16 Simple Ways to Stop Wasting Food and Slice Your Grocery Budget
Have you ever gone to the grocery store, armed with coupons and sale flyers, and maxed out your savings potential with each bag of rice, head of broccoli and soda six-pack you drop in your cart? It feels so satisfying, saving all that money. But then you get home, shove the rice bags in the pantry on top of the rice bags you already had and put the fresh veggies in the fridge, only to remember them when the unmistakable stench of rotting broccoli greets you a week later. Yeah, us too. There’s a lot we can’t control, but there’s a great deal we can control about our kitchens, plates and trash cans. Consider some of these tips for how to reduce food waste at home.
1. Make a Grocery List and Stick to It
Overbuying leads to food waste. Planning your meals for the week, making a list and sticking to it can prevent impulse buys and limit the vegetable carcasses not even good intentions could revive. Think about double duty. For instance, if you need fresh cilantro for a meal, plan a second meal that will use it too. Then you won’t end up with half the sprigs in your package wilted and headed for the trash.
2. Buy Frozen Instead of Fresh
The bright, beautiful colors of fresh fruits and veggies are tempting, but they can spoil quick. Instead of taking the gamble, stock your freezer with produce. You can thaw them in a flash and count on having an assortment of ingredients on a whim. Looking for another money-saving life hack? These companies give you food and other products for free.
3. Plan for Surprises
It’s so easy to get tempted by the events of the week, such as an unscheduled lunch or a surprise happy hour. Planned meals get abandoned as you nosh on a spontaneous (and unbudgeted) meal out. But if you plan your meals and buy fresh ingredients at the beginning of the week, you could end up tossing unused ingredients that go unused. By including at least one frozen dinner in your schedule, you can accept a last-minute invitation and save that entree for next week.
4. Rethink Expiration Dates
Sell-by, use-by and expiration dates all mean different things. Most often, the dates serve as a freshness, quality or display indicator, not a marker for when the food will actually go bad. Many people throw out perfectly good food because of date stamps. Use common sense, and recognize that just because a sell-by date has passed does not mean food needs to be immediately trashed.
5. Use Your Freezer
You can extend the life of your meats, bread and vegetables by freezing them. Gunders said almost anything can be frozen: Milk, shredded cheese, sliced bread and even raw eggs (out of the shell) can go in the freezer. It’ll all be there when you’re ready, so it will save money and food waste. Don’t you feel better?
6. Store Items Where You Can See Them
Some produce slips into the crisper abyss. Out of sight, out of mind. Keep items where you can see them. You’re more likely to use items that you can physically see. Additionally, learn how to store each type of produce. Some ripen faster and can speed up others nearby. Consider investing in special airtight containers that keep produce firm and fresh longer.
7. Clean Your Fridge and Organize Your Pantry
Expired items hide, and mold lurks on the edges you can’t quite see. Having a tidy fridge helps you see exactly what you have and inspires you to use it. Same goes for the pantry: Keeping it tidy allows you to see what you have at a glance and prevents items from getting lost behind the castles of steel cans.
8. Try Composting
Skip the landfill, and start composting. Everything from your coffee grounds to celery ends can find their way into your bin. In turn, you can eventually use it toward your next home gardening adventure.
9. Learn to Preserve or Can Foods
Pickle? Preserve? Can? They’re all options gaining popularity. But these practices have been around for centuries and have helped folks survive harsh winters and economic downturns. With a little upfront investment of time and money, you can acquire the tools necessary to preserve your excess food. This can prolong their shelf life and reduce food waste and costs.
10. Donate Extra Food
If something makes its way into your kitchen that you know your family won’t eat, donate it. Many local pantries and food banks welcome donations, but consider friends or families in your community who might appreciate a little extra food. There are restrictions and rules at some charities about what can be donated, so check before making any contributions.
11. Eat What You Have
Plan recipes around what’s been sitting around for a while or what needs to get used before it expires (aka pantry challenge). Explore the darkest recesses of your pantry before adding more supplies to the mix. Another money hack? Stop spending too much money on these 5 dumb things.
12. Mix It Up
Leftovers you’re tired of eating can be repurposed into new recipes. Some fruits and vegetables that are a little too ripe (like avocados, peaches and pears) can be baked or mashed into a baked dish. Ripe bananas make great banana bread, and soft strawberries can be added to smoothies. Other food scraps can be used in a myriad of ways. There’s a practical use for almost any piece of food you might throw away!
13. Host a Potluck
Host a potluck to get rid of some of your food. You’ll help everyone else also clean out their cabinets. Win-win.
14. Get an App
There are a few apps on the market that try to put a dent in the global food waste problem. Here are a few to consider:
– The USDA FoodKeeper app teaches best practices of food and beverage storage to maximize quality and freshness.
– Too Good to Go makes surplus restaurant food available for pickup before it gets thrown out.
– Waste No Food helps food-based establishments, like farms and restaurants, donate excess food to charities and shelters.
15. Channel Bob Ross
Ever wish you could make art with your food outside of Instagram posts? Let the bright colors of your leftovers become the colors of your clothes or the paint on your canvas. Yup, peels and ends from scraps of beets, spinach and lemons can be made into permanent fabric dye that could double as watercolor paint. Want more money-saving tricks like this? Here are eight more you should try.
16. Life’s a Garden… Dig It!
Even the brownest thumbs can turn green. Try regrowing your food scraps, and see what happens. Put seeds in the backyard, or try sprouting them over a cup of water.
