
The Swag Story - Save Money, Reduce Food Waste & Go Green
About 10 years ago I started on The Swag journey. As a mom who tried to feed her children fresh and healthy foods as often as possible, I was frustrated by how quickly fruits and vegetables would go bad. A significant portion of what I purchased on a weekly basis would never reach our dinner plates, food and money would go from the fridge and strait into the trash. There had to be a better way to store fruits and vegetables that gave me more time to use what I purchased. In other words, I saw a bunch of problems and wanted a solution. When it turned out that the solution I wanted wasn’t available, and what was available didn’t work well, I decided to invent one. After 10 years of research and testing, The Swag was born. We launched in Australian in late 2016 and have been blessed with a strong community of users and advocates. I quickly found that there are many people out there who shared my concerns, who wanted to waste less, save money, and reduce the amount of plastic they used. These concerns are global, and I’m thrilled to bring The Swag to the U.S. this year! I’m also happy that you’re joining me on The Swag journey. The Swag is all about giving back, and that philosophy is part of everything we do – from extending the life of your fruits, vegetables, and herbs to acting both consciously and thoughtfully so we can make a real, positive difference to our communities and the earth as a whole. Here on The Swag USA blog, I’ll be sharing insights and tips about produce storage, saving money, going green, buying organic, cooking with fruits and vegetables (yes, there will be recipes!), and so much more. To kick things off, I want to share with you some of the reasons why I invented The Swag, so you can see where I’ve been and join me as The Swag movement continues to move forward in the future. With that said, here are five key reasons that The Swag was born:
1. Reduce Food Waste
How much food do you waste on a daily basis? Each year, Americans waste 35 million tons of food, and 43% of food waste happens in homes. As I mentioned above, I used to waste a lot of food each week. I’d buy fruits and vegetables with great intentions to cook all of my family’s meals at home every day, but life has a tendency to get in the way of the best plans. Either something would come up or I’d feel too tired to cook. As a result, many of those fruits and vegetables would go unused and into the trash. On top of that, those fruits and vegetables never lasted long enough in my refrigerator to use them quickly enough, and going to the grocery store multiple times per week created even more problems. I’d lose precious time that none of us ever seem to have enough of, or I’d end up buying more things than I needed with every trip. It was a vicious cycle that I had to break! I invented The Swag to help reduce that food waste. By creating a fruit, vegetable, and herb storage product that actually keeps food fresher for longer, I reduced food waste and trips to the grocery store! Not only did I end up saving time, but I also saved money, which leads me to #2.2. Save Money and Time
Americans waste 35 million tons of food per year, which equates to $165 billion. That’s $2,200 per household! Imagine what you could do with an extra $2,200 each year. I created The Swag to keep food fresher for longer and as a result, you’ll save money and time when you use it. How do you save money and time? Here are just a few ways The Swag can help you keep more money in your wallet and give you more free time:- When your fruits, vegetables, and herbs last longer, you can use them before they go bad, which means less you’ll have to throw away and less wasted money!
- You’ll make fewer trips to the grocery store where (if you’re like me) you always end up leaving with more than just fruits and vegetables, and you probably don’t really need those other things at all!
- Fewer trips to the grocery store means less money spent on gas.
- Fewer trips to the grocery store means more free time for you to do other things that you’d prefer.
- You can buy your favorite fruits and vegetables in bulk because you know you’ll get more time to use them when they’re stored in The Swag.