15 social media accounts to help you reduce food waste

Food waste has serious environmental consequences, so addressing this pervasive problem is a key way to create a more sustainable future and protect the planet — and it happens to be a fun and empowering way for everyday people to take action on climate. That’s why social media influencer chefs and environmental activists have made tackling food waste a top priority.

Combating food waste in your day-to-day life requires creativity, persistence and planning ahead. You can make a game of finding new ways to prevent excess and to reuse and repurpose what you have. There is nothing like the satisfaction of getting two weeks worth of meals out of your weekly grocery budget or creating a “bonus meal” with food scraps you once didn’t know were edible, all while helping combat climate change. 

A broad community of people reducing food waste alongside you can help make it easier and more fun. Much of that community is on social media, where we can connect with like-minded people and be reminded of the importance of our collective efforts to create a more sustainable future. Whether you want to begin cutting down on food waste and are looking for somewhere to start, or need a fresh recipe for the food in the back of your fridge, these social media accounts can provide inspiration and resources: 

Instagram accounts:

1. Carleigh Bodrug @plantyou

In her 50+ episode “Scrappy Cooking” series on Instagram reels, Carleigh offers a variety of ideas for using every part of an ingredient and turning food scraps into exciting dishes: from incorporating the entire cabbage head into cabbage steaks to making strawberry milk with jam jar residue. Carleigh also shares food storage tips to help keep your food from going bad prematurely and other creative, sustainable recipe ideas. You can find even more ideas for cutting down on food waste in her “Scrappy Sundays” newsletter. 

2. Max La Manna @maxlamanna

A professional chef who has been food waste-free since 2017, Max has lots of meal and recipe ideas that avoid waste and use up leftovers, from broccoli stem fried rice to no-waste hot cross bun bread and butter pudding.

3. Anne-Marie Bonneau @zerowastechef

Anne-Marie offers tips for reducing food waste through food storage and disposal strategies and inventive recipes, such as her fruit scrap soda. Anne-Marie’s goal is to cut down on all waste, so she has recommendations for minimizing the use of plastics and other disposable materials as well.

4.Too Good To Go @toogoodtogo.usa 

Too Good to Go has ideas for using all types of foods that are past their prime as well as recommendations for eating seasonally and sustainably. It also provides information on the real lifespan of foods so you can avoid throwing things away unnecessarily because of confusing date labels. Too Good To Go began as an app that offers users bags of food that restaurants would otherwise throw away. Although the app is currently only available in limited locations (New York City; New Jersey; Boston; Providence; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; Miami; Chicago; Austin; San Francisco; Berkeley; Oakland; Portland and Seattle), Too Good To Go’s helpful content is accessible anywhere. 

5. Love Food Hate Waste @lfhw_uk

Love Food Hate Waste offers many resources you need to cut down on food waste. LFHW recommends portion sizes to help you cook for yourself or a group, colorful meal planners, new recipes for scraps and leftovers, and tips for storing and preserving all types of food. The group’s informative posts about the prevalence and consequences of food waste are also necessary reminders of why these efforts are so important. 

Reddit and Facebook community platforms:

1. No Scrap Left Behind to End to Food Waste r/noscrapleftbehind

This Reddit community is a gathering of people with varied experience levels and methods of reducing food waste. In addition to finding advice on using leftovers and preserving specific food items, Reddit users can pose questions and quickly get answers from the group.

2. Live With A Lower Impact r/ZeroWaste

This subreddit is a comprehensive guide for addressing waste in your life. Although it is focused on eliminating all waste, it has specific wiki sections for reducing waste while dining out, cooking and grocery shopping as well as gardening and composting tips. It also includes ideas for influencing other people in your life to address their waste. 

3. Reduce Your Food Waste Facebook Group

This public group has ideas from a range of people about food storage, preservation and repurposing leftovers. It also raises awareness about food waste and its consequences.

4. Journey to Zero-Waste Facebook Group

Regardless of the extent of your food waste reduction practices, you can find camaraderie and support in this group. While this group is for people trying to minimize all types of waste, there is no shortage of posts addressing food waste topics, from food storage to composting. 

5. Zero Waste Heroes! Facebook Group

This group includes people from around the world trying to eliminate all forms of waste in their lives. Alongside tips for preventing plastic-use and finding biodegradable products, there are helpful ideas for using everything in your pantry and maximizing food scraps that are often thrown away.

Bonus: Learn how Facebook-based Buy Nothing groups are using this social media platform to prevent food waste at the neighborhood level.

YouTube:

1. Goodful

Although Goodful is better known for its food challenges and trendy lifestyle videos, it also has a wide selection of zero waste and sustainable meal videos to help you creatively cut down on waste. Try videos from any of these playlists: trash kitchen, sustainability, and zero waste.

2. Sustainably Vegan

This channel is full of meal planning and prepping videos that provide inspiration for eating seasonably and sustainably, and advice on accurately planning meals to reduce food waste while saving money. It also includes general tips for a minimalist,zero waste lifestyle. Check out this video on 100 ways to reduce food waste.

3. USDA

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s channel has a range of recommendations for preventing food waste such as meal planning tips, ways to love your leftovers, and ideas for composting in its food loss and waste playlist. 

4. Sustainable Earth

Sustainable Earth’s mission is to demonstrate the power of small lifestyle changes to fight climate change and improve people’s lives. Sustainable Earth only began producing YouTube content in 2021 so its content library isn’t as large as other accounts, but it has already imagined a world without food waste and explored the ability of small changes to our diets to benefit the planet. 

5. Food Tank 

Food Tank is a think tank whose mission is to reimagine the global food system to create a world where everyone’s food needs are met in a sustainable way. It has a range of videos that reimagine how our food system could work and provide a path towards a more sustainable, healthy food system. The channel features videos with experts on food waste and loss and sustainable diets to provide inspiration for taking individual action and highlight the need for systemic changes. 

Did we miss an anti-food waste social media account you love? Let us know by sending the author an email!

Looking for other ideas or tips to cut down on food waste in your home? Check out PIRG’s guide on how to save food and prevent food waste.