Wasting Food--and how to avoid it?

[Narnia_girl]

One of my New Year's Goals is to waste less food. I know we are fortunate to have what we have and it's costly and wasteful to throw it away because it spoils.
I'm looking for some ideas on how to avoid food wasting? I already date everything that is not used immediately after opening. When I open a new spices, canister of oatmeal, bottle of molasses, etc... I write the date with a sharpie.

What do you do to make sure you use up food before it goes bad?

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

DH and I have a no waste policy. We really try hard not to let things get thrown out. We make a weekly meal plan and first consider what food is currently in our fridge, pantry and freezer that is in danger of spoilage. We then develop a grocery list from there. We often eat leftovers for lunches or if necessary, designate a leftovers night.

We like to purchase food when it is on sale. Two years ago I got a large upright freezer and it has been really great for helping us save money, eliminate waste and save time. We purchase lots of food on sale or in bulk. For example, 3 lb. bags of carrots went on sale for $1 each. So we bought 4 bags, peeled and sliced the carrots, divided them into 1 lb ziplocks, dated and froze them. We use them for soups mainly. We also freeze some leftovers for later so that we have quick homemade meals when we don't feel like cooking. When my MIL looked in our freezer, she said it looked like the cold case at the grocery store, we were so well stocked and organized.

 

[Malibustyle23]

Op, do you meal plan? Like the pp mentioned if you meal plan for the entire week and use what you have opened on hand then I think your waste should be minimal.

Is your problem having too much leftovers to toss or is it opened items that haven't been eaten and have spoiled?

 

[Narnia_girl]

Great idea with the carrots! I love them and often buy 5 lbs. at Sam's. I hadn't thought of cutting them up and freezing them. Thanks for that idea.

Op, do you meal plan? Like the pp mentioned if you meal plan for the entire week and use what you have opened on hand then I think your waste should be minimal.

Is your problem having too much leftovers to toss or is it opened items that haven't been eaten and have spoiled?

I do meal plan but not strictly. By that I mean I make a menu for the next week or 10 days but I don't plan what we eat by day. I often take into account what type of meats we have on hand, but my spoilage issues are often produce (I just threw out celery).

I think another issue is the transition as our children grow up. I'm used to cooking for five but now it's often just two or three of us eating at night.
My husband is very happy to eat leftovers--me, not so much.

 

[Malibustyle23]

Produce should be an easy issue to help fix. If it's vegetables start a bag in the freezer and toss chopped cleaned veggies in there before they spoil and use it to make a soup, stew, casserole, etc whenever it gets full.

Fruits can be used to bake with or for desserts. Bananas make a split, banana bread, etc. Apples make a dump cake. Just find something to make before they are thrown away.

Start creating your menu based on each day that it will be eaten. My Dh doesn't enjoy leftovers either. So I will not have leftovers but rather create a new meal for that protein. I plan my weekly meals and if I know I will have extra meat left from Monday's meal we will reuse that on Wednesday. Ie whole chicken is cooked on Monday and then Wednesday we will have chicken quesadillas with the leftovers. Roast beef tonight? The day after tomorrow we will have beef bbq sandwiches a couple days from now.

If you over cook because you are used to the larger size, I'm guilty too, freeze half the meal for an easy meal later or freeze the extra into individual servings for later.

I have greatly reduced my budget and waste by planning meals for everyday of the week and basing these menus on the sales of the week.

 

[TwoMisfits]

If produce is your problem, have a weekly "clean out the fridge" meal where produce will get used up. I have several, such as
Homemade tomato veggie sauce (start with sauteeing the veggies you need to get rid of, and add a marinara sauce) - serve with pasta and/or meaballs
Pot pie casserole - I use the Pioneer Woman's base Turkey Pot Pie recipe to make the roux and to have cook times, but I saute extra veggies (and leave out the potatoes) and use a few extra spices and lay 2 pie crusts over a 13x9
Potato soup - I have a base powder starter I use, but I always saute extra veggies in bacon fat before I prep the soup and its base (I also throw in extra mashed potatoes or excess milk into this - so they never go bad)
Crockpot lentils - this uses up both a spare protein and any veggies I need it to - I use a jar of Indian sauce, a can of coconut milk, and some water or broth for a dynamite stew...
Fried rice - uses up excess amounts of "not enough for dinner" proteins and excess rice and some veggies
Smoothies/muffins - if any of my fruit is starting to get where I won't serve it raw, I usually put them into a smoothie or a muffin (I have the base epicurious muffin recipe that can go any way I need it)

I could go on, but you get the idea. I normally plan to make this type of meal near the end of the week on the day before my grocery shop or the day of my grocery shop (so when I get home, I pull out what needs to be made while I put away the new stuff)...

 

[2TxAgs]

@Narnia_girl, it's amazing how often I find a thread on the DISBoards that is directly in line with something going on in my life, and this is no exception! Just like you, I want to reduce our food waste. Also, we are transitioning to fewer folks at home, and my problem tends to be produce. My oldest daughter ate fruit and veggies like they were candy, and now that she's gone, I still buy all the good looking produce I see and no one else eats it nearly as quickly. I acknowledge that I also have become lazier about cooking and using up what I know is in the fridge. I'm looking forward to ideas that others have for minimizing waste.

 

[Eureka]

This is something I always struggle with. I freeze leftover stuff, even if it's just enough meat for one taco (to make taco nachos another time), if it hasn't been eaten within a couple days. DH cooks several times a week and tends to cook even when we still have leftovers in the fridge, so many of "my" cooking nights (depends on who's working at home that day) are leftovers or using up stuff that's sat in the pantry for awhile.

I try not to buy more meat until we've used what we have in the freezer and that works pretty well. We still end up wasting food, usually produce that turns before we use it, but we are getting better. It bothers me to see it (and the money we spend on it) go down the drain.

 

[crisi]

Keep a soup bag in your freezer. Put a lot of your vegetables in there before they go bad. Same for fruit. Use the veggies for soup stock or put them in spaghetti sauce. Fruit becomes smoothies. Things like apples might need to be cooked down.

 

[CAFarmerGirl]

We give leftover produce to our chickens and they give us eggs in return.

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

If you live close by a grocery, try doing smaller, more frequent stops.

If you meal plan, try organizing your recipes to use like ingredients. That way if you need carrots and peppers for one, you will use them in others to cut out waste.

Similar produce can be used as salad, in stir fry, in soup and as veggies and dip.

It does take a little practice. I was bad at this at one time as well. If you eliminate 50 bucks in waste each week, you are 200 bucks richer at the end of the month. 200 bucks a month goes a long way!

 

[tarheel618]

We take leftovers for lunch- we never buy lunch. Also, we have 1-2 nights per week where we eat what we have in the frig. Tonight is one of those nights. I usually do this every 2-3 days. Produce is hard. I try not to buy large quantities and try to use the produce that I know will spoil quickest first. Also you may need to switch to some frozen fruits-vegetables in order to not waste.

 

[North of Mouse]

One of my New Year's Goals is to waste less food. I know we are fortunate to have what we have and it's costly and wasteful to throw it away because it spoils.
I'm looking for some ideas on how to avoid food wasting? I already date everything that is not used immediately after opening. When I open a new spices, canister of oatmeal, bottle of molasses, etc... I write the date with a sharpie.

What do you do to make sure you use up food before it goes bad?

One thing to remember that dates on lots of foods are 'sell by', 'best by' dates, and doesn't mean the food is no good past those dates.
Especially, you mentioned spices,oatmeal, molasses, etc. Those type foods, if kept at good temps, will be good long past their dates - exceptions, of course.

Canned foods are another example - you can tell when they are bulging, or don't have the vacuum release sound when opened, otherwise will be good past dates. The same goes for a lot of pantry staples. I have many years of experience, as did my Mom, and we have had no problems using our common sense in the matter of dates on food.

Produce, of course, is more tricky! Try to buy what you can use before going bad, or lots of it can be chopped up, bagged, and frozen for cooked dishes - that's what I do.
Fruit chopped, frozen, used as 'ice' in smoothies.

We are empty nesters now, and I have never learned how to cook just for 'two', so I still cook normal, dh loves left overs, and I also freeze portions for quick meals.

 

[Narnia_girl]

One thing to remember that dates on lots of foods are 'sell by', 'best by' dates, and doesn't mean the food is no good past those dates.
Especially, you mentioned spices,oatmeal, molasses, etc. Those type foods, if kept at good temps, will be good long past their dates - exceptions, of course.

Canned foods are another example - you can tell when they are bulging, or don't have the vacuum release sound when opened, otherwise will be good past dates. The same goes for a lot of pantry staples. I have many years of experience, as did my Mom, and we have had no problems using our common sense in the matter of dates on food.

Produce, of course, is more tricky! Try to buy what you can use before going bad, or lots of it can be chopped up, bagged, and frozen for cooked dishes - that's what I do.
Fruit chopped, frozen, used as 'ice' in smoothies.

We are empty nesters now, and I have never learned how to cook just for 'two', so I still cook normal, dh loves left overs, and I also freeze portions for quick meals.

I definitely agree about the sell by or use by dates. That's something I have had to retrain myself on!

I started writing the dates when I opened things because of shortening. Shortening is not something I use regularly but I do have one Christmas cookie recipe that needs it. I went to the cupboard and found an open container near the back but I could not remember when I had used it last. Was it one year ago? Two? I called the manufacturer to ask about its shelf life and they told me about one year after opening, but I didn't know when I opened it!
That's when I started writing the dates on products. It has really helped me when I find a half jar of spaghetti sauce in the fridge and I think it was just last week that I used it but my handwriting tells me my memory isn't all that good!

 

[North of Mouse]

Yes, I agree with you on the shortening, or basically any oils. They can go rancid, but you can definitely tell by the smell - just like nuts, or anything with a high fat content - the shelf life is not too long. I do have some from more than a year, but as long as it's kept at a 'coolish' (not a word, LOL) temp it will last longer. It is not ruined for baking if it smells ok. To be on the safe side, these companies 'have' to tell you not to use beyond their dates! They have been required by law to put dates on things - which really is a good thing.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Something that helps me with avoiding waste is to buy mainly frozen veggies and fruits. I live in PA and our produce is usually sketchy--it comes from far away on a truck and is picked well before ripeness, so I often will buy produce that looks beautiful in the store but then I take it home and it never ripens, just slowly rots. I do have some fresh produce staples that I always keep in the house, and I will buy fresh produce at the grocery store when it is in season because it is usually ripe and yummy and will get eaten. But frozen is convenient to cook with, you can use just as much as you need, and it's as nutritious as fresh in most cases.

I also plan my meals for the week. I have a friend who uses software to plan her meals for the month, I don't do anything that fancy. We have a dry erase weekly schedule on the refrigerator that I use to keep everyone's appointments and activities straight, I use the bottom line of the calendar to write down the meals for the week and then I stick to that. In my weekly schedule I plan to use leftovers from a meal early in the week to make a new meal later in the week--if I make taco salad on Monday I'll plan to serve chili on Thursday and use the leftover taco meat in the chili, or we'll have meatloaf on Sunday and then on Wednesday we'll have spaghetti and I'll crumble the leftover meatloaf into the sauce.

I'm a stickler for expiration dates and safe handling rules. I will not use food that has passed expiration or sell by dates, and I won't keep most open foods longer than a week. As a result of this I tend to buy smaller packages of foods that I know won't get used quickly and sometimes will store them unconventionally to extend their shelf life. For example, I will store grains that I don't use frequently in the freezer.

Do you have any Mormon friends? Mormon women are typically awesome with pantry organization, see if you can find one and pick her brain. I am Mormon, by the way, thought I should say that before someone accuses me of being insensitive.

 

[Eureka]

We take leftovers for lunch- we never buy lunch. Also, we have 1-2 nights per week where we eat what we have in the frig. Tonight is one of those nights. I usually do this every 2-3 days. Produce is hard. I try not to buy large quantities and try to use the produce that I know will spoil quickest first. Also you may need to switch to some frozen fruits-vegetables in order to not waste.

I have tried cutting back on fresh produce and then we run out halfway through the week, so it's about finding the right balance, which obviously I have not yet! I do use some frozen veggies. The main issue is some of our busier nights we end up just not making a salad and by the end of the week, the lettuce is slimy. Blech.

 

[msmama]

I'm right there with you on the produce spoilage issue!

My problem is that it's just my 7 year old and I so if I buy lots of variety then we don't finish stuff before it goes bad. Otherwise we eat the same fruit/veggie for a week (one can only take so many apples and green beans for every meal).

For fruit I've started buying the more expensive pre cut fruit platters. Yes, more money, but at least it gets eaten and there is some variety. I've also sometimes blanch and freeze fresh veggies. Doesn't work great though because my son prefers his veggies raw and uncooked.

 

[Thing 1]

I do what most people do. When I cook a larger amount (often on purpose), I go ahead and fix single serve meals right then. DH works 12 hours a days and takes two meals a day with him so he takes a lot of these leftovers. If we get ahead, they go into the freezer. I too have a soup bag and every little bit of left over veggie, pasta or meat goes into it for soup. If I have a bit of tomato sauce of any kind left over it goes too, just in a different container. One thing I have not seen here is that I sometimes buy in smaller or broken down packages. The larger box might be a lit cheaper but not if you waste half. We also tend to try to buy things like ritz crackers that come in the 8 individual packs so you just open one or two at a time. Another idea is to invest in good storage containers that are air tight for all kind of things so they stay fresh longer, and HIDE the new box till the older one is gone to keep someone from opening it too. Lastly encourage family members to fill their plates with less and go back for more if they want it.

 

[QVCshopper]

I hate wasting anything and am really good about not throwing out food. For veggies, buy them frozen as well as fresh. The frozen ones last months if not well over a year. We ate green beans last night that I probably bought six months ago--best buy date was in 2017 and they tasted just fine.

For fruit, just buy less quantity more frequently. If you buy a whole pineapple, eat that before your apples or oranges which last longer. Or try frozen berries. For meat, buy in bulk, marinate and cut into small quantities, and use as needed. For any leftovers, eat them the next day or two for lunch. Finally, buy what you like because you are much more likely to eat it.