Great article in the Wall Street Journal about leftovers, discarded food and the impact to household budgets and the environment. I hate it when food goes bad and we have to toss it out. We try to freeze things like peppers or meat before they go bad, and only buy what we plan to use in recipes or in our lunches. We have plenty of plastic containers and cheap zip lock bags to quickly store things in the freezer or refrigerator so that they are fresh and ready to use. I also find it helpful to make sure that things don’t get pushed to the back of the refrigerator to never be seen again, or at least until we clean things out. Putting dates on things, or putting them with lunch items reminds us to use them within a few days. Watching what we purchase, meals we plan, and ways to preserve and consume food can help us save money, which is especially important considering how expensive food has become. Being smarter this way with food can help us save money and be better stewards- a win win!
3 thoughts on “Americans Waste Up to $2,000 on Discarded Food”
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I agree wholeheartedly. A lot of us are blessed with abundance in this country and I believe we should be good stewards of it.
I try to package leftovers in serving sizes to take for lunch, since it is already to grab and go there are no excuses. even helps hubby have lunches to eat since he works from home. I also check my pantry every 3-6 months and anything not used or close to use by date that we do not intend to use or have too many of I take to the food pantry.
One thing we like to do is freeze peppers. Whatever color we get, green, red or yellow, they seem to get soft fast and cost about .75 (Aldi’s) – 1.50 each. My wife found that if we slice them and put them on a cookie sheet for a while in the freezer (they freeze quickly), and put them in a zip lock, they won’t stick together. Whenever we need some for an omelette or stir fry we have some ready to toss in, same with left over diced onions.