What Happens To All The Groceries On 'Guy's Grocery Games' After Filming?

"Guy's Grocery Games" is a television series hosted by Guy Fieri that follows a group of chefs as they compete in cooking competitions. However, there is one twist: The Food Network show takes place in a grocery store. It is just one of many shows the celebrity chef — known for his coinage of "Flavortown" — has worked on for the network, including his passion project, "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives," where he's dined at many restaurants worth visiting. The hit cooking competition "Guy's Grocery Games" first premiered in 2013 and has aired for over 30 seasons. Like other cooking competitions, the chefs make various meals in each episode. But first, they have to trek down the aisles of a grocery store filled with real products to seek out ingredients. But what happens when the cameras turn off? Do the groceries spoil and eventually get tossed out?

Thankfully, the cooking show does not throw away the groceries. Instead, it has multiple systems in place to minimize the amount of food that gets left behind. Now, there are many ways people can reduce food waste in their own lives. Some options include cutting down on perishables, composting food scraps, and freezing leftovers. However, those on the big-budget production set have to go a different route given the abundance of food left over. Food Network has confirmed that the competitors "have thousands of items at their disposal for the cooking challenges." The groceries that remain unused are regularly checked to make sure that they are sent off to food banks and other businesses before expiring.

"Guy's Grocery Games" takes place in a grocery store in a warehouse in California, according to Food Network. The warehouse is 15,500 square feet — significantly smaller than the average grocery store. Brr Architecture states that the average grocery store is about 40,000 square feet. Walmart Neighborhood Markets fall around the average, clocking in at about 42,000 square feet. However, Walmart Supercenters are over four times that size. The company also serves about 255 million customers a week, according to its website, compared to the cooking show, which cycles through only four chefs at a time. All said, the television set-bound grocery store is filled with over 20,000 items and is maintained by a dedicated staff.

To ensure that the groceries do not go to waste, the staff conducts weekly checks. "On Friday night, the bread, meat and seafood cases are checked for items that are close to expiring," Food Network writes on its website. "Products that are still good are donated to local food banks." Even if a product is missed one week, it may be eligible to be donated, as some food banks accept foods past the best-by date.

Beyond scouring the shelves weekly to reduce tossing out groceries, Food Network also has a system to reduce food waste from on-air cooking. The food scraps produced during the cooking challenges are given to a local farm to feed livestock. Hopefully, "Guy's Grocery Games" can inspire you and other cooking shows to pay closer attention to what gets thrown in the trash at the end of the day.