For Sheldon Weiss, a resident at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Minneapolis, growing up during the Great Depression taught him the value of conserving food.

“Some spaghetti, a couple of meatballs, and a nice marinara sauce — what more could you ask for?” he asks.

Not everybody at the home joins Weiss in the clean plate club, however, which posed a challenge for the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA): How to prevent food waste and at the same time provide ample and nutritious meals for its residents. To solve that challenge, the MDVA recently teamed up with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to implement new technology that will reduce the amount of food that is thrown away in its homes. The technology allows us to know what our Residents want so they're more likely to eat the food on their plate. We also get a more accurate meal count and produce just what is needed so less goes to waste.

“We were using an outdated system,” says Jeanine Arneberg, the Food and Nutrition Director at the Minneapolis Home. “So, we wanted to improve the process. The grant was a great opportunity to modernize our ordering system to really benefit our Veterans at our homes.”

“Implementing this system has had a positive effect on all homes,” says Paula Newinski, Quality Director at the MDVA. “Decreasing overproduction of food means decreasing waste, spending, and workload for the kitchens. We’ve been able to achieve this without decreasing resident satisfaction or quality of food delivery.”

Using a $185,000 grant from the MPCA's Resource Management and Assistance Division, the MDVA revamped the way it serves food to residents. The MDVA started by investing in new iPads and software for its facilities in Minneapolis, Hastings, Silver Bay, Fergus Falls, and Luverne.

“With the funding from the MPCA grant, we purchased a nutrition management system that helped us really streamline our rather large operation – we have 11 kitchenettes in our Minneapolis Veterans Home alone.” Arneberg added. “It really made our meal ordering and delivery system much more structured.”

MDVA staff use this technology that allows residents to order their meals in real time, rather than having to place their orders weeks in advance.

“Before, you ate what you got, and if you didn’t like it, you just didn't eat it,” said Richard Evans, a resident at the Minneapolis Veterans Home. “I was raised in a family where we didn’t have a lot of excess food. Now I feel more comfortable saying, ‘don’t give that to me’ if I’m not going to eat it.”

A resident at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Minneapolis works with an employee on real-time meal ordering.

“Real-time ordering cuts down on common reasons food gets wasted,” says Emma Hutson, assistant sustainability coordinator, MDVA. “Sustainability here at the MDVA really means two things: continuing with the high standard of service for our Veterans, while finding ways to reduce our impact on the environment. This grant and the innovative application of technology has really made a difference.”

Real-time ordering also reduces items that might become ineligible for residents based on restrictions placed on their diet mid-week. The software also eliminates extra ordering for anticipated guests that do not show up during the week.

By keeping excess food out of the trash, the MDVA is helping to alleviate the growing problem of food waste in Minnesota and across the country. According to a study commissioned by the MPCA, most of the food Minnesotans throw out — about 62% — could have been eaten or donated. Instead, when food spoils or is thrown away before we eat it, the resources that went into creating the food — including the water used to grow the food and the diesel used to transport it — are wasted, requiring additional resources to nourish people and help alleviate food insecurity.

“Allowing our residents, to order what they want, when they want it, is a huge benefit,” says Erin Zwonitzer, Food and Nutrition Program Director for the MN Veteran Homes. “To be honest, getting a meal when you’re not hungry, and getting food you don’t want to eat are the two main reasons people throw out their food. Ordering what you want when you want it helps eliminate the waste what increasing satisfaction and wellbeing.”

With this new technology, the MDVA expects to prevent 14,000 pounds of wasted food per year. That translates into $30,000 worth of savings and roughly 30 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent—a way we measure greenhouse gases.

Learn more by watching this video. You can also visit the MPCA’s waste initiatives page for tips on making the best use of the food you already have.