How to Waste Less Food
Trust Your Senses
Freshness indicators don't always mean that food is unsafe to eat. The best way to know if your food is good to eat is by using your five sense. If it looks fresh and smells good, it will likely taste good as well.
If You Don’t Eat It, Freeze It.
Do you know most foods can be placed in the freezer for up to a month and maybe more? It’s a great way to save money and preserve food that you just don’t have time to cook.
Irregular Food is Still Good Food
We tend to believe all pears are pear-shaped and a carrot should look like every other carrot. However, this isn’t always the case. Some food just grows differently, but it all tastes the same.
Explore the Murals
Food is Community. Waste Less.
Urban Green Lab, in partnership with NRDC and the TN Arts Commission, installed a mural at the Turnip Truck on Charlotte Ave. to highlight how food builds community. Located directly across from the Richland Park Farmer's Market, the mural is intended to inspire people to think about what role they can play in reducing food waste and encouraging community-building.
About the artist: LeAndra Crystal is a Fisk University graduate, local artist, certified Therapeutic Art Life Coach and President of the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Art League. As the president of an artist-run, non-profit art organization founded in Nashville in 1954 with the goal to create opportunities for visual artists, it has been her mission to create diverse and equitable opportunities for artists and patrons alike. In her efforts, LeAndra has created connections with institutions like Tennessee State University, Fisk University, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and organizations such as Creative Girls Rock, Casa Azafran and the North Nashville Arts Coalition. Inspired by life, love, culture, the spiritual, and experience; LeAndra Crystal enjoys experimenting with different mediums and creating from her heart. LeAndra has experience and expertise in a wide variety of mediums and techniques. She has worked with everything from traditional 2-D media such as acrylic and oil painting, charcoal, inks, and mixed media to set building & design, metal & wood working, clay, glass, resin and murals.
Food is Energy. Waste Less.
Urban Green Lab, in partnership with Patagonia, placed two murals on the windows of the Patagonia Nashville store to celebrate how food can provide fuel for activity and encourage Nashvillians to waste less food.
About the artist: Originally from Los Angeles, Nathan Brown relocated to Nashville when he was 11 years old and endured a major culture shock. Embracing the transition between cities through painting graffiti and exploring new territories through skateboarding travels motivated Nathan artistically. Nathan has created over 150 large-scale commissioned murals for brands and communities around the country. The goal has always been the same since day one, to bring people, places, and communities together through public art, transforming and creating new spaces where there were none before.
Food is Beautiful. Waste Less.
Urban Green Lab, in partnership with Kroger and the Alliance for Green Hills, placed a mural on the Bandywood Drive side of the Kroger in Green Hills to celebrate the beauty of food and inspire shoppers to reduce food waste.
About the artist: Kami Baergen is an artist exploring the complexities of the mundane, life and death, and other opposites. Working primarily as a painter using acrylic gouache, Baergen is heavily influenced by Dutch Still Life and the Metaphysical art movement. Born in Chicago, based in Tennessee.
About Urban Green Lab
Urban Green Lab exists to guide communities in sustainable living. We train and educate in Classrooms, Households, and Workplaces - places where culture begins - to assist Nashville in making decisions that thoughtfully meet the needs of our society today without compromising the ability of others to meet their needs in the future. We envision a Nashville where everyone has access to opportunities for learning about sustainable living.