Each year, households waste hundreds of pounds of food. This waste also results in hundreds of dollars of wasted money. There are ways to make sure that your household wastes less food and as a result, saves money in the process. Take a look below at 25 ways to avoid wasting food. By just making a few small changes, you can be sure you waste less and instead make the most of your food supply and budget!
First, let's look at some simple tips for preventing food waste in the first place.
Tips for Preventing Food Waste
1. Shop from a list. When you plan a shopping list ahead of time you can be sure you are only purchasing food items you need.
2. Think before buying new products. If you haven't tried a certain food item before, ask for opinions first. Nothing is worse than buying a product and not liking it, then it ends up in the trash.
3. Buy smaller sizes when necessary. If you can't use all of the sour cream before it goes bad, or all of the eggs before they go bad, it is time to start buying smaller portions.
4. Invest in resealable bags. They are a great way to keep dried goods and other perishables fresh in between uses.
5. Always have aluminum foil on hand. Foil is great for keeping meat fresh and for freezing food items. Always keep a roll on hand for this need.
6. Grab a few bag clips. Bag clips or even simple clothespins are great for keeping cereal and chip bags closed and fresh, resulting in less waste.
7. Invest in quality Pyrex Storage Containers
8. Consider trying a Vacuum Sealing System
9. Watch your portions and start off small. It is always easier to pour more cereal in your bowl than it is to put cereal you didn't finish back!
10. Plate your children's meals for them. This can help with portion control as well and keep them from putting more on their plate than they can eat.
Now that you know some simple ways to create less waste, let's look at how you can use up food products before they go bad. Because once they go bad, they go in the trash, and money is tossed away with them!
Ways to Use Food Before It Expires
11. Use soon to expire crackers as bread crumbs for meatloaf.
12. Crumble up soon to expire pretzels to use as a crunchy coating on chicken.
13. Shred leftover chicken and use it in a chicken salad.
14. Take leftover vegetables and use them in a stir fry.
15. Use soon to expire bread (even if it has hardened) to make croutons, bread crumbs, or garlic bread.
16. Use leftover hamburger patties to make chili or even tacos.
17. Bake and cut leftover pizza into cubes to use as tasty salad croutons.
18. Freeze leftover soup into freezer bags and it will be good for weeks.
19. Puree soon to expire fruit and make your own fruit pops.
20. Save leftover citrus rinds to add to your homemade cleaning products.
21. Use rotten fruit and vegetables in your compost pile.
22. Use soon to expire milk to make pudding or other desserts that will last a 3-5 days before going bad.
23. Use a Food Dehydrator to make veggie and fruit chips from soon to expire produce.
24. Soon to expire cereal can be used to create a crunchy coating on meat. Bran and cork flakes are great for this. If your cereal does become expired it may be able to be used for crafts. Fruit Loops are great for crafting jewelry with kids or to play sorting games.
25. Use soon to expire yogurt to make yogurt pops. Just freeze in an ice cube tray and enjoy!
Recipes Using Leftovers:
- Recipes to Use Up Leftover Chicken
- Recipes to Use Up Leftover Roast Beef
- Recipes to Use Up Leftover Ham
- Recipes to Use Up Leftover Steak
- Recipes to Use Up Leftover Turkey
- Recipes to Use Up Leftover Chili
- Recipes to Use Up Leftover Fish
- Recipes to Use Up Leftover Spaghetti Sauce
- Recipes to Use Up Leftover Barbecue Chicken
See how easy it can be to waste less and save more? Give these tips a try and see how they can help you waste less food and keep more money in your pocket!
Mary Beth Elderton says
January 4, 2015 at 12:14 pmAlso–keep all those ends and skins and stalks and bits of vegetables–even lettuce and onion skins!–in a bag in the freezer to make veggie stock. Then compost the pulp.
Alea Milham says
January 4, 2015 at 3:24 pmGreat tip! Thanks for sharing!
teale says
January 14, 2015 at 12:28 pm*save bones and veggie scraps for bone broth (save in a bag in freezer)
* save and grind clean eggshells for easy absorbed calcium.
*:celery, pineapple top, green onion and many other scraps will regrow
* buy in bulk to save $ and preserve with methods such as dehydrating, canning, waxing (cheese)
Fermenting etc.
* apple peels make homemade apple cider vinegar
*pulp from your juicer can go into soups, bone broth, omlets, quiche etc
Alea Milham says
January 14, 2015 at 12:54 pmGreat ideas! Thanks for sharing more ways to reduce food waste.
Norma says
March 9, 2016 at 6:08 amhow do I make apple cider vinegar?
Dinah says
March 26, 2016 at 6:08 pmI plan meals using fresh produce first while it is still fresh in fridge and then plan meals that use pre-packaged food later. I also write all meal plans on a calender so I don’t forget to use an item or forget produce in a drawer.
Alea Milham says
March 26, 2016 at 8:18 pmThat is so smart!
Linda Viderman says
August 19, 2017 at 2:48 pmWe keep a dehydrator going all summer and fall. We dehydrate tomatoes and peppers from the garden to use all year long. Dehydrate all kinds of fruit that aren’t going to get eaten before they go bad: bananas, strawberries, cantaloupe (tastes like jolly ranchers!!), apples, peaches, plums; whatever we have leftover or not being eaten fast enough. Kids love em! Better than fruit chews!!! Also dehydrate leftover vegetables, like green beans, peas, mushrooms, corn, carrots, celery. Saves space too! A whole tray of celery will fit in a medicine bottle when it is done dehydrating. These left over dehydrated veggies taste great in soups, eggs, stews. And adding some of these leftover dehydrated veggies really improve a pack of oodles of noodles! LOL.
Melissa says
February 3, 2018 at 4:13 pmLove these ideas! Thanks so much!