5 Ways to Prevent Food Waste and Save Money
Help cut your food cost by stopping food waste with these 5 simple tips. We’ve found they work great to cut our food waste down.
When you are trying to cut your spending and bring your money under control cutting your food budget is a good way to start.
You can adjust what you buy, buy more items that are on sale, eat less expensive food and so on. But what about food waste?
When you work hard to make the most of the food you have, it can really help you to save more money, without having to change your eating too much.
Before you cut your food budget to save more money, try a few of these tips I’m sharing in this week’s Frugal Family Home podcast to make the most of the food you have and to waste less food.
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One Way to Stop Food Waste
Salad Spinner
Compost Bin
Show Notes
5 Ways to Stop Food Waste
1. Have a plan for the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables you Purchase
Fruits and vegetables can be expensive and often they don’t last long. When you purchase them be sure to have a plan to use them up before they go bad.
2. Plan for Leftovers
Have a plan in mind for any leftovers you might have. Either plan for them to be lunch or have a leftover dinner each week to keep them from sitting in the fridge and going bad.
3. It’s Not a Great Deal if It Goes to Waste
Only buy items that are a great deal if you know you’ll use them. A great deal isn’t that great if most of what you bought ends up in the garbage. Only buy what you’ll use or have a plan to can, freeze or preserve the extra in some way.
4. Plan a Crisper Clean Out Meal Each Week
Plan a meal each week to use up any vegetables or fruit that might be getting close to going bad. Making a pot of soup, a stir fry dinner or even a big salad dinner can help to use up those odds and ends of fresh produce before it goes bad.
5. Too Late, Compost It
Sometimes even our best efforts fall short and items go bad. Don’t dwell on it, compost it instead. When we have fruits and vegetables go bad we will compost those items in our compost bin. Then we use that compost in our garden. It recycles the bad food into something good we can use.
What else could you add to these 5 ways to stop food waste? I would love to hear your ideas in the comments below.
More Ways to Save on Food
Make Your Own Breadcrumb
How to Keep Ginger Longer
How to Make Minced Garlic Cubes
Unfortunately, we tend to throw away too much produce. I usually make a plan for the veggies, but sometimes I don’t always follow it. Sometimes the produce goes bad before I have a chance to use it. I just hate throwing it away, so I’m going to do a better job of only buying exactly what we’ll eat.
Thanks for the other great tips!
Whenever I have even a tablespoon of cooked vegetables left from a meal or the last of the broccoli slaw or fresh cauliflower or brussel sprouts, I put it in a Mason witb enough of the cooked liquid or water to cover, then place in the freezer. I add to it all the time. Also freeze leftover bits of cooked meat in freezer bags. Make and freeze chicken or beef or turkey stock. Then spend an afternoon making a pot of soup.
Julie, we’ve done that in the past and it made great soup. Thanks for sharing about how you prevent food waste. I appreciate it.