As we are closing in on the holiday season, apart from all other festive activities, we will be eating lots and lots of food. This will generate huge amounts of waste. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, roughly one-third of all food produced for human consumption — approximately 1.3 billion tons — is lost or wasted each year. Now, the World Watch Institute has provided 10 very simple tips to help reduce the amount of food we waste. We've reported on earlier occasions on the necessity to tackle this waste as part of initiatives to tackle the food crisis - and while not wanting to sound prescriptive on an individual level, we thought this post could help ever so slightly toward this cause.

Here's a quick summary

Before the meal: Plan your menu and exactly how much food you’ll need.

" plan out how much food you and your guests will realistically need, and stock up accordingly."

During the meal: Control the amount on your plate to reduce the amount in the garbage.

" Go small, use smaller serving utensils or plates that can encourage smaller portions and encourage self-serve that allows guests to serve themselves."

After the meal: Make the most out of leftovers.

"Store leftovers safely: Properly storing our leftovers will preserve them safely for future meals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that hot foods be left out for no more than two hours. Store leftovers in smaller, individually sized containers, making them more convenient to grab for a quick meal rather than being passed over and eventually wasted.

Compost food scraps: Instead of throwing out the vegetable peels, eggshells, and other food scraps from making your meal, consider composting them. Individual composting systems can be relatively easy and inexpensive, and provide quality inputs for garden soils. In 2010, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to pass legislation encouraging city-wide composting, and similar broader-scale food composting approaches have been spreading since.

Create new meals: If composting is not an option for you, check out Love Food Hate Waste’s creative recipesto see if your food scraps can be used for new meals. Vegetable scraps and turkey carcasses can be easily boiled down for stock and soups, and bread crusts and ends can be used to make tasty homemade croutons."