The core work of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank is to acquire nutritious food from a variety of sources and to make sure it ends up in the hands of those who need it most. Since 1973, our mission has remained the same: we mobilize resources to fight hunger in our community.

A less obvious but equally important side of our work is in preventing food waste.

Did you know that 30 to 40 percent of the food supply is wasted in the United States? In fact, the average American adult wastes approximately $2,000 annually on food that never gets eaten. Sometimes this occurs when more food is purchased than can reasonably be consumed in time, but very often food waste is a result of not knowing how long food lasts or what the date labels on food packaging really mean.

We all make mistakes. But when we know better, we can do better. And it’s important to learn about shelf life and food waste so we can all cut down on the amount of food going to landfills.

With so many hungry people in LA County, we should not be wasting food.

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has created a helpful Shelf Life Guide to help people like you learn how to prevent food waste. You’ll learn what expiration dates really mean and how to arrange your refrigerator to make food last longer.

Think of all you could do with $2,000! With that amount of money, the Food Bank could provide up to 8,000 meals for our neighbors in need.