Strategies to lessen food waste

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are some tips that people have to lessen the amount of food you throw out? I recent article in the NYT pointed out that household food waste is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. I really didn't know that.

So I'd like to do better with this and I'm looking for ways to start.

Start where the waste is the most: not in households, but in public schools.

Just what the schools need: more nosy parkers telling them how they’re doing it all wrong.

Actually that’s the reason for the waste. Busybodies who have no business telling people what they are required to put on their tray telling kids what they have to put on their tray. Why should a kid be forced to pick up a milk and a serving of bitter, woody celery if they don’t have any intention of consuming it? Oh, because the federal government says you have to or it’s not a lunch but they know better than we do, right?

[Anonymous]

It’s about meal planning and strategizing leftovers.
If a dinner has enough leftover that it can be the main event with a new salad and veggie, we eat it the next day or freeze it labeled as such.
Smaller things are immediately portioned for work/school lunches.
I meal plan and shop for 4 dinners a week. We always have pizza one night, leftovers from the freezer another, and something always seems to come up at least once a week. If I shop fresh foods for a 5th dinner, that stuff seems to languish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here:

Most of our food waste is stuff you'd keep in the fridge that doesn't get used. So, produce, like a whole pack of celery for a recipe that only needs two stalks, carrots for same reason, herbs that come in a bunch, limes or lemons that get forgotten (this is easy - only buy when needed instead of stocking), deli meat where we make one sandwich and don't use the rest, hummus containers half used, shredded cheese that we only use some of, cream cheese that doesn't get used up.

From the pantry sometimes cereal or bread that gets forgotten and stale or moldy.

Dinners are always cooked at home and we do really well eating up or freezing all the leftovers. I do need to make sure the kids only put on their plates what they will actually eat so we have fewer scrapings into the garbage.

So, looking at this, composting our leftover produce, veggies, and tea leaves/coffee grounds, would vastly reduce our food waste. But composting seems overwhelming. We live in the suburbs and have a yard, but we don't have anywhere nearby to bring compost, so we'd need to do it at our home. Is there a truly simple way to start this?

You can freeze herbs in OO I believe.
Same with Lime or Lemon juice.
There should be one day a week- either lunch or dinner- that is an empty fridge meal. So you could do a charcuterie with deli meat, hummus and cream cheese for dipping along with any veggies and fruit.
I have started making my 5 yo a small snack plate because somehow dinner is never early enough and if we eat too early then he needs a bedtime snack. So today the plate includes: fruit snacks, some sliced cucumbers, blackberries, a few tortilla chips, and some kiwi. We will basically do this every day, especially on the weekends, and whatever he doesnt finish his Dad or I will eat along with dinner or tea at bedtime.

Stale bread = croutons or bread crumbs. Cereal- only buy 1 box. I only buy cereal 1x month because we dont eat a lot of cereal. I buy fruit and veggies fri/sat and then will do more fruit/veg if needed wednesday. Maybe an extra berry pack or kiwis or whatever Aldi has on sale Wednesday.

Meal planning also cuts this down. Are you taking inventory before you shop and meal plan?