Teaching Children About Food Waste Prevention
As adults, fighting food waste often means changing some of our behaviors or adopting new habits. But what if we raised awareness among our children from a very young age? These good practices would naturally become part of their daily routines, and fighting food waste would no longer feel like a fight — it would simply be common sense. Here are a few ideas to help talk about it at home!
Defining Food Waste
What is food waste, and why should we pay attention to the food we eat?
Food waste happens when we throw away food that is still good to eat. Sometimes we forget about food in the fridge, and when we finally find it, it’s no longer safe to eat. Or we leave our snack at the bottom of our bag; instead of giving us energy, it ends up being wasted.
The idea of a food system is still too abstract for young children, but they can understand that growing and producing food requires a lot of energy:
It takes a very long time to grow vegetables. Someone has to take care of them every day for several weeks, and then they’re transported by truck to the grocery store. When we buy them, we need to wash, cut, and cook them — that’s a lot of work!
Introducing Simple Everyday Actions
We can encourage simple daily actions, such as asking children how hungry they are before a meal so we can serve the right portion. When the meal allows it, we can place the food on the table and let them serve themselves. Planning the week’s menu together (or part of it) also gives children a chance to share what they like and dislike: fewer surprises, fewer chances of waste.
Depending on their age, they can also help with grocery shopping and putting food away, so they know what’s available when they want a snack!
Making Food Waste Prevention Fun
Children often learn best through play. You can introduce a weekly challenge like “save the food”: choose a food item that risks being wasted, and together find a recipe to rescue it. A brown banana becomes muffins, a limp carrot turns into delicious soup, and stale bread becomes a tasty bread pudding for dessert! Mission accomplished!