Are you worried about wasting food in your home? Do you throw away too much food because it went bad before you could eat it? There are plenty of ways to reduce wasted food, but the best way to stop wasting food is to have a plan. Meal planning, reducing how much perishable food you buy at one time, and storing your food properly are some of the most impactful ways to prevent good food from ending up in the garbage.
“wasted food” vs “food waste”
I have adopted the EPA’s (the United States Environmental Protection Agency) term ‘wasted food‘ instead of ‘food waste‘.
The EPA makes this case:
‘Wasted food’ conveys that a valuable resource is being wasted, whereas “food waste†implies that the food no longer has value and needs to be managed as waste.
This especially applies to us in our homes, where we buy more perishable foods than we can eat.
Some people say that a typical household throws out over $2,000 worth of food in a year. That’s a good incentive to start meal planning.
- In our kitchens, we throw away perishable food that rots in the fridge.
- At the dinner table, we have plate waste created by serving up big portions.
- Then there is uneaten prepared food (like that leftover spaghetti) that ends up in the trash.
Wasted food is A global problem too!
Some estimates are that one-third of all food produced in the world is discarded for various reasons. That’s not only a waste of money, resources, and potential food to feed the hungry, but as the food rots in the landfill, it produces methane gas, which contributes to climate change.
BENEFITS OF EATING WITH INTENTION (MEAL PLANNING) AT HOME
MEAL PLANNING REDUCES
- The amount of money you’ll spend on food.
- The time & energy that you will spend grocery shopping.
- The amount of food that you bring into your home.
- The amount of food to manage and store in your home.
- The amount of time you will spend cleaning and managing your cabinets & refrigerator
- The amount of food that you will throw away.
BENEFITS OF REDUCING WASTED FOOD GLOBALLY*
- *Resources from EPA ON FOOD SUSTAINABILITY
- Reduces methane emissions from landfills and lowers your carbon footprint.
- Conserves energy and resources, preventing pollution involved in the growing, manufacturing, transporting, and selling food (not to mention hauling the food waste and then landfilling it).
- Supports your community by providing donated untouched food that would have otherwise gone to waste to those who might not have a steady food supply.
first steps to meal planning
- Keep a running list of meals that you and your family enjoy. This will definitely help when it comes to meal planning.
- Take stock of what is in your cabinets and refrigerator. Before you start your grocery list, check to see what perishable foods you want to finish up using for the week. After that, check your dry pantry to see if what other staple foods you have on hand.
- Choose at least five meals for the weekly menu. Meal planning for an entire week is a good idea, at least for dinners. Most likely, you won’t need more than five meals. This allows for eating out as well as eating leftovers. Check to see if you have easy meals on hand, like frozen meats, pizza, etc.
- Compile your list. Be flexible. Oftentimes we won’t feel like eating what is on the meal plan, so keep it flexible.
- Consider second-day meals made up of first-day foods. For example, we ate a Salmon dinner with baked potatoes and veggies on Monday; on Tuesday we use the leftover salmon to make salmon tacos with avocado and spicy sauce.
- Make your list.
- Go Grocery Shopping.
- Don’t forget your cloth grocery bags.
other Actions you can take:
- Go to the grocery store more often to buy perishable foods
- This will reduce the amount of food that goes bad or is thrown away.
- Shop stores that have bulk bins
- This will reduce the amount of packaging that you bring home.
- Store bulk bin foods in glass jars or other containers.
- Ditch the big box stores
- Big box stores carry products with too much packaging.
- Buying in bulk for perishable foods can create a perfect environment for food waste.
management – storage and disposal
Before you go to the grocery store, and while you’re checking the stock of your refrigerator and food cabinets, take the time to purge and organize them.
- PURGE YOUR CABINETS AND REFRIGERATOR:
- BEFORE YOU GO GROCERY SHOPPING. This is the best time to purge and organize food cabinets and refrigerator because this is the time when they will be on the emptier side.
- THE DAY BEFORE YOUR TRASH/RECYCLING PICKUP is a great idea. You won’t have rotting food sitting in your trash. Best case scenario, no food waste, of course.
- KEEP A RUNNING GROCERY LIST OF FOODS AS YOU RUN OUT. This way, you don’t have to try to remember what foods have been used up.
- KEEP A COPY OF STAPLE FOODS THAT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY OFTEN LIKE TO HAVE ON HAND REGULARLY.
storage ideas
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Because I lost all of my lower kitchen cabinets after the mudslide, (my story here) I purchased a separate cabinet to store all of our dry food. As It turns out, I really love this concept of having all of our food in one place. (I guess that would be the same as a pantry.)
Having the food centralized in one place makes it so easy to check which foods that I have left in storage before I go shopping, and, I only have one cabinet to organize.
There are many great cabinet ideas, but here is a similar cabinet from Amazon.com. check it out:
BUY IT ON AMAZON HERE (Sauder 419188 Storage Cabinet, L: 29.61″ x W: 16.10″ x H: 71.10″, Highland)
I’ve had many Sauder furniture products in the past. They make good quality furniture at a reasonable price. This is just one example, of course. Look around to find the right cabinet for your home.
- TRY STORING ALL OF YOUR FOOD INSIDE ONE CABINET OR YOUR PANTRY
If neither of these ideas will work for you, it’s a good idea to store dry foods by type:
STORE FOODS BY TYPE
Life is a lot easier in the kitchen when you store foods by type. Even if you choose the one-cabinet storage method, storing foods by type just makes organization and management easier.
- Baking goods
- Cooking supplies, like oil and spices (Of course, these are better stored by the stovetop.)
- Dinner foods (dry)
- Breakfast foods (cereals, etc.)
- Snack foods
- Extra stock – condiments, drinks, nut butter, etc.
Food Waste Disposal -Try Kitchen Counter Composting
This is meant for food trimmings from meal preparation, but can also be used for rotten produce.
- Use a countertop compost bin
- This is the compost bin that I use and it works great!
- I keep it in the fridge or freezer until I’m ready to dump the contents into my green waste bin.
- The handle makes transporting it to and from the refrigerator easy.
- If I keep it out on the counter too long, it will grow mold, so that’s why it’s better to store it in a cooler place.
- Use your green waste container if your city allows for it
- It is very easy to toss your organic (not animal) food waste into the green waste container
- If you don’t have this option, then that’s more involved to figure out how to dispose of the organic waste. Look up backyard composting. If you don’t have a yard, check with your city to see if they have alternatives.
- Paper towels can be tossed into the compost bin or green waste bin
- It’s better to replace paper towels with cloth towels.
I also like these cloth towels. They come in abundance, but you can use them for so many different purposes. I use them for:
- Washcloths
- Napkins
- Paper towels
- Cleaning rags. CHECK THESE OUT HERE:
That’s A LOT of information. Take your time and have fun with it. This is a process and a journey.
If you’d like to add a comment to this page, I’d love to hear from you.