From The Forums: Tips to Reduce Food Waste
by Alan Graham on 04.28.08
ml2620 brings up a good topic:
My husband and I are a bit shocked at the amount of food we waste. We tend to eat out alot because of our work schedules, so when it's time for the weekly search and seizure in our fridge - we easily throw out a few pounds of food that's gone bad - veggies, fruit, leftovers, etc.How do you manage to reduce your food waste - use what you have, make the most of scraps? I also have no concept of meal planning, so tips on that would be appreciated. We are still meat eaters but have comittied to 4 vegetarian or vegan meals per week.
Any tips or suggestions could be appreciated!
sensiblesustainable says:
Meal planning goes a LONG way in helping reduce food waste...it took about 2 years for my wife to buy into the concept, but we have not only reduced our food waste, but our food budget as well. We haven't gone as crazy at 'Monday is taco night, tuesday is steaks, wednedsay is ...', but sometime over the weekend we usually have a conversation of what is going on this week, what is for dinner what night, and what do we need to buy.
belandil:
My wife and I rarely have to throw away food. We don't eat out very much, but if we have leftovers from restaurants, they usually become tomorrow's lunch. Leftovers from home-cooked dinners work the same way. We always bring our own lunches to work/school.Keep bread in the fridge so it doesn't grow mold. If you still have problems, keep a loaf in the freezer and move it to the fridge when your other loaf is gone.
Keep up with what's in your fridge. If you know something will be going bad soon, incorporate it into a meal.
Eliminate garbage by not buying wastefully-packaged items (yogurt).
There are quite a few suggestions in the forums, but we could always use more. Come in and add yours.
I suggest getting a composter, for either outside or in your kitchen. Toss in some dirt and a few worms and you're good to go. We prevent hundreds of pounds of food waste from going to the landfill every year. Instead, our garden is the beneficiary.
The biggest helper for my family is our crockpot with menu planning running a close 2nd. Toss in a cut of meat, some seasonings and some liquid and dinner will be ready for you when you get home. There are tons of sites with great crockpot recipies and most of them can be started with frozen items.
And we keep 1/2 a loaf of bread in the fridge and 1/2 in the freezer since we don't use the entire thing before it gets fuzzy.
We also cut up lemons and toss them in the freezer to use in our water instead of ice cubes.
The biggest thing is to actually increase the number of times you go shopping. We tend to shop 4 times per week. Limit yourself to ingredients that you know how and when you are going to use. Avoid impulse buys. Stick to staple items, and though it may cost more, don't always go for the biggest size. Who the hell needs a huge tub of peanut butter anyways?!?
As I live in Japan, and my wife is Japanese, we usually eat many items for dinner. Say, on the average, about 5 things per meal. The main dish is always rice. Everything else complements the rice. Thus, even if you have leftovers, it is a lot easier to eat them the next day. On the other hand, if you have lasagna, then the next day you probably won't be in the mood for lasagna quite yet. Thus, it sits in the fridge until it molds. Not that this info could really help anyone that has grown up in a western-style home, but I wanted to throw it out there anyways.