GTFO! It’s UPCYCLED AND Vegan!?
Friends, family, fellow citizens—we waste too much food.
In the United States, approximately 62.5 million tons of food are lost annually, the equivalent of 28% of agricultural land and accounts for roughly 8% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Put in other terms, that’s 40% of all food grown and never eaten.
Consider ordering 5 boxes of food from GFTO It’s Vegan, and throwing 2 away upon taking delivery! You would NEVER do that at home, and we should not be OK with it happening on a global scale. Not to mention, the environmental impacts are enormous. If Food Waste were a country, it would be the third worst greenhouse gas offender after the U.S. and China. Project Drawdown, a leading sustainability think tank, named reducing food waste as the #1 solution to address climate change.
These statistics, while staggering, underestimate billions of pounds of edible and nutritious food. Consider this: 1 pound of stale bread is measured as food waste, as you might expect. However, 1 pound of barley malt that has had its sugars extracted to produce a single six-pack of beer but retains high levels of nutrients is not measured. Yet, over 330 gallons of water went into cultivating and processing that malt—not to mention the other natural, human, and financial resources expended. By not eating this grain, are we not wasting food?
This is where “Upcycled Food” comes in.
Upcycled foods use ingredients that otherwise would not have gone to human consumption, are procured and produced using verifiable supply chains, and have a positive impact on the environment. Upcycled Food provides an attractive alternative to wasteful practices as the next frontier of “better for you and the planet” food ingredients and products. Upcycled Food has the potential to be present in every aisle of the grocery store, on every restaurant menu, and in the pantry of each home. It is trending too: Whole Foods named Upcycling a Top 10 Trend for 2021.
As an online grocery store, we can take part in the movement by curating snacks that source upcycled ingredients.
Our favorite example is ReGrained who closes the loop on tens of billions of pounds of brewers’ so-called “spent” grain with their savory high fiber, low calorie, low fat puffed ingredients and snacks. They got their start as homebrewers looking to get creative with their own grain, and have pioneered this whole movement.
We’re carrying their 4 vegan flavors of savory puffs: Mexican Street Corn, Urban Garden, Texas Pit BBQ, and Smoked Sea Salt and Pepper.
The Upcycled Food universe is vast and growing. For example, other innovators are creating products from the fruit and vegetable pressings left from juice, the fruits of the coffee and cacao plants that are rich in antioxidants and beneficial compounds but discarded in the production process, and more. Byproducts are unavoidable in food processing, but upcycling reimagines each instead as an opportunity.
At GTFO It’s Vegan, we are stoked to not only support brands that are here to make a difference, but also curate a selection of the best sustainable vegan food – for you!
Check out https://www.refed.com to learn more about upcycling!