If you’ve seen my early food waste photos and my messy fridge, then you know that I haven’t always been quite so good about using up all of my food. I realized recently that while I’ve been faithful about posting pictures of my declining waste, I haven’t really said much about how I’ve managed to reduce my food waste. So, I’d thought I’d post about that in the hopes that some of you might find these ideas to be helpful.
1. Plan a menu and stick to it.
If you don’t have a plan, it’s going to be very difficult to buy exactly what you need at the store. More than likely, you’ll end up with items you aren’t going to use before they expire/mold/grow hairy.
I find it to be helpful to plan not just my main dishes at dinner but also my side dishes. This has helped me cut way back on produce waste. I used to just go and buy a bunch of fruits and vegetables and hope we could eat them all. Now I plan more carefully(grapes with Tuesday night’s dinner, green salad on Monday and Wednesday) and I waste very few fruits and veggies.
(if you need menu-planning help, browse through the menu-planning archives)
2. Do a mental fridge inventory daily or every other day.
One one of the challenges with leftovers is remembering to eat them! It’s easy to shove the containers to the back of the fridge and forget completely about them. I find that I need to take a quick visual inventory of my fridge every day or two so that I can keep track of what needs to be eaten.
3. Look through your fridge, freezer and pantry before you make a menu.
Even if you don’t do an inventory every few days, at least do one before you plan your menu. That way you can choose meals that will use up ingredients that have been sitting in your house for almost too long.
4. Make a grocery list and stick to it.
This is really inextricably related to my first point above…when you make your menu, write down exactly what you need, and try to buy nothing more than that. Any extra perishable food you buy is possibly going to go to waste.
This also helps me to keep track of my produce. When I scan my fridge, I look for fruits or vegetables that are on the brink of rot and try to incorporate them into our meals or snacks before it’s too late.
5. Eat leftovers for lunch.
As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t love doing this, but it’s a surefire way to get them eaten up without having to eat them for dinner several nights in a row.
6. Make sandwiches or salads with leftovers.
This works better when you’ve had sort of a plain meal(i.e. grilled chicken, not enchiladas). Leftover meat and random vegetables can make a tasty sub or salad with very little effort.
7. Bake something.
Baking(even something very simple, like muffins) is a great way to use up bits of buttermilk(or cream or milk), or fruits that are past their optimum freshness.
8. Freeze food that you won’t be able to use in time.
Obviously this doesn’t work for all foods, but I’ve managed to save a fair amount of food this way. Of course, if you forget about it and it gets freezer burnt, you’re still going to waste it. So, an occasional freezer inventory is a good idea(and one that I’m still working on implementing!)
9. Think about food waste in real dollars.
For instance, if you throw away a whole cucumber, remind yourself that you have just thrown $.99 in the trash. It took me a long time to realize how much money I was throwing away each week, and once I did, it was very motivating.
10. Have other people keep you accountable.
I think this is probably the thing that has helped me the most. Knowing that people all over the world are going to look at my food waste each week has motivated me to soldier through many leftovers that would have otherwise gotten thrown away.
I’m sure I’ve left some wonderful ideas off of this list, so feel free to share your ideas in the comments!
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I am fortunate in that my wife keeps me in line when it comes to food waste. Under her careful guidance, I have learned how not to waste ANY food.
One things she does is to insist that we only go shopping for food when the fridge and cupboards are bare. Other than milk, eggs and a few other essentials, we deplete what we have before we buy more. This forces us to use what we have, and cuts down enormously on waste and food bills.
Also, with the internet, it is so easy to find recipes to suit the ingredient you have on hand. This is a wonderful way to make sure you use everything, and will save you from wasting time and money driving down to the grocery store for a few ingredients.
That bowl looks like it’s sporting a cool-beans hairdo
Fab ideas – I like the idea of figuring how much money you are throwing away each time. I’ll bear that in mind – thank you!
I just checked out your blog for the first time. It makes me realize how frugal I really am. But not all my choices are obviously frugal; through the years I have come to think that some things are worth paying for though they never can be found “on clearance.”I think I have you beat on the turn on the heat wait. We did not turn on our heat all last month and it was down to 55 in the house more often than I’d like to admit.(That might say something about how poor my home is insulated.) I do own wool and wear it as much as I can and love it. Hand-me-downs of course. I do appreciate fleece’s less itchy and quick-drying appeal. Shh, do not tell anyone but it does not have to be laundered but maybe one time a season or 2 because I always layer-wearing a shirt under it that can easily be laundered and keeps me from feeling itchy. I look forward to checking out some of the topics when I have more time.
most of our waste food becomes chicken food, and that becomes eggs ( I just haven’t given them any chicken, thats just wrong) but there is almost none of that left
Donna, I’m impressed that you managed at 55. I don’t think I’m that strong! lol
Awesome tips!! We have way too much food sitting in the pantry and the fridge!! Thanks for this!!
Thanks so much for this. I think the menu planning thing is key for me. I’ve tried halfheartedly in the past, but it seems our food needs are always changing. Since we’re entering a new food season (with one of my kids needing a special diet), it seems this is a good time to start menu planning too…Since I’m planning what we eat anyway, why not take it to its logical end. And my hope (plan) is that I’ll waste a lot less in the process.
CG, I hope that your menu planning goes well! I did a post about how to plan menus recently…you might find it helpful. Click on “Menu Planning” in the category list at left and you should be able to find it.
I’d like to add another tip here, which kinda goes with your “Eat leftovers for lunch”, is to keep leftovers in mind when planning meals, i.e. when deciding what to cook, ask yourself “what will this be like reheated?”. Many pasta dishes, curries, stir-fries etc., i.e. a large proportion of what I cook, is still quite nice after freezing and microwaving, so I freeze it in nice portion sizes to take into work for lunch (and I *like* doing it, it’s cheaper and nicer than buying stuff at work). It’s probably a more important consideration if you’re single (well, I do share some/most meals with my housemate) rather than planning menus for a whole family. It does make it easier not to waste little bits of ingredients, because you can just throw the lot in and freeze the leftover finished product.
Also, soups. It’s not the height of culinary achievement, but throwing random vegetables into a pot, boiling for a bit and then blending the whole thing makes perfectly edible soups (with a bit of tweaking) and can use up just about anything. And indeed, if it’s going to be liquefied anyway, you can collect stuff in the freezer for this, as it doesn’t matter if it loses its texture when frozen.
If thinking “I just threw away a buck” doesn’t do it for you, put an actual dollar in a jar. At the end of the week/payperiod/month, see what you can buy with that amount.
I like to keep a container in the freezer to which I add vegetables and any other soup worthy food bits. You can keep several containers if you don’t want to mix different meats in the same soup. You can also save bits of rice, pasta, and noodles. Add the frozen food when you are making a soup already, or wait until you have enough leftovers to make a nice pot of vegetable soup. Use bouillon for flavor (low sodium if you are concerned about too much salt). Serve with salad and a bread and you have a nice economical meal.
I save the the cut off bits of vegetables and the ones that are on the brink of rot in a gallon size plastic bags in the fridge. When I have about 2 full bags, I roast them on a cookie sheet, and put them in a stock pot with dry herbs, spices, and some salt. Boil it for an hour or so, then strain it. It makes wonderful vegetable stock. I have saved bones from eaten racks of lamb or steaks and added them to the stock as well. I freeze it in containers, usually pint or quart size, and some of it into ice cube trays. I put the cubes in plastic bags for throwing into a things when I’m cooking. I also use the ice cube trays to freeze left over spaghetti sauce and other liquids. I just started doing this with strawberry tops (with the stems and leaves removed) to see if I can make a jam or chutney out of them.
Also, after I cook meat or mushrooms in a skillet, I deglaze the pan and then save the liquid to add flavor to other things, such as rice. I freeze it if I don’t use it in a day or two.
I save the plasticware from take-out and pack it in my lunch bag to work. I wash it in the dishwasher and it comes out clean and doesn’t melt. I don’t sweat it when I forget it somewhere, and I recycle it when it breaks.
Just finding your blog for the first time, and I really like it! I have a couple of tricks for making sure that I waste no fruits or veggies. The tips, tops, and skins of carrots and potatoes (and tips and tops of celery) go into a freezer bag that lives in the freezer. When I have an almost full bag, I will make some baked chicken dish. Toss the chicken bones, some seasoning, and the freezer bag full of scraps in the slow cooker on low before you to bed that night. In the morning, strain the liquid, and voila! Home-made stock for essentially the cost of water, some salt and pepper, and a smidge of herbs de provence!
Bananas that are going brown can be used in banana bread, but I do not always have time for that. Toss that banana into a freezer bag, and the next time you make a smoothie, toss it in. Same for any kid of fruit that is softening. For pears or apples that are going soft, chop them up, sprinkle with cinnamon and splenda and bake. If you really want to get fancy, top it with a crumble, and it can become a dessert.
Vegetables that are softening become vegetable stew.