People born in an African home will testify to how valuing food is so important and why it is wrong and bad to waste food. I grew up believing that wasting food is like being ungrateful to God for providing for you. In my family, my grandmother especially would emphasise the need to always eat any leftover meal before preparing a new one because she does not condone the habit of throwing food away when we could reuse it or give it out if we can — before it gets spoilt.
This understanding registered in my brain that whenever I accidentally waste any food, I would have a guilty conscience making me feel that I do not appreciate what I have when others are struggling to find just a one-square meal. Many times, when I see people around me wasting so much food, I feel bad for them, only if they knew how hard it is for someone somewhere, perhaps watching how the food is being thrown away and hoping he or she could be given instead of wasting it.
On several occasions have I eaten a spoilt food that was left over as a punishment by my grandmother. The sour taste would irritate me and feel like vomiting but she would stand beside me with a cane ready to lash at me if I tried to spit it out. She doesn't like food going to waste.
Being an adult, I have had times when I had to throw away food, it's either some insects had their way into it or perhaps I forgot to warm it till it got spoilt or they were bought in excess, and when I tried to waste it, I would look up and say, "God, please forgive me for this. I am sorry." Seriously, I feel guilty when I do this as my mind would always goes to those who haven't eaten and have not found what to eat, but I don't usually do this intentionally.
In another sense, when I waste food or see someone throwing away food, I see it as wasting money when I/they could have been creative to reuse it for another meal. I do make use of my leftover meals for another new meal and when I do this, it makes me happy managing the available recipes with a leftover meal and it would taste nice. This isn't because I am trying to save money but just valuing what I have at that moment.
On other days when I buy in excess and instead of wasting it away, I would give some out or consume myself and that would be what I would eat till it finishes.
I don't have a freezer to store up food and sometimes, it hurts me not to have it. This isn't about money to get it but where I live currently. There is always unavailability of light and what use is having one without power to make it work? Besides, I don't have a permanent place as I would have to relocate somewhere else, so I am waiting for when I find a better place to stay.
Having a freezer would help me in storing meals and wouldn't think of wasting it when it get spoilt. This is why I buy in small quantities especially perishable foods like vegetables, fruits, peppers etc. I live alone and it's easy to get these items in a bit so I wouldn't have in excess and eventually get spoilt to the extent that I wouldn't have a choice but to discard them away.
Whenever I noticed I bought vegetables in excess, before I prepared them, I would give some out and cook what I had left. For instance, recently, I bought some raw tomatoes and I couldn't use them all. I had calculated the next time I would need some tomatoes and before then, the ones I bought would have been rotten. I called someone and dashed them out.
I love eating fresh vegetables so, I go for a little quantity which will only last for two or three days before getting another one. Also, the reusing of a leftover meal isn't something new as it is very common and one tip to saving up money. Where we have some people who, maybe aren't taught how to reuse a leftover meal for a new one or just waste food because it's a habit for them, I consider them as not being creative and wasting money and resources.
Whether because of buying too much food or needing to save money, I have been taught how not to waste any food but to turn it into a new one, and once in a while when I find myself throwing food away, I feel bad for doing that.
This is my response to the Day 29 September Inleo Initiative which can be found here
Both images are mine
