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Tools and Resources

By making small shifts in how you shop, prepare, and store food, you can toss less, eat well, save money, and save resources used to produce and distribute food.

Below you will find tools that can help guide you through some of these changes in your own household.

We also provide guides that can help to reduce wasted food at schools and businesses.

 

Berkeley Food Network and StopWaste have collaborated on a series of postcards showing commonly distributed seasonal produce with tips on how to store, cook, and preserve it to prolong its freshness and nutritional value to make the most of it.  The fall and winter produce series includes winter greens, root vegetables, squash, and apples. The summer and spring produce series includes and berries, tomatoes, stone fruit, and beans and peas. The postcards are available in Spanish and English. 

Food going to waste in your fridge?

Our 10-minute fridge check will help you see how much food is going uneaten and give you tips to reduce wasted food at home!

Visit our Fridge Reality Check page for more details and videos on how to check your own fridge.

Learn which fruits and vegetables stay fresh longer inside or outside the fridge with this storage guide. Post the guide on your fridge for quick reference. Guia en Espanol. 

Before you shop, use this sheet to help plan the meals you’ll eat at home and list items needed. “Shop” your fridge, freezer and cupboards for ingredients first.

Place this sign inside your fridge to designate an area for foods that need to be eaten soon.

The Food Shift Seasonal Kitchen Guide, created in partnership with StopWaste, celebrates the bounty of nature, our resilience, and well-being by highlighting twelve produce items, readily available and affordable in Alameda County, in a calendar-style format. The template allows for a more inclusive and holistic approach that rethinks our roles in the kitchen and reimagines it as a place where we come together to nourish and be nourished.  

Food date labels have little to do with safety and are only loosely related to quality. Many foods will still be good to eat well after those dates.

40% of food in the U.S. is never eaten. Stocking your fridge with these tips will help your food stay fresh the longest.

ABG Gleaning Guide

The Alameda Backyard Growers and StopWaste have collaborated on a new guide to starting and growing your own neighborhood gleaning group.  ABG shares how backyard produce can help build community, make the most of the vegetables and fruit all around us, and taste great at the same time!

Resources for Schools:

Step-by-step instructions to setting up a food share table where students can place unwanted, sealed or uneaten food items for other students and for donation.

This four-page introduction for schools interested in setting up a donation program for surplus edible food includes guidance on legal protections, program models, food safety precautions and how to find and form a partnership with a food recipient non-profit partner.

Resources for Businesses:

This step-by-step guide helps businesses set up a surplus food donation program that works for their operations, including how to find a non-profit donation partner. It also provides guidance on legal protections and safe food handling requirements.