We’ve all done it. You buy a bag of kale with the purest intentions of making a salad, but then life happens. Three days later, it’s a slimy green puddle in the back of your crisper drawer. You toss it. No big deal, right? Well, according to the Just Eat It movie, it actually is a massive deal.
Honestly, I thought I knew about food waste before I watched this documentary. I knew it was "bad" for the environment. But seeing Jen Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin dive into a dumpster behind a grocery store and find hundreds of perfectly sealed, organic chocolate bars just because the labels were in the wrong language? That changes you. It makes you look at your grocery cart like a crime scene.
The Six-Month Experiment That Should Have Been Impossible
The premise of the film is simple but wildly ambitious. Grant and Jen, a couple from Vancouver, decided to live for six months on only discarded food.
They weren't allowed to buy anything new. The only exception was if they were invited to someone's house for dinner. They had to rely on what society deemed "trash." At first, you expect them to be starving or eating half-eaten sandwiches from the sidewalk. They aren't. In fact, they end up with a surplus.
They found literally thousands of dollars worth of food. We're talking about high-end yogurt, artisan bread, and cases of eggs. Most of it hadn't even reached its "best before" date. It was just... there. Waiting for a landfill. It’s pretty staggering when you realize they actually gained weight during the filming.
Why We Throw Away Good Food (The Ugly Truth)
The film digs into the psychology and the systemic failures of the food industry. One of the biggest culprits is our obsession with perfection.
We want our apples to be perfectly round and our bananas to be a specific shade of yellow. If a cucumber is slightly curved, it never even makes it to the shelf. Farmers often have to plow entire crops back into the soil because the produce doesn't meet the aesthetic standards of big retailers. It’s a literal waste of water, land, and fuel.
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Then there’s the confusion over date labels. Grant and Jen talk to experts like Dana Gunders, who was a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) at the time. She points out that "sell by," "use by," and "best before" dates are often just a manufacturer’s best guess at peak quality. They aren't safety dates. But we treat them like a countdown to a biohazard.
The Environmental Gut-Punch
It isn't just about the food itself. It's about everything that goes into making it.
When we toss a burger, we aren't just wasting meat. We're wasting the thousands of gallons of water it took to raise the cow and grow the grain to feed it. Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story does a great job of visualizing this. It’s not just "stuff in a bin." It’s a massive drain on global resources.
When food rots in a landfill, it doesn't just decompose like it would in a compost pile. It’s packed down so tightly that there’s no oxygen. This leads to the production of methane gas, which is significantly more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat in the atmosphere. Basically, our soggy leftovers are heating up the planet.
Is This Movie Still Relevant?
You might think that because the movie came out a few years ago, things have fixed themselves. Not quite.
While there is more awareness now—thanks to apps like Too Good To Go or companies like Misfits Market that sell "ugly" produce—the scale of the problem is still massive. We still waste about 40% of the food produced in North America.
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The film feels remarkably modern because it focuses on the human element. It’s not a dry lecture. It’s a story about a couple trying to navigate a broken system. You see the tension when they have to tell friends they can't go out to eat. You see the genuine joy when they find a "honey hole" of discarded gourmet goods. It’s relatable, even if most of us aren't ready to jump into a dumpster behind a Sobey's.
Small Changes That Actually Work
If you’ve watched the Just Eat It movie and feel like you want to do something but don't want to go full "freegan," there are realistic steps. It starts with how you shop.
Stop buying in bulk if you live alone. Seriously. Those "buy three for the price of two" deals are only a deal if you actually eat all three. Most of the time, the third one just sits there until it grows hair.
Shop your own fridge first. Before you go to the store, see what’s hiding in the back. Make a "must-go" soup or stir-fry once a week.
Learn the difference between labels.
- Best Before: Quality indicator. The food is still safe to eat after this date; it just might not be as crunchy or flavorful.
- Use By: This is the one to actually watch, usually reserved for highly perishable items like fish or meat.
Rethinking the "Ugly" Produce
Next time you're at the market, pick the lonely banana. You know the one—the single one that someone snapped off the bunch because they only wanted four. Those single bananas are almost always the ones that get tossed at the end of the night.
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Also, don't be afraid of the bruised apple. Cut the bruise off. The rest of the apple is fine. We’ve become so detached from where our food comes from that we expect it to look like it was manufactured in a factory. It wasn't. It grew in the dirt. It’s supposed to have character.
Moving Toward a Circular Food Economy
The bigger picture involves policy changes. Some countries, like France, have made it illegal for supermarkets to throw away edible food. They have to donate it to charities or food banks.
In North America, we're slower on the uptake, but the momentum is shifting. More businesses are realizing that wasting food is literally throwing money away. If you’re a business owner, look into food recovery programs. There are organizations that will come and pick up your surplus to ensure it gets to people who need it.
Actionable Steps to Reduce Your Food Waste Footprint
Instead of feeling guilty, start acting. It’s surprisingly easy once you get the hang of it.
- The Fridge Audit: Once a week, move everything from the back of the shelf to the front. You'll find things you forgot existed.
- Freeze Everything: Did you buy too much bread? Freeze it. Leftover wine? Freeze it in ice cube trays for cooking later. Almost anything can be frozen if you're quick enough.
- Compost as a Last Resort: If food is truly past its prime, compost it. It’s much better than the landfill, though eating it is always the primary goal.
- Trust Your Senses: Use your nose and your eyes. If the milk smells fine and looks fine, it’s probably fine, regardless of what the stamped date says.
- Support the Right Brands: Buy from companies that actively work to reduce waste or use "upcycled" ingredients.
Reducing food waste isn't just about saving the planet; it's about respecting the effort that went into producing what we eat. Every carrot took months to grow. Every steak required vast amounts of land. The least we can do is make sure it ends up in a stomach instead of a trash heap.