ARE YOU THROWING AWAY MONEY ON FOOD?

FOOD WASTE COSTS US MONEY

None of us want to waste money on groceries. There are other reasons it feels bad to waste food, but we do not always think of the impact on our budgets. With the cost of groceries having risen so much it’s even more important to waste as little food as possible. We don’t want to buy groceries at such high prices and then end up not being able to eat them. Every time we purchase food and end up throwing it in the trash we have to remind ourselves that we could have used that money on something else.

ZERO FOOD WASTE IS NOT THE GOAL

While it would be great to never have to put any food in the trash, there are times when it is going to happen. We can plan our purchases carefully. We can be super intentional about making sure we use up what we buy. But there are still times when food ends up going to waste. Maybe the produce you bought was not as fresh as you thought and went bad much quicker than expected. You may have accidentally shoved a leftover to the back of the fridge and no one saw it until it was too late.

Maybe you had so many leftovers from dinner to use for lunches that the lunchmeat you bought never got eaten. Things just happen sometimes when food does need to be thrown out. So, when those times happen, don’t beat yourself up over it. By taking steps to make sure you are using up as much of the food that you buy, you are already making a big difference in your grocery budget.

IT’S NOT JUST PERISHABLE ITEMS THAT GO TO WASTE

I think when we think of food waste we often think of fresh fruits, vegetables, or leftovers from meals that end up in the trash. But, if we don’t manage the contents of our freezer and pantry those things can end up going bad too. Even though they are able to be stored for a much longer amount of time, they still have a limited life. As I will discuss in a minute, it is really important to make sure you are regularly checking your freezer and pantry for items that need to be used up.

We often don’t realize what we already have and end up buying more of the things we already have. That ends up costing us money that we didn’t need to spend and can end up causing food to go to waste if meat ends up with freezer burn from being in the freezer too long, or canned goods pass their expiration date.

MEAL PLANNING

As many of you who have listened to this podcast for a little while know, I am a huge fan of the benefits of meal planning. In my experience, the most helpful thing to help reduce food waste has been planning our meals. While I’m not saying it is impossible, it is very difficult to get only what you will actually end up eating if you go into the grocery store without a game plan. The more detailed your plan is, the better because getting all ingredients you need to make a meal is important in making sure you cook what you purchased.

The biggest tip that I have for meal planning is to shop from your freezer or pantry first to see what you already have. Maybe you have some frozen meat, frozen vegetables, canned vegetables, dry rice, or pasta. Put some meals into your meal plan that use up as many of those items as you can. Plus by knowing what you have you can avoid that annoying situation when you go to put away a box of pasta to see you already have several boxes on hand!

TIMING YOUR MEAL PLANNING

Plan to cook more perishable items earlier in the week and things that last longer later in the week. Use fresh vegetables and fruit that expire quickly first and ones that last longer later in the week. When possible, buy frozen fruits and vegetables. They won’t go bad and they are actually just as good for you. Then you don’t have to worry about them going bad quickly.

If you end up not being able to make a meal you had planned on, reassess your meal plan and shift things around if needed. Consider what needs to be used up right away and what can be used for a meal a few days or a week later. For example, if you were making a salad with fresh spinach on a night that you ended up not cooking for whatever reason, plan to use up the fresh spinach the next day or as soon as possible.  Save the frozen veggies you maybe originally planned for another night.

CHECK YOUR FRIDGE FREQUENTLY TO SEE WHAT NEEDS TO BE USED UP

Maybe you have some sour cream, or cheese, too many eggs, whatever it might be. If you have too many eggs, maybe make some hard-boiled eggs to use for lunch, snacks, or to add to salads. If you have too much cheese, make some grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch one day. Or maybe you can put out some cheese and crackers for a snack! Check if there are leftovers you can use as sides with other meals.

I try to store all of my leftover side dishes in microwave-safe containers so that I can just pop them in the microwave and put them back out with our next meal.  Usually, at least some of it will get eaten. Even if the leftovers were a main dish, sometimes I’ll heat those up and put them out with another meal. Usually, someone will grab some of whatever else is put out, so it really does help get the food used up!

Don’t forget to check the condiments and jarred items too!  If you have some dressing to use up, make a salad. If you have some pickles that need to get eaten remember to put them out next time you make hamburgers or hotdogs! Of course, lunches are always a great way to use up food sitting in your fridge. Often with just a little bit of effort, we can make use of much of the food that ends up in the fridge!

STORE FOOD IN A WAY THAT PROMOTES LESS FOOD WASTE

Try to organize your foods in a way to make it easy to see what you have. By keeping like items together, you can quickly see how many boxes of pasta, rice, cans of corn, vegetables, etc. you have on hand. For me, the most challenging food storage in the past was in our chest freezer. Whenever I buy a package of meat, usually I buy a bigger package to get a better price.  So, I will divide the package up into portions so that the excess can be saved for later weeks. But, when I would put things in the chest freezer they would kind of get lost in there, and I could never really figure out what I had in there.  So, I often purchased things like chicken breast, that I already had in the freezer.

I looked for some tips on how to keep a chest freezer organized. The one tip that I ended up using was to use reusable grocery bags to group like items together.  So, for example, I have one for chicken breast, one for ground beef, etc.  I can just look in the various bags to see what I had. By purchasing light-colored bags I could write with a sharpie on the bags what they held. Now I can easily lift the bags out and see exactly what I have. I have been doing this for years now and it has made such a difference in keeping my chest freezer organized.  I always know exactly what is in there, and can pull out what I need in a couple of seconds! No more finding a freezer-burned package of chicken a year after buying it.

FREEZING FOODS

Many leftovers can be frozen, but you need to freeze them before it’s too late. If you have a lot of leftovers and you know it’s unlikely that it will be able to get eaten up then consider freezing it right away. Some things I often do this with are chili, pulled pork, French Dip, pasta sauce, and soups. I try to freeze them in small enough portions so that I know what gets taken out will all get eaten. These can be perfect for lunch on a weekend, or a quick meal on a busy night.

By checking your fridge regularly, you will be more likely to spot these types of leftovers that need to be frozen before it’s too late. Many other things can go in the freezer too until you are ready to use them.

THINGS THAT I FREEZE OFTEN

Bread – both white bread and Italian bread/rolls, when frozen fresh I can hardly tell the difference once defrosted.

Shredded cheese – when I buy shredded cheese it goes straight to the freezer until the day I am going to use it.

Bananas – sometimes I buy bananas and they are eaten up super quickly, other times they just sit there.  When we end up with excess I peel them and put them in a zip-lock bag.  I put multiple peeled bananas in one bag and have never had a problem breaking them apart.  They are great for smoothies and any recipes that require ripe bananas! 

Baby spinach – sometimes I need some baby spinach for a recipe, but don’t end up using the whole bag.  If I don’t end up feeding it to our guinea pigs, I stick it in a ziplock bag and freeze it.  This is great for smoothies or any recipes that call for frozen spinach.  I have used it in place of frozen chopped spinach and it works perfectly.

Milk – I don’t freeze milk normally.  But, during 2020 when the kids started remote schooling, the schools were sending home milk for each kid each day. My neighbor’s kid did not want the milk, so they kept giving it to us. I didn’t want to waste it, so I ended up freezing it, which I had heard that you could do. We ended up using it all up over time, and it was totally fine.

MAKE SMALL CHANGES

If you feel like you struggle with throwing away uneaten food start by making small improvements. Identify what it is that causes you to have to waste food that you purchased most frequently. What can you do to change it? An example for me was lunch meat.  I kept buying lunchmeat for our house.  Some weeks it would be gone in a few days, but other weeks I ended up finding it unopened when putting away groceries the next week.  I found myself too often throwing away lunch meat. My family’s schedules had gotten too unpredictable to determine if anyone would be making sandwiches for themselves during the week.

I decided I would rather the inconvenience of someone wanting to make a sandwich and us not having lunch meat than have to watch myself throw a $12 unopened package in the trash. So, I no longer buy it unless someone specifically asks for it. And if we really need it, there are local places we can run to. Maybe there is a small change like this that you can make to help lessen the amount of food you waste in your home!

Thanks so much for checking in! If you would like to hear the podcast version of this topic check out Lola’s Frugal Life Podcast! Also, be sure to check out my other blog posts on this site!

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