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More than one third of the entire food supply for the United States goes to waste each year. For the average American household, that comes out to about 300 POUNDS of food that goes into the trash – which is about $2200 per year. Maybe it’s time to take a closer look at how you’re managing your groceries. I’ll show you 9 ways you can dramatically reduce your food waste and start saving money today.
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How Long Does Food Last?
Before we dive into the 9 ways I reduce food waste in my house, download and print this amazing Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart from the FDA. It breaks down how long meats, eggs, and prepared foods can be stored in the fridge or freezer. Produce is not listed, but generally wilted, soggy, or slimy produce is no good. Ideally, produce should be consumed within the first two days of harvesting, but obviously there’s some wiggle room.
1. Composting
We put a massive compost pile in our backyard to handle all the odds and ends that get tossed when prepping produce, plus any that do go bad. This works for us because we love gardening – both to make our yard inviting and to grow some of our own food. I have a Kitchen Counter Compost Bin that we can take out to the pile when it gets full. If you don’t have the space for your own in-ground compost, you can get a Tumbling Composter which is a great option for renters with potted plants.
Check out 7 Things to Do With Compost if You Don’t Garden for great ideas of what to do with your produce scraps if you don’t want to compost yourself.
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We’ve also got a sweet house rabbit – Mr. Rorschach – who graciously devours anything we aren’t using (except onions – those are toxic to bunnies!).
Save your scraps for making stock
If you don’t want to compost, haven’t got a local place where you can send your scraps, and don’t have a gracious house rabbit, you can save your vegetable scraps in a large freezer bag. Store the bag in your freezer until it’s full, then when you’re ready to make your own Bone Broth or Vegetable Stock, you can dump the bag in. It will add amazing flavor and extra nutrients to your broth. Yay!
2. Freeze Food
As you’ll notice on the Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, there aren’t many foods that you can safely keep in the fridge past 3-5 days. This makes once-a-week grocery shopping trips a little difficult. That’s where the freezer comes in.
I generally find it’s cheaper to buy foods in larger quantities, so I will buy everything we need for the week and sometimes for a couple weeks. Then when I get home from grocery shopping, I portion out anything I won’t be using in the next two days and freeze it for use later in the week or month.
Check out Budget Bytes’ How to Freeze Leftovers article for an amazing breakdown of everything you can freeze and how. If you scroll to the end, she’s got a printable Freezer Leftovers Chart that you really helps you keep track of what’s going into your freezer!
Read More:
10 Foods I Freeze to Save Money and Reduce Waste
3. Label and Date Your Food
This is a super simple step that makes a world of difference. Pick up some wet erase markers that you can keep next to your food storage containers so you won’t forget to label and date your food. This will keep your fridge organized, but more importantly, will eliminate the issue of the unidentifiable bag of something stuffed in the black hole that is your freezer. On that note…
4. Do a Weekly and Monthly Food Clean Out
Don’t worry – it’s not as intensive as it sounds! At the end of each week, I simply do a quick glance through the fridge so I know exactly what’s in there. There’s not usually a whole lot left since I’ve finally figured out how much food to plan for my family. Anything I have left will either get frozen to be eaten later, or I’ll turn it into a Leftover Skillet Meal (see below).
The first time you go through your freezer will be more of a chore. I highly recommend getting Budget Bytes’ Freezer Leftovers Chart, or making your own so you only have to do this horrible chore once (I really hate getting my hands cold…). Get your whole inventory written out, figure out what needs to be used sooner rather than later, see what inspires you to make a meal, and start using that freezer stash in your meal plans!
5. Meal Plan
Meal planning can take a little trial and error but it’s definitely worth it. You can make it as simple or as complex as you’d like. Simply write down what you’ll be eating for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks for the week (or whatever timeframe is best for you). You could pick and choose from that list depending on what sounds good each day, or you could schedule out specifically what you’ll eat each day. Personally, I like to pick a variety of foods and then decide the day-of based on what I’m up for.
This is what works for me:
- 2-3 Breakfasts
- 1-2 Lunches
- 4 Dinners
- 2 Snacks
- Choose a variety of cuisines – usually one Asian, one comfort/American, one Mexican, and one European – so I’m set no matter what the family is in the mood for.
- Opt for quick to prepare meals – skillet meals, sheet pan dinners, slow cooker or grill
- No more than one time-intensive meal per week
- Pick recipes with similar ingredients – For example, if I’m making Chicken Pad Thai, I may also plan to make Carrot Bacon Fritters or a Chopped Asian Salad that will use up the shredded carrots and green onions.
- Pay attention to recipe serving sizes
Recipe and Meal Plan Resources
Meal Plans – This page has over 1 year of meal plan ideas!
Recipes – This Pinterest Board has many of the recipes I regularly use plus many recipes I think I’d like but haven’t tested yet.
Prep Dish – My favorite, inexpensive meal planning service. You can try it for 2 weeks free!
Want to plan next month’s meals in minutes?
I discovered a method that is a huge time saver, and I LOVE not having to worry about what I’m cooking for a whole month. Grab your own copy of my One Month Meal Planning System by plugging your email in below. It’s totally free so you can get started right away!
6. Grocery Shopping
Once you’ve got your meal plan, you can make your grocery list that includes ONLY what you’ll need for your meals. No spending extra money on goodies or food you *think* you’ll use.
Then decide how often you need to go grocery shopping. Some people like a daily run to get only what’s needed for each day and to get the freshest food. Others are organized enough to do once a month and then prep and store everything. I personally do one big grocery shopping trip each week plus a couple quick runs as needed if we run out of things like milk or fruit. Either way, try to get only what’s needed. You can always go get more, but when you buy too much you’re setting yourself up for food waste.
7. Meal Prepping
Meal prepping is all the rage because you cook a meal once, then portion it out into 4 or more meals that are ready to go. It makes taking your lunch to work crazy easy and can make weeknight dinners faster too.
I try to meal prep but I’m not the greatest at it. My version of meal prepping is portioning whatever is left after dinner into lunches I can eat later in the week. That’s why my Meal Plans usually list Leftovers as a lunch meal.
Budget Bytes has a great Meal Prep 101 post that I highly recommend.
Prep Dish teaches a slightly different meal prep method which is what I try to do. You spend some time prepping all the ingredients which are then ready for you to assemble into each meal when you’re ready. Try Prep Dish for two weeks free and you’ll get to see how. Each meal plan comes with a grocery list and complete instructions for how to prep and then prepare everything. It’s GENIUS!
8. Batch Cooking
This tip is more of a way to simplify time spent in the kitchen, but I also think it helps reduce our food waste. Instead of preparing a different protein and side dish for every single meal, I’ll pick dishes that can be reused.
A few examples:
- Autumn Kale Salad – I’ll double this recipe and use it for a few of my lunches then serve it alongside dinner. If you leave the dressing off, you can actually use any wilted leftovers by throwing them into a green smoothie.
- Roasted Breakfast Potatoes – Obviously these are perfect for breakfast. But they also work as “fries” to serve my kids for lunch, or to serve as a side for dinner. The recipe makes a fairly large batch so I rarely need to double it.
- Carnitas – This little gem cooks up in the slow cooker for a delicious dinner. I usually have a fair amount left over if I make the full 3 pounds. So I’ll use it in breakfast scrambles, make sandwiches for lunches, or repurpose it into something like the Cuban Mojo Bowls.
- Roast Chicken – I love roasting two chickens at a time to get the most bang for my time. It takes the exact same amount of time to roast two chickens as it does to roast one and they both fit perfectly in my huge Dutch Oven! I use some of the chicken for dinner that night. Then I shred the meat off the bones for use in recipes like Southwest Chicken Skillet or to go with my lunch salad. Any meat that isn’t being used that week gets frozen. See how in Budget Byte’s How to: Divide and Freeze Chicken. Finally, the bones get used to make bone broth. NOTHING goes to waste from my chickens and whole chickens are way cheaper than buying breasts or thighs! Win-Win!
9. Master the Leftover Skillet Meal
Finally, I throw any odds and ends left at the end of the week into a skillet, add some seasonings, and make a whole new meal. The way I started doing this was following a recipe for Crockpot Leftover Fried Rice. It’s worked every single time, no matter what weird combos I’ve tried.
There you have it!
Those are virtually all my favorite resources, tips and tricks that I use to reduce food waste in my house!
What are you going to try? What works for you and what hasn’t worked in the past?
Want More TIPS?
Read More:
United States Department of Agriculture – FAQs