Summary of Food Waste Observation at home.

On day 1, we oriented our family members about the activity and listed the 9 tips
FROM FAO AND INTERNATIONAL FOOD WASTE COALITION. We informed our family that we will
be implementing one tip everyday and work towards incorporating the tip in our daily meals.
We implemented the first tip shared by FAO AND INTERNATIONAL FOOD WASTE COALITION,
that is, ‘Take smaller portions at home or share large dishes at restaurants’. The elders in the
family appreciated this tip a lot as it made everyone consume the food served to them entirely
without wasting. We used this tip throughout the day and towards the end of the day, we were
satisfied that we had wasted almost nothing that day.

On day 2, we decided to follow the tip ‘Be smart with your shopping. Make a list of what you need
and stick to it. Don’t buy more than you can use.’ . Since we had school, we couldn’t be a part of
this activity directly. However, We decided to orient our parents who generally visit the
supermarkets or the vegetable vendor. We asked them to list of the items that they needed so
that they could curb unnecessary purchase and thus reduce wastage. This tip was somewhat
successful as some of the group member’s parents had purchased more than what was needed.
We suppose we needed more monitoring in this aspect.

On day 3, we decided to implement the tip ‘Sharing is caring’ though some members did not wish
to use this tip and wanted to go with ‘Try using produce that you have bought previously and,
when you stack up your fridge and cupboards, move older products to the front and place newer
ones in the back.’ So we decided to try both. Two member tried Tip 9 ‘Sharing is caring’ and gave
away leftover food at the end of the day to roadside urchins and they readily and happily
accepted. Other members of the group adopted the Tip 6 and found that orienting the members
operating the kitchen about this tip was somewhat successful.

Overall, the activity was enjoyed by all in our family and it enrichened us to consciously put the 9
tips suggested by FAO and International Food Waste Coalition seriously in regular routine of our
lives.