Are you trying to save money on food? Reducing food waste is often overlooked when it comes to lowering food costs. With many of us striving to cut down on our food spending, it’s an area worth examining. Many people are unaware of how much food they waste and the resulting impact on their food costs. You can achieve significant savings by reducing your food waste AND being organized with a meal plan, creating a shopping list before heading to the store, and limiting your shopping trips to once a week.
In the United States, food waste is estimated at 40% of the food supply, translating to about 60 million tons of food wasted annually. That is a sobering and incredible statistic. A big chunk of that comes from restaurants, but almost a third comes from U.S. households. To help you visualize what this looks like individually, that’s about 325 pounds of food wasted per person per year. It is estimated the average household in the U.S. is throwing away an astonishing $1,500 in food per year!
Those are real dollars you worked hard for. Those dollars then end up in your bin and into the landfill. This benefits no one.
Why do we waste so much food?
The reasons vary, but for consumers, it is typically due to throwing away expired perishable products. It also comes from being disorganized about how we buy food—the what and how much. We either buy more than we need or we buy ingredients that we don’t have a plan for. The result is food that sits in your fridge until it is past its expiry date and then sadly gets thrown out.
But reducing food waste is actually not hard. By being more conscious of how you buy food and making a few simple changes in your routine, you can significantly reduce the amount of food you waste.
Here are some actionable tips to help you reduce the amount you waste on food. At the end of the week, you will have less to throw away and more money in your bank account.
Tip 1: Plan Your Meals
If you are a member of The Dinner Daily, you’re already familiar with the benefits of meal planning. By planning your meals each week, you ensure you only buy what you need, reducing the chances of food spoiling before you can use it. This means knowing what you need for the week, what you make, and how much you need to buy.
If you are not accustomed to meal planning, it is one of the most powerful ways to save money on food, including reducing food waste. If you need help getting started, check out our Getting Started article. Or, if you think you need some help with the planning, you can check out our 14-day Meal Planning Free Trial.
No matter how you do it, embracing meal planning and getting organized will go a long way in helping you save money on food. It also will help you determine how much food you really need to buy. This will minimize the amount of food that goes bad before you can use it.
Tip 2: Don’t Go to the Store Without a List
As a follow-up from Tip #1, you need to create a shopping list for your meals before you hit the store (in-store or online). We often talk about the benefits of a well-organized shopping list often from the standpoint of saving money and time. However, having a well-organized list greatly reduces your food waste too. This is because it minimizes the risk you will buy stuff you don’t need or have a plan to use, and it will keep your purchased quantities at the right amount. In other words, less food is thrown away at the end of the week.
Sticking to a list also helps prevent impulse buys and ensures you get everything you need in one trip, helping keep you organized so you can save money.
Tip 3: Store Food Properly
Proper storage can significantly extend the life of your food. Here are some tips to keep your groceries fresh for longer:
- Fruits and Vegetables: Store fruits and vegetables separately, as some fruits produce ethylene gas which can cause vegetables to spoil faster. Use breathable bags for veggies and keep fruits like apples, bananas, and avocados on the counter until they ripen. If you want some more details on how to store various produce items, check out our Resource Guide. The guide is full of helpful tips and includes a special section on how to store various types of produce.
- Herbs: Keep herbs like parsley and cilantro fresh by placing them in a jar of water in the fridge, like you would with cut flowers. This will keep them fresh longer (vs. jammed into plastic bags in the crisper drawer). Plus, it reminds you to use them up while you are cooking. Herbs are an easy and nutritious way to add flavor to meals so it is worth the extra step.
- Label Cartons and Other Partially used Products: How many times have you opened a carton of chicken broth or a jar of salsa, put the remainder back in the fridge, and then a week later wondered if you can still use it? Every time we open something that is not used up, we label it with the date it was opened with a sharpie (we keep one in our utensil drawer) before putting it back in the fridge. This eliminates the guessing and reduces the number of times you will throw something out prematurely from lack of knowing.
Tip 4: Have a Plan for Leftovers
Instead of just putting leftovers into the fridge and hoping someone will use them up, make leftovers part of your weekly meal plan. Here are some creative ways to turn leftovers into new meals and thereby reduce your food waste:
- Casseroles or Oven-Bake Meals: Use leftover veggies, cheese, or smaller quantities of chicken or meat that are not enough for a complete meal.
- Rice or Grain Side Dishes: Use whatever grains you have in your pantry, and add leftover veggies and proteins to make a quick and tasty fried rice. Add a handful of fresh chopped herbs to finish it off into a tasty side dish.
- Frittatas and Omelets: This is such an easy way to make use of smaller bits of leftover food or smaller quantities of veggies in your crisper. We love to add leftover salmon to our omelets as a way to make sure it gets used up.
- Soups: If you have some leftover vegetables, they can be turned into a delicious soup. Just add broth and some seasonings.
- Salad: Combine leftover cooked vegetables and proteins with fresh greens for a hearty salad. If your leftover protein quantities are on the light side, throw in some canned black beans or chickpeas to round out the meal.
- Have a Leftover Taco Night: Use leftover meats and veggies to have a taco night. Add your favorite toppings and you have an easy meal. You could also do Taco Bowls if you want to omit the shells or don’t have them on hand. This works great with wraps or burritos too!
Tips for Storing Leftovers
Using a few easy tactics on how you store your leftovers is key to making sure you use them up instead of throwing them out:
- Place leftovers into clear glass containers where you can easily see what is inside. This serves as a visual reminder of what needs to be used up.
- Have a designated shelf or space in your fridge for leftovers so everyone in your household knows where to look. This is far easier than having various containers scattered inside your fridge, increasing the likelihood this will become wasted food to be eventually thrown out.
- Post a list on your fridge of what leftovers are inside and when it needs to be used by. This helps everyone know what they can grab quickly for an at-home lunch or remind you how to use it up in another meal. The old saying “Out of sight, out of mind” holds true here!
Tip 5: Understand Expiration Dates
The stores’ use of various terms to describe expiration and use-by dates can be confusing. This often can lead to unnecessary food waste since no one wants to get sick by using food that is past its expiry date. Many of us tend to be conservative and throw away food before we need to. Of course, always use your senses and judgment when making a determination on whether something is safe to eat.
To eliminate the confusion, here are some guidelines from the USDA:
- “Best by”: This date indicates when the product will be at its best quality. It’s not a safety date. Many products are still safe to eat after this date, although they may not taste as good or have the optimal texture. Examples of this are canned goods or pasta.
- “Sell by”: This is the date by which stores should sell the product. It is also used by the store as an inventory management tool. It’s still safe to consume for a few days after this date, assuming it has been stored properly. Obviously, if the product shows signs of spoilage (off smell, unusual texture, mold) after this period, it should be discarded.
- “Use by”: This is the last date recommended for the use of the product at peak quality. You will typically see this on meat or dairy. However, many items are still safe to eat after this date, assuming it does not exhibit any signs of being off. So if you notice your milk is past the “Use By” date but it still smells and tastes okay, it is more than likely okay to use for a little bit longer.
Regardless of the term used, always use your senses to check if food is still good. If it smells, looks, and tastes fine, it most likely is safe to eat.
The reverse also holds true; if it is still within the Use By date but smells off, don’t risk it. And if this happens, you can also try asking the store for a refund.
Conclusion
Small consistent changes can have big impact and this is definitely true here. By implementing these tips, you can significantly reduce food waste in your home. You’ll save money, make the most of your groceries, and help the environment at the same time.
Sources:
Mitre Survey on Household Food Waste
RTS: Food Waste in America in 2024
