase sales earlier as no decent grocery store will sell expired products and of course, they must restock.

When we lived in Summit, NJ, I made a discovery late one night at Kings, an upscale grocery store, with headquarters in the UK. I was in the store shopping a little before their 10 pm closing time and the woman in the bakery and bread department was going around filling shopping carts with loaves of bread and other bakery items. The bread was mounded high, the carts were overflowing.

I asked her what she was going to do with that. She said she couldn’t tell me.

I said, “Aw come on, please tell me.”

She said, “No I can’t.”

I pleaded, “Pleeeaase.”

She moved closer to me, cupped her hand near her mouth and whispered, “We throw it away.”

I was speechless.

She was embarrassed.

It was perfectly good bread, just not at its very freshest peak and Kings was such a high-class store, they didn’t even want to have a day-old rack. So they just threw it away.

At that point, after numerous letters written to the store’s corporate offices to get permission, I started a pick-up program twice a week for bread and once a week for the gently bruised fruits they also threw away. So three times a week, I filled our station wagon with food and delivered it to organizations that fed the hungry. It was a tiny bit I could do then. I hope to do more with MARY’s secret ingredients.

Feed The Children photo.
Today is the last day to purchase a fall box. We still have a few left. Buy one and surprise yourself with healthy ingredients and help us in our cause to feed the hungry.

Having enough to eat should not be a privilege. It is a basic human right.

Twitter logo.

 

 

 

Also, we’re having a TWITTER PARTY today (9/25) at 1 pm EST!! You can ask me cooking questions and I’ll ask you some too. Should be loads of fun! Join us!!

Related

You might also like:

  • My eggplant tart.Eggplant Tarts Make a Great Tuscan Starter Dish
  • Winter 2016 MARY's secret ingredients subscription box.2016 Winter Subscription Box Revealed
  • Our 2016 Fall culinary MARY's secret ingredients subscription box open with all products visible.Revealing our Gluten Free Fall Box!!!
  • Faces of Hunger logo with food backgroundFaces of Hunger Film Festival in NYC
  • 2016 MARY's secret ingredients summer box.Summer 2016 MARY’s secret ingredients box revealed

Filed Under: Products for sale Tagged With: Feed the Children, food waste, John Oliver on food waste, Mary's Secret Ingredients

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Security check- *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  1. Jovina Coughlin says

    September 25, 2015 at 4:37 PM

    What a shame. So many many hungry people. Here the markets send their produce and bakery items at the end of the day to the Manna Food Pantries where it is shared with the community members in need.
    Jovina Coughlin recently posted…Soups for Fall DaysMy Profile

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      September 27, 2015 at 12:39 PM

      Great solution and great to hear, Jovina. Thanks!!

      Reply
  2. Liz says

    September 25, 2015 at 9:05 PM

    You have such a big heart, Mary! I love businesses like yours that give back to the community. Thanks for all that you do!!!
    Liz recently posted…Week 2 of The Halloween Project #TheHalloweenProjectMy Profile

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      September 27, 2015 at 12:39 PM

      Thank you Liz.

      Reply
  3. Angie@Angie's Recipes says

    September 27, 2015 at 11:44 AM

    was she serious about dumping all the bread away? Waste aside, I am very sure they can be reused in the bakery or the workers there can bring home…I hate waste and always reuse the old bread in new bread or make them into breadcrumbs or in patties.
    Thanks for sharing, Mary.
    Angie@Angie’s Recipes recently posted…Einkorn Coconut Cookies with Avocado and RaisinMy Profile

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      September 27, 2015 at 12:40 PM

      Thank you Angie.

      How do you use old bread in new bread?

      Reply
  4. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says

    September 29, 2015 at 5:40 AM

    That is very admirable Mary! We have a couple of organisations that redistribute food in some but not all states in Australia. I think if people only knew how much food was wasted then they would be horrified.
    Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella recently posted…Effervescent Lemonade Meringue Donuts Now With Extra Fizz!My Profile

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      October 3, 2015 at 2:12 PM

      Exactly Lorraine. I hope to bring some attention to the whole situation.

      Reply
  5. Bam's Kitchen says

    September 30, 2015 at 11:53 AM

    So great to know that you can make a difference. Here in HK there is a group called feeding HK that picks up food from restaurants and grocery stores to help feed the poor in the soup kitchen. Food waste is huge in HK so this company is making a big difference.
    Bam’s Kitchen recently posted…Baby Shower Potluck & GIVEAWAYMy Profile

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      October 3, 2015 at 2:13 PM

      That’s great to hear, Bobbi Ann!!

      Reply
  6. Gerlinde @ Sunnycovechef.com says

    September 30, 2015 at 12:06 PM

    It make me sick when I think of all the waste. Here in my hometown a lot of food is donated to the homeless shelters. For myself I compost all my scraps and I have a worm box that produces the best fertilizer for my garden.

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      October 3, 2015 at 2:14 PM

      That’s great Gerlinde!!! At our building in Manhattan, we have also just started composting.

      Reply
  7. Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says

    September 30, 2015 at 8:45 PM

    Waste from restaurants and supermarkets is a problem over here too but there are signs that it’s improving. What a good thing you did!
    Maureen | Orgasmic Chef recently posted…EasyIndex WordPress Index Plugin has Launched!My Profile

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      October 3, 2015 at 2:14 PM

      We’ve all got to do something about it – right?

      Reply
  8. Rhonda Sittig says

    October 6, 2015 at 11:18 PM

    Thanks Mary— an important topic, we just tend to ignore…
    Rhonda Sittig recently posted…Early Theme Adopters: LibreMy Profile

    Reply
    • Mary Frances says

      October 13, 2015 at 12:20 PM

      Exactly Rhonda – thanks for stopping by!!

      Reply
  9. Tabitha Sanders says

    November 3, 2015 at 9:51 AM

    I agree that the wasting of food and food products is a crime. It is important for the restaurants, hotels and supermarkets to find a way to distribute the food waste to the people who need it! Nice post! Thanks!

    Reply

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Join 32k+ followers!


Never miss out on a recipe!

Subscribe to receive new posts via email:

Mary Frances

Mary Frances

Spread love through cooking.

Summer Favorites

Easy Cheesy Sautéed Squash The Best Potato Salad Super Quick Chicken and Summer Vegetables Stir-fry Chimichurri-ed Wilted Endives with Walnuts Chilled Curried Zucchini Soup with Apple Garnish Best Strawberry and Rhubarb Crisp to make now!

Categories

  • Appetizers
  • Breakfast
  • Brunch
  • Cocktails
  • Contest
  • Cookies
  • Cookware and tools
  • Desserts
  • Dinner
  • Events
  • First Course
  • Fish
  • Food Responsibility
  • Guest Post
  • Lunch
  • Meat
  • Pasta
  • Poultry
  • Products for sale
  • Salads
  • Sauces
  • Sides
  • Soups
  • Tea time
  • Travel
  • Vegetables

Pages

Blog
About
Recipes
Tips and Tools
International Love
Love Notes
Shop
Mary's secret ingredients

Blogs We Love

  • 1840 Farm
  • A Pug in the Kitchen
  • Cottage Grove House
  • Food, Photography & France
  • Food52
  • From the Bartolini Kitchens
  • Go Bake Yourself
  • Hotly Spiced
  • Jovina Cooks Italian
  • Lavender and Lime
  • Orgasmic Chef
  • Smitten Kitchen
  • Sophie's Foodie Files
  • Steven’s Wine and Food Pairings
  • That Skinny Chick Can Bake
  • The Pioneer Woman
  • The Squishy Monster
  • Tips on Food and Drinks
  • Yummy Chunklet
  • LOVE - the secret ingredient


  • GET IN TOUCH
  • E mary@lovethesecretingredient.com

· All Rights Reserved ·© 2016 Love- the secret ingredient. All rights reserved. Disclaimer | Privacy Policy Disclosure Policy Terms & Conditions