King County reports the average family throws out about 25 percent of its grocery purchases, and its Food: Too Good to Waste campaign was “a slap in the face” for Bellevue resident Mary Priestley-Fine when she took stock of her losses.

Priestley-Fine was one of 36 King County residents — six in Bellevue — to participate in the campaign’s four-week challenge to reduce food waste, documenting what she and her husband through out every week and finding ways to bring that number down.

“You hear that we waste a lot of food and, until you stop and take note of how much you’re wasting or throwing out, I don’t think you realize until it’s sitting in front of you just what that volume is,” said Priestley-Fine.

Priestley-Fine said even after compacting her family’s first week of waste it measured 26 inches, which was partly due to her son and daughter being out of the house now and needing to find more creative ways to use produce received through their community-supported agriculture group.

“That bag gets quite full, quite fast,” she said. “I found that I wasn’t doing anything with my (CSA) share as best as I needed to, so I was tossing about half of it.”

Receiving tips and resources from staff within King County’s Solid Waste Division, which headed the Food: Too Good to Wate campaign, and correcting her food purchases led to a positive reduction in waste for Priestley-Fine by the end of the challenge, she said.

“More than the waste was just the cash, the dollars that were going into that bag,” she said. “I have to tell you no matter where you are in life, that’s frustrating.”

To find out more about the Food: Too Good to Waste campaign and how to sign up for the next challenge, go to this shortened link: http://1.usa.gov/1sEJpNT.

“I think everyone should try it,” Priestley-Fine said, ” I really do.”