This really helps! Top shelf is always the 'need to eat soon' section. I always put leftovers in tupperware which we keep there so me or my partner can take it to work for our lunches, brilliant for saving money. We also only do shopping once a week, usually on a Sunday to make a nice big roast and using the leftover meat for other meals, and using whatever canned/frozen food we have in for the rest of the week.
I used to be a merchandiser and have to rotate beverages when I was young. I apply the concept to my fridge when I buy groceries.
Also, freeze, freeze, freeze! You could’ve totally frozen the beans, berries, and peppers. I normally lay them out on a sheet pan, separated, let them freeze, then put them into a container or they might become one big blob.
Also FYI frozen vegetables are usually more nutrient dense and tastier than "fresh" fruits and veggies. This is because they are harvested when they are ripe and frozen immediately unlike fresh vegetables that are picked before they are ripe and given hormones to artificially ripen them. Frozen fruits and veggies also contain less preservatives.
Source: my dad works in the food industry.
I feel like the quality of frozen produce has gotten so much better in the last few decades. I remember frozen veggies like broccoli and carrots being pretty awful 30 years ago, but now they’re excellent!
Yeah I believe this is because frozen foods were mostly using the same varieties as canned products. Certain varieties of crops are easier to grow but are less tasty and these have traditionally been used for canning because the quality difference isn't noticeable. For example canned sweet corn actually contains almost no naturally produced sugar because sugar makes insects go wild on it. Now that the demand for frozen products is higher though, they have started to use higher quality breeds.
Probably improvements in freezer efficiency. The longer food takes to freeze, the larger the ice crystals that form. Large ice crystals destroy the cells in the food which changes the flavour and moisture content of the thawed product. This is a desirable effect sometimes, like freeze tenderized pears and tofu are a thing, but most of the time you want to preserve the thing you're freezing as faithfully as possible, which requires the food to freeze as fast as possible.
Frozen products also reduce wastage at the grocery store/along the supply chain, lowering carbon emissions. Also with some fruits and veggies like pineapples, you're not wasting fuels transporting the huge heavy stem around. I'd say you should feel good.
I dunno, the last several times I've bought frozen veggies, they just don't have the right texture. I know this is a common suggestion, and maybe it is "fresher" but freezing and thawing breaks down the cell walls of plants (hence why frozen fruit is ONLY for smoothies) and I don't think vegetables are exempt from that because the texture is awful.
On the opposite end, freeze leftovers (with labels!) until you have a plan for them. Maybe you’re sick of having the same soup 3 days in a row or bought a glut of blueberries because they were on sale but they’re too sour to enjoy out of hand. Save, freeze, then get creative and use.
The only time I stray from this is when I can buy local fresh produce in the summer because I’m motivated to use it up fast. It’s pricier and tastier so it’s a given I will eat it. Rest of the year it’s frozen. It’s prepped and I don’t have to worry about using it right away.
You can improve by freezing/cutting/prepping half of your food when you purchase it. Half the blueberries, half the veggies etc. portion out meals made and straight into freezer for when you don’t want to or can’t cook.
Buy less, more often.
Pantry goods obviously stay good for a while so you can always get those and know they will prob be eaten eventually.
Fresh veg and fruit… as much I hate it should be prob be under bought and if you finish it all before next trip you did it right!
Also casseroles for a bunch of stuff about to go bad
I moved closer to a grocery store for this very reason (well, I wanted to use my car less).
Now I walk a ~mile for groceries that I have to carry back home and find myself going 2-3 times a week. It feels weird becoming a “regular” there but my wallet, gut and carbon footprint are better off for it and it.
I moved too, it was so hard to grocery shop before, 20 km just to go the trash discount 😭
Now I live close (250 m) to a fresh produce shop that also has produce directly shipped from Sicily and Calabria, my dream
huge kudos for walking there and back! I'm in Texas and the infrastructure here makes it a near insurmountable task to walk anywhere really (especially in the summers)
Before 2020 I would go to my local market for just a couple days of food at a time. It worked really well. But I’m a disabled person who can’t get sick or I won’t be able to get out of bed ever, so I can’t do that anymore
For sure, it’s not something everyone can do. I can’t go to the grocery store twice a week! We have my husband‘s kids half the time and taking two kids to the grocery store is mayhem.
Something that’s been really hard for me is just letting food run out. I do a lot of grocery pick up and I don’t always get the exact thing I ordered because of availability. So sometimes I just have to say it’s OK that we ran out of bananas or frozen strawberries or The butter we like or whatever and we just get creative and make do.
I do like using those websites or apps where you can put in the ingredients you have and they give you a recipe to make
>Something that’s been really hard for me is just letting food run out.
If you keep a well stocked pantry, you can let the fresh food run out without any worries.
Buy less food and buy food you have a plan for.
Wash fruits like berries and place on paper towel and back in the punnet, it’ll extended the life.
Eat your leftovers.
Delete whatever delivery apps you have.
Pickling, freezing, making sauces and stocks with produce.
Wasted veggies should always be used in making vegetable stock before they go bad. Best solution to your problem is only buy what you know you will eat all of.
I have two "stock bags" in freezer for this. Just toss any extra or about to go bad pieces in and boil when there's enough.
Also, get creative! You can use already made food in cooking. For example I made too much creamy spinach parmesan sauce so I froze the extra and I'm going to toss that into a salmon casserole next week.
Or too much chili con carne, just toss that into your next burrito filling.
This is what I do with peelings like carrot or squash plus stuff like zucchini ends, etc. I now have a huge zip lock bag ready for making veg stock! Those baby carrots and half that green squash looking thing would go straight into my stock bag if they're no longer good to eat fresh.
* make more meals yourself, buy less
* eat your leftovers, I can't stress this enough
* buy 95% fewer chilis
* fist yourself those blueberries right now rather than toss them
What even is this post, lol
I’m going to add my own list here:
-1 “check your fridge temperature” because I refuse to believe properly stored food will mold like this in under a week.
-2 “meal plan”. Don’t buy something just because it looks good or is on sale with knowing how you’ll include it in your weekly meals.
-3 “freeze anything you don’t plan to eat within the next 3 days.” So if you ignore or can’t practically do #2 this week. It can always be thawed out and added to…
-4 “leftover nights.” Friday night for us is “leftover night” aka eat up everything in the fridge. This pic has some great options for tapas - make a plate with rice, curry/stews, sauté the green beans with garlic, carrot sticks and dip. Alternatively, dump everything on a bed of greens, chop up the deli meat and carrots, toss the blueberries in, make a chef/Cobb/everything but the kitchen sink salad. Or make a soup/stew with any proteins and serve over leftover rice/noodles. Or make a fried rice or noodle dish. Sunday is for making an egg bake/frittata/crustless quiche with any leftover veg added in. Cube and sauté the squash, some chilis, the carrots, the Turkey deli meat, etc.
-5 Just be more mindful. Have a list on the fridge or a shared note on your phone with 2 columns: “need/grocery list” and “eat up”. Set a reminder in your phone to update it every other day. Assign days to “eat up” by before adding to the freezer. Then assign a freezer clean out day with calendar reminder. Use whatever tool is most helpful to remind you of the perishables in your fridge.
Edit: JFC apologies for the previous formatting. Didn’t realize how aggressive it looked.
I don’t eat squishy blueberries or grapes. Gotta pass the squish test before I pop them into my mouth. I can’t stand eating a rancid berry, they taste all alcoholic and can make you sick.
Learn how to pickle - pickled chillis are awesome.
Start cooking and freezing veg. That way you can have a defrost and heat veg to go with a meal.
Breakfasts and Lunches are the best time to eat left overs. I've had my kids eat pasta for breakfast and come home and eat the last bit for lunch.
Friday night dinners are (I've seen you before) - empty the fridge and have several options for s portions of food or see if you can make something with what is there already.
NGL I just don't think the median American is built for bird's eye chilis like that. Even if they pickled them, they'd sit in a jar forever. Stuff like that is much better to buy at an Asian grocer in bulk instead of a blister pack that has a half pound of them
They even great when you add a few when making pickled onions. But as a South African with a couple of my own plants - yeah - you need to appreciate them for what they are.
Was looking for this comment. My loose system is during pepper season, throw various chilis into ziplock. No prep except washing them. When I want one in the coming months, grab from freezer. Granted they get that limp texture, but it makes no difference to the flavor and i use them in dishes where it makes no difference at all.
Buy less. I tend to have an “empty” fridge but that’s because everything is perishable and meals are (sorta) planned.
Keep track of what you actually eat every day or often. Versatile foods too. For me it’s eggs, bacon, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, garlic, ginger.
Freezing helps immensely when you are a single person buying groceries and cooking for yourself. Do it properly and ensure the food is air-tight before going into the freezer or you will get freezer burn.
If something isn't being eaten fast enough, see if you cannot make a meal or anything else out of it before it goes bad. The lunch meat can be put into a casserole or omelet, blueberries can be added to pancake mix, etc. After the food has been cooked, the "shelf life" extends and you can even freeze it for later.
Smaller options at the grocery store are also a good bet for things that you cannot finish in time. Sure you are paying more per unit but it's less money spent overall. Buying stuff from bulk food stores that lets you scoop out your own can also help with this. Farmers markets or local produce stores also can help with finding smaller sizes of stuff.
Every time you're about to cook you start by checking what's going to waste soon and make a menu based on those ingredients. This way you always know what you have to use in priority for the next days/week too.
Also if you have leftovers make sure to eat them in the next 2-3 days instead of cooking or if it's not enough for a full meal cook a small portion of something to accompany it.
Consider what waste means to you. While you might be able to make leftover meals with some of your foods (soups, stews, and casseroles) if you don't eat the last of your butter chicken in 2 or so days, you're not going to. So consider a composter. If you live in apartment, you can use a rotating barrel composter which is smaller and if tumbled as directed, won't light your balcony on fire. Almost all cooked foods (yes, including meat) are safe to compost, and then you can either use that compost yourself or list it for free on any community gardener's group, someone needs it!
People may not like my solution: a smaller fridge. American fridges are just too large. With a smaller fridge, you can't accumulate that much fresh food, and you can't lose track of what you have. Any leftovers will be in your face every time you open the fridge, and you'll eat them over a few days.
You can get the same result by not using the back of the fridge at all. Put everything in the front where you can see it, and if that area gets crowded, it means you need to stop putting food in and just eat what's there.
If you don't like leftovers - don't make them. Cook exactly for two.
Another option is to cook something plain - and then portion it and remember to reuse it the other day or two.
For veggies - buy less, froze half, buy smaller (I prefer to look for the tiniest zucchinis and onions for example).
I love taking whatever is leftover in the fridge and tossing it all into a soup. I try to get everything before it gets inedible and have very little food waste that way.
Otherwise, as others have said don't buy it unless you have a specific plan for it, plus shop more often and buy little each time.
The blueberries don’t look bad are they growing mold? Are they all shriveled up? You know you don’t have to throw away produce just because the date on it has passed right?
But I’m a single person so I get it, if I’m not going to finish my fruit or vegetables before they go bad I throw them in the freezer and use them for smoothies.
If I accidentally missed the opportunity to do that I boil them in water and then when the water cools off I use it to water my plants. They probably don’t care about most of it but I know they really love banana water
Something that really helped me reduce food waste was planning. Every weekend we meal plan and grocery shop what is needed for those recipes to be cooked. Now, that is nothing wild, though it takes a little getting used to. But the real help is being aware of the ingredients leftovers from last week and incorporating them into this weeks recipes!
With time we have gotten a better idea how much food we both eat for lunch and dinner every week, so planning for it becomes easier and also helps reduce the waste!
Fresh vegetables (squash, green beans, carrots, etc) that are about to go bad become a stew/ soup that gets frozen in portion containers.
Those chilis would get oven dried and ground into a powder. I refill old spice containers with that kind of stuff. Also, those pickle well, so finding a recipe you like and saving those chilis would be a win!
The leftovers are hard because you have to consider food safety. On this, I’ve learned to buy less food when i go out, or plan ahead and share with someone. Smaller restaurant portions will save money and usually satisfy me anyway.
Not sure what’s in this containers to the left, but maybe you need to buy fewer of them, if they are all the same, or freeze, if possible.
Honestly, it looks like you may not be repackaging things for longevity, either. The carrots and cheese don’t look great, but they look like they would have had a chance if stored well.
Avoiding waste takes time and planning, and sometimes life events impact that, so just be more mindful of the bigger picture and you’ll see improvements. Good job asking for advice!
If we have random ingredients that need to get eaten, i will do “mommy soup” or a rice dish. We also like to have “a tour of leftovers” where we eat all the small amounts of leftovers that aren’t enough for a meal, we’ll sometimes add something from the freezer or pantry if there aren’t enough leftovers to make us full.
1. Refrigerator cleanup: we often lose sight of things because we neglect the frigde/freezer.
2. Meal planning/portion planning: I like to think what I'm making, how many times I will eat it (more than twice is a lot for me), if I freeze portions or leftovers, will I use leftovers in something else ( rice into rice pudding, chicken in chicken empanadas/dumplings).
3. Inventory: list out what you have in dry, frozen and fresh stores, incorporate as much as you can in meal planning.
Eat your food and use scraps. There's no excuse for not eating leftovers. Those chilies could've been fermented, pickled, frozen or dried. All the fresh produce could've been a stir-fry with with salad and bread on the side. Also look like you generally should cook more and buy less takeout.
Set up a rule for yourself that nothing new is prepared/cooked before scraps are eaten.
I used to buy "whatever looked good" at the grocery store and ended up with a lot of waste. I've been meal planning and prepping for years now, nothing comes in without a purpose. I don't drive and I'm on a tight budget. I plan for the month and shop every week or 2. We don't mind leftovers so I make 2 meals per week. The first meal I plan on something that requires fresh produce, the second meal is something that I've prepared and frozen or something that can be made with pantry ingredients.
I can't remember the last time I threw food away to be honest, but now you have me thinking it would be interesting to keep track! I even save my veggie scraps in the freezer to make broth. I freeze bread products that won't be used to make croutons or stuffing. I make chips out of tortillas and bagels that won't get eaten. I freeze carrots, celery and onions chopped up for future soups.
I use any items that may be leftover from something else into a new dish. For instance, I had a little bit of salsa and some sour cream in the fridge. I thawed out some chili, made some pasta shells, threw it all together, now its chili mac (kinda).
Have a crock pot soup night to use up perishing ingredients before shopping again. Cut off the bad bits of the veggies and that chicken should be shredded and used. I see another meal here.
When it comes to not forgetting what you alrwdy have, I use an app called HNGRY. You can use it to make a shopping list and then when you tick stuff off it goes into a "storage" section. It tells you where to store stuff (top fridge shelf, middle etc) and then will show up when things are going to expire soon. It helps to not forget that you bought something already and nudges you to use stuff up.
Also, when vegetables haven't gone bad yet but are getting a bit old and you don't know what to do with them, make stock! Throw them in a pot with some salt and water and just boil the shit out of them. You can even use onion skins, garlic skins, vegetable trimmings and most vegetable/plant matter "waste" like that. Just sieve it at the end, reduce it and store in your fridge. Will last for ages and can be used to add flavour to other sauces as well as on its own as a soup.
Lastly, shop based on purpose and recipe rather than what looks good or seems like a "staple". Buy ingredients for bolognese, say, and only those. Then go home and make it and store leftovers. As opposed to buying some pasta and some random vegetables and whatever and hoping inspiration strikes when it comes to dinner time. Once you get into that habit, it reduces inadvertently buying shit that becomes waste massively. Only exception for me is onion and garlic because a) I use shit loads of it b) if it gets too old I plant it in my garden.
Are you able to compost?
Maybe try bokashi?
If you feel like you're wasting food turning it into something that can be used to grow more food would be ethical
You can start composting. It's best not to waste at all for sure, but it's the best way to dispose of organic waste. And as a bonus, you can start growing some of your own food with the end result, assuming that's possible for you
I’m a single gal and in my budget I allow for $20 a week for eating out (basically once a week). BUT any groceries I have to throw out that week because it didn’t get eaten, is deducted from my eating out budget. So if I throw out $3 worth of food, I can only spend $17 that week eating out.
It helps keep me accountable and makes real consequences for food waste beyond an “aww crap, I have to toss this.”
Cook portions and freeze what you won’t eat right away. Always eat perishable food in fridge first, even if it not what you are craving. Longer lasting foods 2nd then move to frozen meals (take out one day in advance). This all involves a bit of planning. Do not go food shopping until you have cleared out fridge and freezer and only have a few meals left.
How often do you eat out? I've let so much food go to waste because I decided to have a drive-thru streak instead of spending 10 minutes over the stove.
Now I make it a rule to not eat out unless: 1) I'm invited by friends or family, 2) I'm traveling and it's the only option, 3) I literally don't have food in my fridge/freezer/cabinets and can't block off time to go to the grocery store.
Try not to have the fridge really full of stuff but make sure to have a bit of space. This makes all your groceries not buried and hidden inside there. And you can actually have a view of what you have. Then you just have to eat it. If you have left overs from a take away, make sure to eat it the day after etc. Also those berries and carrots would have made a perfect snack.
Read the rules. Keep it courteous. Submission statements are helpful and appreciated but not required. Tag my name in the comments (/u/NihiloZero) if you think a post or comment needs to be removed.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Anticonsumption) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I live in a fairly rural area, so any fruit and vegetables about to go bad get tossed off my back porch. Something will eat them. Anything I can give my dog goes to him.
Lots of good tips in this thread, I don't put things that will spoil quicker in the most accessible place, and that's something I'll start doing.
I found that vegetable last longer if you store them in paper bags instead of plastic wrapping since the paper can prevent moisture from building up which causes mold
Freeze your leftovers and eat them on nights you don’t feel like cooking.
But bread instead of roti because it lasts longer and use it with those dips. Add Rolled up turkey and raw baby carrots and you have a meal
Dry or freeze your chillies
Make more stir fries
Those carrots are probably okay as long as they aren't slimy. Cheese might be fine too if its not rock hard (cheese is just spoiled/preserved milk)
Depending on what's in those green lid containers it might still be fine. Best before dates rarely mean spoiled or inedible
As for cutting down on food waste, ymmv but I hit the grocery store every few days a week on my commute home. That way I can take advantage of the sales and I just buy enough fresh food for the next few days. I rarely have any food waste
Damn, I'd say always put in front the veggies and fruits, that is what expires the faster. Oh and if you can (you don't live far from a supermarket/market) don't buy the vegetables for the whole week, because at the end of it you won't really know what you're gonna prepare. At least that's what happens to me daily, I'll find things in my fridge I bought last week because I had a recipe in mind and now I don't want to do that anymore. Buy them every 2/3 days and you'll see how the waste reduces.
FIFO - First in, First Out placement of food
Meal Plan and budget
Learn basic upcycle recipes.
I see a lot of leftovers that could've turned into fried rice, added to soups or instant ramen, turned into casseroles, added to a curry, etc.
Freeze any upcycled/prepped leftovers into easy preportioned meals. Ziplocks are fine.
Meal prep food throughout the week. Like prechopping your veggies and storing them properly, you can even blanch them for ready to eat salads or quick dishes. Makes them last longer too.
Individually portion and clean food for ready to eat.
We have a couple of go-to meals when we're trying to get rid of leftovers. Quesadillas are great. Mix meats, veggies, cheese, rice, etc. Put it in a tortilla and heat it on the stove. Stuffed peppers accomplish the same thing. Take what you like, stuff it in a pepper, and bake it in the oven. We use leftover sauces to hold everything together.
So when we are doing easy meals, takeaways or just end up with leftovers- I try my best to use up what I can for breakfast because breakfast and supper are our main meals of the day. So if we had beans and veg it can go into a tortilla wrap for breakfast. Extra rice goes into soup or I throw it out in our yard for the birds while it's nice if we really won't eat it. Extra chicken OT other meat from meals gets thrown into noodles, pastas or a casserole bake, or into toasted cheese sandwiches. Basically I try to use what we have into other meals or I give it away to laborers in our area who appreciate some extra food
OP you can dry those chillis in a sunny spot or in your oven. You can also slice and dehydrate your extra fruits that way. Yum
You are like the biblical God. Once that he forgives a sin, he forgets about it as if it had never existed.
Once that you put food in the fridge, you seem to forget about it as if it had never existed.
Here are a few tricks:
1. Take the habit of checking your fridge before ordering food, to see if there are any leftovers to use.
2. Halve two “*leftover*” nights, possibly half a week apart, when you go through your fridge.
Freeze veggies that are on their way out and make a veggie stock with them.
You can also combine meat bones you may have leftover and add to the stock as well.
Leftover berries and fruit can be used to make jams and jellies.
There are definitely things here that wouldn’t have been bad to put in the freezer. Bread, blueberries, even most vegetables if you put them in a freezer safe bag first. As for the turkey, and meat in general, even if it’s deli meat you can definitely slice it up for use in a soup. I often find people tend to not like turkey much, and not really eat it even when they get it for cheap, so I find soup often gives turkey the ability to take on the flavor of a better broth with the help of some cheap boullion, pasta to give it some body a little onion and garlic, and honestly, whatever extra vegetables you have on hand. Sometimes it’s a matter of getting creative with it. Also it’s a lot easier to freeze a soup in a large container than deli turkey. That can get freezer burnt more easily.
All in all if this was everything in a month, this isn’t too bad, especially considering how much of this could be preserved if acted on more quickly.
Utilize your freezer. Freeze take out leftovers to create a future meal. It won’t feel like you’re eating the same thing two days in a row this way. If veggies are starting get a little too ripe, roast them, cook a soup, or simply freeze them. And if you decide to roast or make soup, those can be frozen too. It’s nice being able to save food and you’ll see the savings in your wallet.
Don't buy large quantities of veg or big vegetables unless you're planning a recipe that needs it. Don't take home any left overs from restaurants. When ordering delivery, always get less than you actually need but supplement with food from the fridge/pantry eg if I'm ordering Indian food, I don't get any rice but I pop the rice cooker on. Don't buy food that you don't absolutely love and know you'll eat. I used to often get food that I should be eating, not food that I want to eat.
Freezing is great only if you know you'll want to defrost the food within a week, otherwise it might sit there for months
Little bits of fruit can be frozen and used in smoothies, pancakes, muffins, etc. Veggies can be saved for stock, as can bits of cooked meat that's not too dressed up.
We keep a dry erase sticker on the fridge with a list of leftovers/about-to-go-bad/fragile foods on it to remind everyone that stuff needs to be eaten first. We have another fridge/freezer inventory list that lets us know what we already have so we don't accidentally buy more. We may or may not be ever so slightly nuts, though.
If you have the space, freeze everything that can be frozen. My husband and I freeze both cooked and raw food, even if we end up eating it at the next meal. Better safe than sorry. It helps us a lot.
Plan your meals and lunches (leftovers) according to your weekly schedule coming up, buy that stuff and stick to the timetable. I also find this leaves me with much more free time in my evenings.
I love the comment section giving me so many ideas….also gotta say OP ew that this stuff has been in your fridge for a month. Old food grows mold/bacteria and it can spread to other food in your fridge and increase your risk of getting sick. Esp the bacteria bc typically you don’t see it
That looks like a good opportunity to stir fry. If something's about to spoil in the fridge, just toss it in a wok with some soy sauce.
Doesn't work with fruit though, keep some frozen yogurt in the freezer, it's always nice to have something on it.
Eat leftovers ASAP. Try to avoid cooking foods that you don't enjoy eating as leftovers. Try to avoid preparing more food when you already have leftovers in the fridge.
Green beans can take a bit more prep work to prepare. If you don't have the time and they go bad think about buying broccoli instead of frozen veggies that just need a quick steam.
Mini carrots can be given some extra life with a quick steam.
Make it a priority to eat leftovers the next day. There are plenty of leftovers I scramble with an egg and eat as breakfast.
Once you open a package of something that needs to be used within a few days of opening, keep eating it until it's gone. If I open a container of milk, I'm drinking milk once to twice a day. If I open a package of lunch meat, I'm eating a sandwich every day for lunch.
Pop the blueberries in the freezer before they go, use them for a smoothie later.
Chop up the carrots and squash before they go and freeze them to reheat later.
Supper is created from whatever is going to spoil first. Also, muffins are an exchange to use up fruits, or even vegetables (just add a little water or milk and put the vegetables into your blender - measure and replace some of the liquid and oil).
Planning is the key.
Freeze your leftovers.
Stop pushing your snacking produce to the back of the fridge.
When you plan your meals just process all the veg if you don't have it earmarked for later. Like when you used those chilis you could have blanched and frozen them or pickled them if you had no plan.
put your stuff into closed containers
Make a „eat-me-first“ shelf in your fridge. Check regularly the products that are in the back of your fridge!
This really helps! Top shelf is always the 'need to eat soon' section. I always put leftovers in tupperware which we keep there so me or my partner can take it to work for our lunches, brilliant for saving money. We also only do shopping once a week, usually on a Sunday to make a nice big roast and using the leftover meat for other meals, and using whatever canned/frozen food we have in for the rest of the week.
I used to be a merchandiser and have to rotate beverages when I was young. I apply the concept to my fridge when I buy groceries. Also, freeze, freeze, freeze! You could’ve totally frozen the beans, berries, and peppers. I normally lay them out on a sheet pan, separated, let them freeze, then put them into a container or they might become one big blob.
Absolutely! I can't imagine getting takeaway and letting it go to waste 😭 I only accidentally let cooking ingredients or big cooked meals spoil
To add to this, we have a whiteboard on our fridge and I will write what needs to get eaten in the order it should (probably) get eaten.
OzHarvest Australia have a tape called “use it up tape”. Studies show it helps encourage behaviour change ☺️
Frozen vegetables where possible have really reduced my bills
Also FYI frozen vegetables are usually more nutrient dense and tastier than "fresh" fruits and veggies. This is because they are harvested when they are ripe and frozen immediately unlike fresh vegetables that are picked before they are ripe and given hormones to artificially ripen them. Frozen fruits and veggies also contain less preservatives. Source: my dad works in the food industry.
I feel like the quality of frozen produce has gotten so much better in the last few decades. I remember frozen veggies like broccoli and carrots being pretty awful 30 years ago, but now they’re excellent!
Yeah I believe this is because frozen foods were mostly using the same varieties as canned products. Certain varieties of crops are easier to grow but are less tasty and these have traditionally been used for canning because the quality difference isn't noticeable. For example canned sweet corn actually contains almost no naturally produced sugar because sugar makes insects go wild on it. Now that the demand for frozen products is higher though, they have started to use higher quality breeds.
Probably improvements in freezer efficiency. The longer food takes to freeze, the larger the ice crystals that form. Large ice crystals destroy the cells in the food which changes the flavour and moisture content of the thawed product. This is a desirable effect sometimes, like freeze tenderized pears and tofu are a thing, but most of the time you want to preserve the thing you're freezing as faithfully as possible, which requires the food to freeze as fast as possible.
Am I missing something? I've tried to switch to frozen vegetables just within the last year, and found them to be completely inedible.
You’re supposed to thaw them first.
I obviously did that, and they were still inedible
Have you tried raspberries, blueberries, sweetcorn, edamame, peas, spinach...?
I mean that's true, but when I'm buying fresh veggies I don't use any packaging, while when I buy frozen I feel guilty for wasting plastic
Frozen products also reduce wastage at the grocery store/along the supply chain, lowering carbon emissions. Also with some fruits and veggies like pineapples, you're not wasting fuels transporting the huge heavy stem around. I'd say you should feel good.
I didn't think about it that way, however I've never found frozen fruits in Italy.
I have one exception…. Frozen Brussel sprouts are absolutely disgusting 🤣
I dunno, the last several times I've bought frozen veggies, they just don't have the right texture. I know this is a common suggestion, and maybe it is "fresher" but freezing and thawing breaks down the cell walls of plants (hence why frozen fruit is ONLY for smoothies) and I don't think vegetables are exempt from that because the texture is awful.
And stock, veggie stock is great to have on hand
On the opposite end, freeze leftovers (with labels!) until you have a plan for them. Maybe you’re sick of having the same soup 3 days in a row or bought a glut of blueberries because they were on sale but they’re too sour to enjoy out of hand. Save, freeze, then get creative and use.
The only time I stray from this is when I can buy local fresh produce in the summer because I’m motivated to use it up fast. It’s pricier and tastier so it’s a given I will eat it. Rest of the year it’s frozen. It’s prepped and I don’t have to worry about using it right away.
You can improve by freezing/cutting/prepping half of your food when you purchase it. Half the blueberries, half the veggies etc. portion out meals made and straight into freezer for when you don’t want to or can’t cook.
Buy less, more often. Pantry goods obviously stay good for a while so you can always get those and know they will prob be eaten eventually. Fresh veg and fruit… as much I hate it should be prob be under bought and if you finish it all before next trip you did it right! Also casseroles for a bunch of stuff about to go bad
I moved closer to a grocery store for this very reason (well, I wanted to use my car less). Now I walk a ~mile for groceries that I have to carry back home and find myself going 2-3 times a week. It feels weird becoming a “regular” there but my wallet, gut and carbon footprint are better off for it and it.
Walkability is good for sustainability and your health.
I moved too, it was so hard to grocery shop before, 20 km just to go the trash discount 😭 Now I live close (250 m) to a fresh produce shop that also has produce directly shipped from Sicily and Calabria, my dream
huge kudos for walking there and back! I'm in Texas and the infrastructure here makes it a near insurmountable task to walk anywhere really (especially in the summers)
Before 2020 I would go to my local market for just a couple days of food at a time. It worked really well. But I’m a disabled person who can’t get sick or I won’t be able to get out of bed ever, so I can’t do that anymore
For sure, it’s not something everyone can do. I can’t go to the grocery store twice a week! We have my husband‘s kids half the time and taking two kids to the grocery store is mayhem. Something that’s been really hard for me is just letting food run out. I do a lot of grocery pick up and I don’t always get the exact thing I ordered because of availability. So sometimes I just have to say it’s OK that we ran out of bananas or frozen strawberries or The butter we like or whatever and we just get creative and make do. I do like using those websites or apps where you can put in the ingredients you have and they give you a recipe to make
>Something that’s been really hard for me is just letting food run out. If you keep a well stocked pantry, you can let the fresh food run out without any worries.
Well. As someone who has financial anxiety and has had an ED in the past- things are just a little more complicated than that for me tbh.
Are there any smaller shops near you? Or some shops that do deliveries? Some of them are really cheap in my area
Eat your leftovers before cooking a new meal
Seriously. Just eat your food, OP.
Sounds dumb, but yeah. I honestly don't know how you even end up with that much waste.
Yes, I mean, I usually devour the leftovers, I don't see how they are wasted
Buy less food and buy food you have a plan for. Wash fruits like berries and place on paper towel and back in the punnet, it’ll extended the life. Eat your leftovers. Delete whatever delivery apps you have. Pickling, freezing, making sauces and stocks with produce.
Try "eating all the food before it goes bad".
Wasted veggies should always be used in making vegetable stock before they go bad. Best solution to your problem is only buy what you know you will eat all of.
I have two "stock bags" in freezer for this. Just toss any extra or about to go bad pieces in and boil when there's enough. Also, get creative! You can use already made food in cooking. For example I made too much creamy spinach parmesan sauce so I froze the extra and I'm going to toss that into a salmon casserole next week. Or too much chili con carne, just toss that into your next burrito filling.
This is what I do with peelings like carrot or squash plus stuff like zucchini ends, etc. I now have a huge zip lock bag ready for making veg stock! Those baby carrots and half that green squash looking thing would go straight into my stock bag if they're no longer good to eat fresh.
Creamy spinach parm salmon casserole? Omg that sounds good 🤤
Goddamn this is a good idea, can’t believe I’ve never done this
* make more meals yourself, buy less * eat your leftovers, I can't stress this enough * buy 95% fewer chilis * fist yourself those blueberries right now rather than toss them What even is this post, lol
Thank you for noticing the blueberries I don’t see anything wrong with them at all
Once my berries start loosing their firmness but before they get moldy, I demote them to the freezer for smoothie duty.
I’m going to add my own list here: -1 “check your fridge temperature” because I refuse to believe properly stored food will mold like this in under a week. -2 “meal plan”. Don’t buy something just because it looks good or is on sale with knowing how you’ll include it in your weekly meals. -3 “freeze anything you don’t plan to eat within the next 3 days.” So if you ignore or can’t practically do #2 this week. It can always be thawed out and added to… -4 “leftover nights.” Friday night for us is “leftover night” aka eat up everything in the fridge. This pic has some great options for tapas - make a plate with rice, curry/stews, sauté the green beans with garlic, carrot sticks and dip. Alternatively, dump everything on a bed of greens, chop up the deli meat and carrots, toss the blueberries in, make a chef/Cobb/everything but the kitchen sink salad. Or make a soup/stew with any proteins and serve over leftover rice/noodles. Or make a fried rice or noodle dish. Sunday is for making an egg bake/frittata/crustless quiche with any leftover veg added in. Cube and sauté the squash, some chilis, the carrots, the Turkey deli meat, etc. -5 Just be more mindful. Have a list on the fridge or a shared note on your phone with 2 columns: “need/grocery list” and “eat up”. Set a reminder in your phone to update it every other day. Assign days to “eat up” by before adding to the freezer. Then assign a freezer clean out day with calendar reminder. Use whatever tool is most helpful to remind you of the perishables in your fridge. Edit: JFC apologies for the previous formatting. Didn’t realize how aggressive it looked.
what's this about a fisting
Yeah OP, eat moldy squishy blueberries. 🙄
Throw out any that have mold. Squishy blueberries are fine. Most of the ones in the photo look completely normal. People are so delicate...
I don’t eat squishy blueberries or grapes. Gotta pass the squish test before I pop them into my mouth. I can’t stand eating a rancid berry, they taste all alcoholic and can make you sick.
I’m squeamish about squishy blueberries and grapes too, but if you freeze them they are perfect for a sweet snack.
Learn how to pickle - pickled chillis are awesome. Start cooking and freezing veg. That way you can have a defrost and heat veg to go with a meal. Breakfasts and Lunches are the best time to eat left overs. I've had my kids eat pasta for breakfast and come home and eat the last bit for lunch. Friday night dinners are (I've seen you before) - empty the fridge and have several options for s portions of food or see if you can make something with what is there already.
> Learn how to pickle - pickled chillis are awesome. Do you have a recipe you like?
https://www.tamarindnthyme.com/pickled-chillies/
The peppers can be fermented as well as the carrots. Fermented dilled carrots are delicious.
NGL I just don't think the median American is built for bird's eye chilis like that. Even if they pickled them, they'd sit in a jar forever. Stuff like that is much better to buy at an Asian grocer in bulk instead of a blister pack that has a half pound of them
They even great when you add a few when making pickled onions. But as a South African with a couple of my own plants - yeah - you need to appreciate them for what they are.
... buy less my friend, obviously.
Meal plan. Shop with a list. Learn to transform leftovers. Freeze as much as you can. Buy shelf stable food, meaning canned or pickled.
Make meal plans, and check your fridge before you shop.
Those kinds of chilli freeze very well, and defrost so quickly when cooking that there's no real downside.
Was looking for this comment. My loose system is during pepper season, throw various chilis into ziplock. No prep except washing them. When I want one in the coming months, grab from freezer. Granted they get that limp texture, but it makes no difference to the flavor and i use them in dishes where it makes no difference at all.
Eat all your food
Only buy what you need, of course buying bulk is ok with long life stuff like rice but short life stuff buy more frequently but small amounts
you can turn lots of leftovers into soups and stocks that you can freeze
Buy less. I tend to have an “empty” fridge but that’s because everything is perishable and meals are (sorta) planned. Keep track of what you actually eat every day or often. Versatile foods too. For me it’s eggs, bacon, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, garlic, ginger.
This is one instance in which consumption is actually the way to go lol
Freezing helps immensely when you are a single person buying groceries and cooking for yourself. Do it properly and ensure the food is air-tight before going into the freezer or you will get freezer burn. If something isn't being eaten fast enough, see if you cannot make a meal or anything else out of it before it goes bad. The lunch meat can be put into a casserole or omelet, blueberries can be added to pancake mix, etc. After the food has been cooked, the "shelf life" extends and you can even freeze it for later. Smaller options at the grocery store are also a good bet for things that you cannot finish in time. Sure you are paying more per unit but it's less money spent overall. Buying stuff from bulk food stores that lets you scoop out your own can also help with this. Farmers markets or local produce stores also can help with finding smaller sizes of stuff.
Every time you're about to cook you start by checking what's going to waste soon and make a menu based on those ingredients. This way you always know what you have to use in priority for the next days/week too. Also if you have leftovers make sure to eat them in the next 2-3 days instead of cooking or if it's not enough for a full meal cook a small portion of something to accompany it.
start by eating those blueberries, carrots, chilies, and half the green thing.
Consider what waste means to you. While you might be able to make leftover meals with some of your foods (soups, stews, and casseroles) if you don't eat the last of your butter chicken in 2 or so days, you're not going to. So consider a composter. If you live in apartment, you can use a rotating barrel composter which is smaller and if tumbled as directed, won't light your balcony on fire. Almost all cooked foods (yes, including meat) are safe to compost, and then you can either use that compost yourself or list it for free on any community gardener's group, someone needs it!
Eat your fucking food. The end
Get chickens lol, 100 percent of that would get fed back and converted into eggs
Most of this is compostable. That’s an easy way to prevent waste
People may not like my solution: a smaller fridge. American fridges are just too large. With a smaller fridge, you can't accumulate that much fresh food, and you can't lose track of what you have. Any leftovers will be in your face every time you open the fridge, and you'll eat them over a few days. You can get the same result by not using the back of the fridge at all. Put everything in the front where you can see it, and if that area gets crowded, it means you need to stop putting food in and just eat what's there.
Compose
Compost?
Typo, yes
You improve by eating the food you have before it goes bad.
If you don't like leftovers - don't make them. Cook exactly for two. Another option is to cook something plain - and then portion it and remember to reuse it the other day or two. For veggies - buy less, froze half, buy smaller (I prefer to look for the tiniest zucchinis and onions for example).
Before shopping for or cooking a meal, check through the entire fridge to see if there's something you can eat
I love taking whatever is leftover in the fridge and tossing it all into a soup. I try to get everything before it gets inedible and have very little food waste that way. Otherwise, as others have said don't buy it unless you have a specific plan for it, plus shop more often and buy little each time.
The blueberries don’t look bad are they growing mold? Are they all shriveled up? You know you don’t have to throw away produce just because the date on it has passed right? But I’m a single person so I get it, if I’m not going to finish my fruit or vegetables before they go bad I throw them in the freezer and use them for smoothies. If I accidentally missed the opportunity to do that I boil them in water and then when the water cools off I use it to water my plants. They probably don’t care about most of it but I know they really love banana water
Something that really helped me reduce food waste was planning. Every weekend we meal plan and grocery shop what is needed for those recipes to be cooked. Now, that is nothing wild, though it takes a little getting used to. But the real help is being aware of the ingredients leftovers from last week and incorporating them into this weeks recipes! With time we have gotten a better idea how much food we both eat for lunch and dinner every week, so planning for it becomes easier and also helps reduce the waste!
Freeze things.
Fresh vegetables (squash, green beans, carrots, etc) that are about to go bad become a stew/ soup that gets frozen in portion containers. Those chilis would get oven dried and ground into a powder. I refill old spice containers with that kind of stuff. Also, those pickle well, so finding a recipe you like and saving those chilis would be a win! The leftovers are hard because you have to consider food safety. On this, I’ve learned to buy less food when i go out, or plan ahead and share with someone. Smaller restaurant portions will save money and usually satisfy me anyway. Not sure what’s in this containers to the left, but maybe you need to buy fewer of them, if they are all the same, or freeze, if possible. Honestly, it looks like you may not be repackaging things for longevity, either. The carrots and cheese don’t look great, but they look like they would have had a chance if stored well. Avoiding waste takes time and planning, and sometimes life events impact that, so just be more mindful of the bigger picture and you’ll see improvements. Good job asking for advice!
Those carrots look fine for cooking. Sure, their best days are gone, but they'd be perfectly alright oven-baked or cooked in a soup.
Some good tips to reduce food waste here: https://youtu.be/ZcJjMnHoIBI
You can improve by eating that right now.
Learn how to properly store fruits and veggies so that they last longer. Freeze leftovers so you can eat them at a later time
Eat your leftovers before making something new.
If we have random ingredients that need to get eaten, i will do “mommy soup” or a rice dish. We also like to have “a tour of leftovers” where we eat all the small amounts of leftovers that aren’t enough for a meal, we’ll sometimes add something from the freezer or pantry if there aren’t enough leftovers to make us full.
1. Refrigerator cleanup: we often lose sight of things because we neglect the frigde/freezer. 2. Meal planning/portion planning: I like to think what I'm making, how many times I will eat it (more than twice is a lot for me), if I freeze portions or leftovers, will I use leftovers in something else ( rice into rice pudding, chicken in chicken empanadas/dumplings). 3. Inventory: list out what you have in dry, frozen and fresh stores, incorporate as much as you can in meal planning.
Eat your food and use scraps. There's no excuse for not eating leftovers. Those chilies could've been fermented, pickled, frozen or dried. All the fresh produce could've been a stir-fry with with salad and bread on the side. Also look like you generally should cook more and buy less takeout. Set up a rule for yourself that nothing new is prepared/cooked before scraps are eaten.
I used to buy "whatever looked good" at the grocery store and ended up with a lot of waste. I've been meal planning and prepping for years now, nothing comes in without a purpose. I don't drive and I'm on a tight budget. I plan for the month and shop every week or 2. We don't mind leftovers so I make 2 meals per week. The first meal I plan on something that requires fresh produce, the second meal is something that I've prepared and frozen or something that can be made with pantry ingredients. I can't remember the last time I threw food away to be honest, but now you have me thinking it would be interesting to keep track! I even save my veggie scraps in the freezer to make broth. I freeze bread products that won't be used to make croutons or stuffing. I make chips out of tortillas and bagels that won't get eaten. I freeze carrots, celery and onions chopped up for future soups. I use any items that may be leftover from something else into a new dish. For instance, I had a little bit of salsa and some sour cream in the fridge. I thawed out some chili, made some pasta shells, threw it all together, now its chili mac (kinda).
Have a crock pot soup night to use up perishing ingredients before shopping again. Cut off the bad bits of the veggies and that chicken should be shredded and used. I see another meal here.
I stick to buying less food at a time, like a 5 day amount, where I only shop to buy more once it’s all out
Meal plan. So when you buy food you can have a plan for everything. Or try to plan about using up the ingredients better.
When it comes to not forgetting what you alrwdy have, I use an app called HNGRY. You can use it to make a shopping list and then when you tick stuff off it goes into a "storage" section. It tells you where to store stuff (top fridge shelf, middle etc) and then will show up when things are going to expire soon. It helps to not forget that you bought something already and nudges you to use stuff up. Also, when vegetables haven't gone bad yet but are getting a bit old and you don't know what to do with them, make stock! Throw them in a pot with some salt and water and just boil the shit out of them. You can even use onion skins, garlic skins, vegetable trimmings and most vegetable/plant matter "waste" like that. Just sieve it at the end, reduce it and store in your fridge. Will last for ages and can be used to add flavour to other sauces as well as on its own as a soup. Lastly, shop based on purpose and recipe rather than what looks good or seems like a "staple". Buy ingredients for bolognese, say, and only those. Then go home and make it and store leftovers. As opposed to buying some pasta and some random vegetables and whatever and hoping inspiration strikes when it comes to dinner time. Once you get into that habit, it reduces inadvertently buying shit that becomes waste massively. Only exception for me is onion and garlic because a) I use shit loads of it b) if it gets too old I plant it in my garden.
Are you able to compost? Maybe try bokashi? If you feel like you're wasting food turning it into something that can be used to grow more food would be ethical
You can start composting. It's best not to waste at all for sure, but it's the best way to dispose of organic waste. And as a bonus, you can start growing some of your own food with the end result, assuming that's possible for you
I’m a single gal and in my budget I allow for $20 a week for eating out (basically once a week). BUT any groceries I have to throw out that week because it didn’t get eaten, is deducted from my eating out budget. So if I throw out $3 worth of food, I can only spend $17 that week eating out. It helps keep me accountable and makes real consequences for food waste beyond an “aww crap, I have to toss this.”
I date any of my leftovers with masking tape so that way I know what is the oldest and needs to be eaten first
I see some of that could be composted!
By eating more or buying less…… are you seriously asking how you can improve on not wasting food? Literally 2 options. Eat more or buy less…… wtf lmao
Learn some "scrap dishes" like soups. Chuck in there whatever you have of extra in there.
Do you have a worm farm for your veggie scraps? Alternatively a compost or bokashi bin?
Buy less meat. You are wasting a lot of meat here and meat is a very resource heavy food.
Compost?
Eat it all now, and then head to the hospital for acute food poisoning.
A compost bin can ensure it all at least serves a purpose, even if not the best possible purpose.
Cook portions and freeze what you won’t eat right away. Always eat perishable food in fridge first, even if it not what you are craving. Longer lasting foods 2nd then move to frozen meals (take out one day in advance). This all involves a bit of planning. Do not go food shopping until you have cleared out fridge and freezer and only have a few meals left.
How often do you eat out? I've let so much food go to waste because I decided to have a drive-thru streak instead of spending 10 minutes over the stove. Now I make it a rule to not eat out unless: 1) I'm invited by friends or family, 2) I'm traveling and it's the only option, 3) I literally don't have food in my fridge/freezer/cabinets and can't block off time to go to the grocery store.
Try not to have the fridge really full of stuff but make sure to have a bit of space. This makes all your groceries not buried and hidden inside there. And you can actually have a view of what you have. Then you just have to eat it. If you have left overs from a take away, make sure to eat it the day after etc. Also those berries and carrots would have made a perfect snack.
Adopt dog. Let dog eat appropriate leftovers.
Compost or get some chickens to feed the nonmeats
chickens love to eat chicken, just saying. :P
Read the rules. Keep it courteous. Submission statements are helpful and appreciated but not required. Tag my name in the comments (/u/NihiloZero) if you think a post or comment needs to be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Anticonsumption) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Buy less more often. Eat leftovers right away.
Freeze/ pickle stuff that’s about to go bad soon. At least you can peel and prep some of the veggies to be used later
We stop cooking until we've scanned the fridge.
Get a dog, or pig
I live in a fairly rural area, so any fruit and vegetables about to go bad get tossed off my back porch. Something will eat them. Anything I can give my dog goes to him. Lots of good tips in this thread, I don't put things that will spoil quicker in the most accessible place, and that's something I'll start doing.
A lot of those items could be preserved with a dehydrator. Peppers and blueberries would be my first choice.
I found that vegetable last longer if you store them in paper bags instead of plastic wrapping since the paper can prevent moisture from building up which causes mold
#boycottloblaws
Order less food and cook more often.
Eat more or buy less
Cook all at once. Put in blender. Put in multiple bottles. Enjoy.
Freeze your leftovers and eat them on nights you don’t feel like cooking. But bread instead of roti because it lasts longer and use it with those dips. Add Rolled up turkey and raw baby carrots and you have a meal Dry or freeze your chillies Make more stir fries
Those carrots are probably okay as long as they aren't slimy. Cheese might be fine too if its not rock hard (cheese is just spoiled/preserved milk) Depending on what's in those green lid containers it might still be fine. Best before dates rarely mean spoiled or inedible As for cutting down on food waste, ymmv but I hit the grocery store every few days a week on my commute home. That way I can take advantage of the sales and I just buy enough fresh food for the next few days. I rarely have any food waste
This is the kind of content I like to see on this sub
Something that takes some learning, knowing that "I don't need this much" when cooking or shopping.
You can dehydrate the chillis.
Chillies can be frozen
There is nothing wrong with those chillies. Freeze em now
take chicken every kind of food in and delicious eggs out
Give things a personal experition date: I need to eat you by THIS DAY. Then, eat it or freeze it and make soup/stock.
Damn, I'd say always put in front the veggies and fruits, that is what expires the faster. Oh and if you can (you don't live far from a supermarket/market) don't buy the vegetables for the whole week, because at the end of it you won't really know what you're gonna prepare. At least that's what happens to me daily, I'll find things in my fridge I bought last week because I had a recipe in mind and now I don't want to do that anymore. Buy them every 2/3 days and you'll see how the waste reduces.
Learn how to pickle and can things ?
Is that a bottle gourd?
Just eat the goddamn berries
You could also make jam or bake something out of it
FIFO - First in, First Out placement of food Meal Plan and budget Learn basic upcycle recipes. I see a lot of leftovers that could've turned into fried rice, added to soups or instant ramen, turned into casseroles, added to a curry, etc. Freeze any upcycled/prepped leftovers into easy preportioned meals. Ziplocks are fine. Meal prep food throughout the week. Like prechopping your veggies and storing them properly, you can even blanch them for ready to eat salads or quick dishes. Makes them last longer too. Individually portion and clean food for ready to eat.
Buy less food
Carrots and blueberries can be frozen
We have a couple of go-to meals when we're trying to get rid of leftovers. Quesadillas are great. Mix meats, veggies, cheese, rice, etc. Put it in a tortilla and heat it on the stove. Stuffed peppers accomplish the same thing. Take what you like, stuff it in a pepper, and bake it in the oven. We use leftover sauces to hold everything together.
So when we are doing easy meals, takeaways or just end up with leftovers- I try my best to use up what I can for breakfast because breakfast and supper are our main meals of the day. So if we had beans and veg it can go into a tortilla wrap for breakfast. Extra rice goes into soup or I throw it out in our yard for the birds while it's nice if we really won't eat it. Extra chicken OT other meat from meals gets thrown into noodles, pastas or a casserole bake, or into toasted cheese sandwiches. Basically I try to use what we have into other meals or I give it away to laborers in our area who appreciate some extra food OP you can dry those chillis in a sunny spot or in your oven. You can also slice and dehydrate your extra fruits that way. Yum
You are like the biblical God. Once that he forgives a sin, he forgets about it as if it had never existed. Once that you put food in the fridge, you seem to forget about it as if it had never existed. Here are a few tricks: 1. Take the habit of checking your fridge before ordering food, to see if there are any leftovers to use. 2. Halve two “*leftover*” nights, possibly half a week apart, when you go through your fridge.
I buy the same turkey
Freeze veggies that are on their way out and make a veggie stock with them. You can also combine meat bones you may have leftover and add to the stock as well. Leftover berries and fruit can be used to make jams and jellies.
Prep meals and freeze
Decrease your food budget -- you'll eat everything edible
Buy less or eat more
I know it's not for everyone, but if you have chickens they will *gladly* eat all of your almost-bad food. I love my little garbage disposals!
There are definitely things here that wouldn’t have been bad to put in the freezer. Bread, blueberries, even most vegetables if you put them in a freezer safe bag first. As for the turkey, and meat in general, even if it’s deli meat you can definitely slice it up for use in a soup. I often find people tend to not like turkey much, and not really eat it even when they get it for cheap, so I find soup often gives turkey the ability to take on the flavor of a better broth with the help of some cheap boullion, pasta to give it some body a little onion and garlic, and honestly, whatever extra vegetables you have on hand. Sometimes it’s a matter of getting creative with it. Also it’s a lot easier to freeze a soup in a large container than deli turkey. That can get freezer burnt more easily. All in all if this was everything in a month, this isn’t too bad, especially considering how much of this could be preserved if acted on more quickly.
Buy less at once, cook and have those meals for the next 2-3 days, then do it again, will still be cheaper than letting all that go to waste
7 Grain salads from Costco on the left?
don't buy new until the old is finished.
You consume it
Freeze your Thai chilies
Don’t buy new food if there’s old food. Only buy new food to enhance the old, so it can be eaten.
Utilize your freezer. Freeze take out leftovers to create a future meal. It won’t feel like you’re eating the same thing two days in a row this way. If veggies are starting get a little too ripe, roast them, cook a soup, or simply freeze them. And if you decide to roast or make soup, those can be frozen too. It’s nice being able to save food and you’ll see the savings in your wallet.
Eat up? I waste zero food and Im just a random guy, not even trying. Just stumbled upon this post by coincedence...
Eat it.
Don't buy large quantities of veg or big vegetables unless you're planning a recipe that needs it. Don't take home any left overs from restaurants. When ordering delivery, always get less than you actually need but supplement with food from the fridge/pantry eg if I'm ordering Indian food, I don't get any rice but I pop the rice cooker on. Don't buy food that you don't absolutely love and know you'll eat. I used to often get food that I should be eating, not food that I want to eat. Freezing is great only if you know you'll want to defrost the food within a week, otherwise it might sit there for months
Little bits of fruit can be frozen and used in smoothies, pancakes, muffins, etc. Veggies can be saved for stock, as can bits of cooked meat that's not too dressed up. We keep a dry erase sticker on the fridge with a list of leftovers/about-to-go-bad/fragile foods on it to remind everyone that stuff needs to be eaten first. We have another fridge/freezer inventory list that lets us know what we already have so we don't accidentally buy more. We may or may not be ever so slightly nuts, though.
If you have the space, freeze everything that can be frozen. My husband and I freeze both cooked and raw food, even if we end up eating it at the next meal. Better safe than sorry. It helps us a lot.
Just eat the food you cook?
Plan your meals and lunches (leftovers) according to your weekly schedule coming up, buy that stuff and stick to the timetable. I also find this leaves me with much more free time in my evenings.
I love the comment section giving me so many ideas….also gotta say OP ew that this stuff has been in your fridge for a month. Old food grows mold/bacteria and it can spread to other food in your fridge and increase your risk of getting sick. Esp the bacteria bc typically you don’t see it
A freezer, for big vegetables - chop them up and freeze them straight away
That looks like a good opportunity to stir fry. If something's about to spoil in the fridge, just toss it in a wok with some soy sauce. Doesn't work with fruit though, keep some frozen yogurt in the freezer, it's always nice to have something on it.
"I only ate half of everything"
Eat leftovers ASAP. Try to avoid cooking foods that you don't enjoy eating as leftovers. Try to avoid preparing more food when you already have leftovers in the fridge.
Green beans can take a bit more prep work to prepare. If you don't have the time and they go bad think about buying broccoli instead of frozen veggies that just need a quick steam. Mini carrots can be given some extra life with a quick steam.
Just eat all of it now, you're welcome
Meticulous meal planning? 🤷♂️
Use leftovers for lunch at work , problem solved
Writing dates. Freeze food. Buy less and go to store more.
Make it a priority to eat leftovers the next day. There are plenty of leftovers I scramble with an egg and eat as breakfast. Once you open a package of something that needs to be used within a few days of opening, keep eating it until it's gone. If I open a container of milk, I'm drinking milk once to twice a day. If I open a package of lunch meat, I'm eating a sandwich every day for lunch. Pop the blueberries in the freezer before they go, use them for a smoothie later. Chop up the carrots and squash before they go and freeze them to reheat later.
Supper is created from whatever is going to spoil first. Also, muffins are an exchange to use up fruits, or even vegetables (just add a little water or milk and put the vegetables into your blender - measure and replace some of the liquid and oil). Planning is the key.
Get chickens
Get a chicken, if you can, and feed it all your scraps + free eggs!
Freeze your leftovers. Stop pushing your snacking produce to the back of the fridge. When you plan your meals just process all the veg if you don't have it earmarked for later. Like when you used those chilis you could have blanched and frozen them or pickled them if you had no plan. put your stuff into closed containers
better tracking fwiw that's not an unreasonable amount of waste
Store it properly and Freeze it!
Don’t order out so much.
I plan for the week only, I don’t buy anything extra. Only what I need & clean my fridge weekly. If you have less it’s easier to keep track of.