What do choices about food shopping, cooking, storage, and disposal say about a person’s values?

To explain: How do choices about food shopping, cooking, storage, and disposal relate to a person’s values.

Concept introduction: Improvements have been made to alleviate hunger, improve agriculture, and protect the environment. However, such progress requires constant support from the consumer too. The demand for the food and other resources are increasing day by day and the burden on agriculture and environment is increasing.

An individual’s steps for relieving the burden on agriculture and environment can be made through a person’s choices about food shopping, cooking, storage, and disposal. Some of them are summarized below:

Food choices and shopping:

• Buy food once in a week and if possible, go by a walk or ride a bicycle or take share trips.
• Eat more plants and fewer animals. If required, eat a small portion of meat.
• Buy roadside foods (local foods) because it requires less transportation, packaging, and refrigeration.
• Choose fish which are farmed in a natural way.
• Choose chicken from local farms.
• Buy food as much you can use it. This will reduce the wastage of food.
• Provide excess food to needy people.

Food packages:

• Buy the materials that cost a little burden on recycling such as buy eggs from pressed fiber cartoons instead of foam unless they are recycled locally.
• Carry reusable bags or cloth bag.

Food cooking:

• Cook food in a pressure cooker or micro oven.
• Use non-disposable utensils, dishes, and pans.
• Prepare smaller recipes to utilize it properly.

Waste disposal:

• Dispose waste in different containers for organic and plastic or inorganic.
• Recycle all paper, glass, plastic, and aluminum items.

By following the above choices, reduce the food waste or help for recycling materials. Each little action may influence many other people to do the same and repeated actions will become a habit. This behavior will reduce the environmental burden as well as it builds a person’s sense of personal control, optimism, and effectiveness. This behavior will increase a person’s value in society as well as it will help in the global community to solve poverty and hunger.