Hellmann’s : Fight Food Waste
Understanding The Most Wasted Foods
Hellmann’s Food Waste Hacks

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), each day in the United States approximately one pound of food per person is wasted. This equates to 103 million tons of food waste generated in America annually, or between 30-40 percent of the food supply.
Did you know 39% of food waste happens in people’s homes? It’s true. Life is often to blame, causing us to see “nothing” in a fridge full of food, but Hellmann’s Mayonnaise can help transform all that “nothing” into a delicious something. Join our mission to #MakeTasteNotWaste and make the most of your food with our easy tips and tricks.
According to ReFED and NRDC, the top 10 most wasted ingredients in our homes are as follows:
Milk
Fruit & Vegetable Juice
Chicken
Bananas
Apples
Potatoes
Onions
Cheese
Sausage & Franks
Yogurt
There are many things we can do with these delicious ingredients to use them up. We can either store them for longer periods or we can cook them. Here are some options to increase shelf life or use up these most wasted ingredients:
1. Milk:
Store milk on refrigerator shelves, where it's cooler, rather than in the refrigerator doors, which tend to be warmer.
Milk can be frozen! Milk can last for up to 6 weeks in the freezer, without any impact on its flavor and nutritional value. Freeze unopened milk containers in their original packaging before the ‘best-before’ date.
2. Fruit & Vegetable Juice:
Store fruit and/or vegetable juice in a tightly sealed, dark-colored container to minimize exposure to oxygen and light.
For long-term storage, use your freezer. Raw fruit and/or vegetable juice will keep well in your freezer for two to three months. Try frozen cubes for easy to grab portions. You can even blend them into a smoothie.
3. Chicken:
Freeze raw chicken for long-term storage. Even better if you can freeze individually so you defrost what you need. Did you know you can even freeze cooked chicken? You can then defrost and throw into another recipe
Or use in some of our delicious chicken recipes.
4. Bananas:
To keep bananas from ripening too fast, wrap the stems in plastic wrap. Once they ripen, pop them in the fridge. If the bananas are peeled, add citrus.
Bananas are easy to freeze for use later! Just peel before freezing to make it easier to defrost and use.
Or use in our delicious banana bread recipe.
5. Apples:
To prevent apples from turning brown, create a water bath for your apple slices with a ratio of 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of water. Soak the apple slices for 3 to 5 minutes, then drain and rinse them. This simple step should keep your apples from browning.
To freeze apples, it's best to put them in a lemon juice or salt water bath first, which will keep them from browning. Then strain the slices, put them into a freezer bag, and pop them into the freezer.
Or use with our Easy Apple Crisp recipe.