Wasting food is hard on anyone, whether you are on a budget or you just don’t like seeing food being thrown away. Luckily, there are many ways to reduce food waste, stop throwing out all the produce you don’t use, and use up those leftovers.
Have a Plan for Everything You Buy
Now is the time to stop with the impulse buys and grabbing ingredients you think you might use, but don’t have an actual plan for. This tends to happen when you are the grocery store and see something that sounds good or that is new, and you want to try it.
The problem is that if you don’t have a very specific plan for what meal to use it for, it is often unnecessary and might not even be used up before it expires.
Always Have a Meal Plan and a List
If you want to avoid wasting food, aside from having a plan for what you buy, you should have a detailed meal plan and grocery list before you step foot in the store. As always, start with food you already have, then create meals based on that. Make a list of ingredients you need for all the meals and snacks for the week or however long your food budget is for.
Find Creative Ways to Use Leftovers
When it comes to leftovers, people often make the mistake of leaving the meal as it was originally served. While this does help sometimes, it can quickly become unexciting, which increases the chances of it just sitting in the fridge until it goes bad.
Instead, think about other ways you can use those meals or side dishes into other meals. For example, leftover roasted chicken can be used for so many different meals.
Put it in a casserole, make chicken quesadillas or enchiladas, or shred it up for chicken salad.
Know How to Store Your Produce
Produce is one of the most common types of foods to go bad and end up being thrown away. There are a few things you can do to prevent this, beginning with understanding how and where to store your produce.
Did you know that some produce releases ethylene and others are sensitive to it? If you store an ethylene-producing food with an ethylene-sensitive food, it’s going to go bad faster.
For example, don’t store your potatoes with your avocados. Potatoes are sensitive to as, and avocados release a lot of the ethylene gas.
Freeze What You Can’t Finish
If you have a meal or foods that you know you won’t finish eating before it goes bad, consider putting it in the freezer. A lot more foods than you might think can do well in the freezer. Did you know you can freeze cheese? It freezes really well, so if you buy bags in bulk, put half of it in another freezer bag, label it, and keep it frozen until you’re ready to use it.