Food waste is a contentious topic in the Peiffer household. Who would have thought?? I am uber cautious about throwing items away after they’ve reached their expiration date. I live by the motto, “when in doubt, throw it out!” Makes sense for a girl whose biggest fear in life is throwing up! Gary, on the other hand, will eat anything unless there is visible mold (or if he can’t see the mold until it’s too late), because he just hates the thought of wasting food so incredibly much! So, when the time comes to throw away old food items, there’s usually some bickering around here.
But, here we are, finding the silver lining in our marital tensions, because I’m here to present you with 10 tips to help reduce food waste in your home! We obviously aren’t perfect, but there are some easy steps I take to help reduce the waste (and the arguing) as much as possible š So let’s take a look!
Tip #1
When thinking about the week in advance, it can be helpful to plan your meals around a central ingredient. For example, if I know I’m going to make cilantro lime salmon for dinner at the beginning of the week, I might choose to make chicken burrito bowls with cilantro lime rice at the end of the week to avoid wasting a bunch of cilantro. Or, I might make a lemon chicken recipe for dinner and get my baking fix in for the week with lemon cookies. I recognize that intense meal planning isn’t everyone’s favorite, but making a few conscious decisions about what you plan to eat can really help minimize food waste.
Tip #2
Since I mentioned cilantro in tip #1, let’s talk about fresh herbs. How many times have you bought a bunch of parsley, green onion, basil, cilantro, dill, etc. when the recipe you were making only called for a tablespoon or two? This used to happen to us all the time! Then, due to COVID, we got bored enough to start a little garden on our balcony and it produced herbs like crazy! If you grow your own herbs, you can cut off what you need and leave the rest of the plant intact for next time. It’s so convenient and will make it so you never have to throw away nasty wilted/wet herbs again.
Tip #3
Speaking of soggy herbs, appropriate food storage is an essential part of reducing spoiled and wasted food. Try to eliminate excessive moisture wherever possible. For example, if you pre-wash your fruits and veggies before storing them in the refrigerator, make sure they are thoroughly dried before putting them away. When it comes to storing leftovers, baked goods, and prepared items, air-tight containers are the way to go. I have a mild obsession with storage containers, so trust me when I say glass ones with locking lids are the best! Stasher Bags (one of my Top 5 Amazon Kitchen Finds Under $15) are also safe for use in the refrigerator and freezer.
Tip #4
Milk is another item that I tend to be overly cautious about (for a good reason, might I add), but it does tend to be more commonly wasted. This item is particularly challenging in our household because we don’t drink glasses of plain milk, and we tend to go through phases with cereal and/or smoothie consumption. But, I like to have some on hand for making scrambled eggs or baking. If you like to keep a small amount of milk on hand for similar reasons, I recommend purchasing the smaller containers that are typically intended to be single servings. I’ve found that they have much longer expiration dates when unopened, so they can stay good in the refrigerator for quite some time.
Tip #5
If you do happen to notice that you have some perishable items like milk, cream, or butter that are nearing their expiration date, don’t just let them sit there in pending doom! Whip up a quick baked good that uses some or all of those ingredients. Just think — you could make some easy muffins, and throw them in the freezer for quick weekday breakfasts. Boom! Solving problems all over the place! š
Tip #6
Smoothies are another great way to quickly use up items before they go bad and need to be thrown away. This is a great option for fruits, veggies, yogurt, or milk. We typically can’t finish a large container of yogurt fast enough, so once I notice that we’re getting close to the end of its shelf life, we go into smoothie overdrive. And who doesn’t love a refreshing smoothie?
Tip #7
This next tip is a no-brainer. Make use of your freezer! If you’re sick of having the same meal as leftovers, don’t just throw it away! Put it in a freezer-safe container (again, Stasher bags are perfect for this), and save it in the freezer for when you need a quick and easy meal to heat up in the microwave. Labeling items with their content and the date they were frozen is also important, and that’s not just me being Type A! You don’t want to be digging around in your freezer a year from now wondering what a random item is and how long it’s been there. PS – Remember that herb garden I told you to start? You can also freeze fresh herbs before winter and enjoy them year-round.
Tip #8
Now that I’ve told you to utilize your freezer, I need to explicitly state that it should not just become a frozen trash can. If you are legitimately not going to eat something, dispose of it! If you notice that your freezer is getting full of leftovers and other random items, I recommend having a “clear out the freezer week.” Instead of going grocery shopping and further contributing to the problem, every once in a while, we commit to using up items that have been sitting in our freezer, refrigerator, and pantry. By doing this, we’re able to consume items before freezer burn becomes an issue, and we save money on groceries for a week! It’s a win-win situation. Today is actually the last day of freezer week in our household and our freezer is looking much more manageable than it usually does!
Tip #9
Don’t get me wrong, I L-O-V-E Costco, but buying some items in bulk doesn’t always make sense! It’s important to consider how much of the food you purchase can feasibly be consumed before it spoils or goes stale to the point where nobody wants to eat it anymore. It might be a cost-saving upfront to buy in bulk, but if you end up throwing some of it away, it defeats the purpose. For example, when lunchmeat goes on sale at Costco, it’s a great deal! But, with two of us, unless we commit to eating sandwiches every single day for multiple weeks in a row, we just can’t seem to finish it all in time. So, it might cost more per pound to buy a smaller package elsewhere, but we don’t end up wasting any. You win some, you lose some.
Tip #10
I saved the best for last because it might be the easiest of all! Ask the people in your household what they want to eat! If they like something, or if they’ve at least verbally committed to eating something, they’ll probably be more likely to actually do so! If I go out and buy a bunch of raw carrots for snacks without asking Gary if he’ll eat them, I know they’ll sit in our fridge, and end up getting wasted. But, if I ask Gary what snacks he wants me to pick up during the week, and he mentions celery instead, there’s a far greater likelihood of it getting consumed before it goes bad.
Those tips aren’t too hard, right? It really isn’t rocket science! Reducing food waste really just requires some creativity and thinking ahead. Do you have any other tips that help you avoid wasting food? Please share!
xoxo
Jennifer