How To Reduce Food Waste At Home

Table of Contents

• Don’t Buy – Or Cook – More Than You Can Eat
• Find Creative Ways To Use Perishables
• Compost What You Can

Don’t Buy – Or Cook – More Than You Can Eat

The best way to prevent food waste is to not overcommit, starting from the moment you step into the grocery store. Remember the saying, your eyes are bigger than your stomach? Don’t fall culprit to that idea when shopping for food! The most important thing to keep in mind at the grocery store, particularly when it comes to perishables, is not buying items you won’t be able to use before they go bad.

Here are some tips to help you shop smart:

• Be realistic. We’ve all been there – buying endless bags of arugula and fresh tomatoes and saying to ourselves, I’m going to eat salad every day this week. And what happens when we don’t do that? All those perishables go to waste, and you probably feel bad about not hitting your diet goals. Instead, be realistic about what you’re actually going to eat before you go shopping.
• Avoid impulse buys. While impulse buys usually conjure up images of potato chips and chocolate, it’s surprisingly easy to impulse buy too much fresh fruit if you’re on a health kick! Make a shopping list before you head to the store so you don’t over-shop and end up with too many perishables.
• Shop your own kitchen first. Before you hit the grocery store, stop and figure out what’s already in your fridge or freezer! We recommend taking this step before planning your meals for the week, so that you can plan on using any perishables that might be close to expiring. This will help you avoid having them expire before you can use them, and it’ll save you money at the store.
• Plan out your meals for the week. Meal planning is a great way to make sure you only buy what you need, and nothing more. Try using a meal planner to actually write down what you’re going to cook and then build your grocery list around those meals to streamline your shopping. Meal planning can also help you be strategic about using more perishable ingredients earlier in the week, so those scallions you bought aren’t rotten by the time you get around to making that stir fry.
• Understand the lifespan of perishables. Some perishables can be stored to last longer than others, and some need to be used right away. Check out this helpful guide to storing perishables so that they last as long as possible if you tend to over-purchase fresh ingredients.

Find Creative Ways To Use Perishables

So what if you can’t eat all the groceries you bought? Or you forgot about something in the back of the fridge, and now it’s on its last legs?

There are tons of creative ways to reduce food waste, from tips on how to make certain perishables last longer to recipe ideas that’ll use these ingredients before they really go bad. We’ve organized these tips and ideas by ingredient and/or food group below to help you when you’re in a pinch:

Avocados

If they’re ripe but you’re not ready to use them yet, store them in the fridge – they’ll stay ripe for a few days longer than if you leave them on the counter. If they’re overripe and starting to turn a little brown on the inside, try making our Cinnamon Avocado Muffins. Just like how overripe bananas make the perfect banana bread, overripe avocados give an amazingly moist texture to muffins!

Bananas

As mentioned above, banana bread is an easy solution for overripe bananas. But if you’ve got a bunch of ripe bananas sitting on the counter and know you’re not going to eat them, slice them up and store them in the freezer for an easy smoothie ingredient!

Bread

You can easily save freshly baked bread that’s starting to get stale by toasting it. Crostini is the perfect way to use up a baguette that’s no longer fluffy enough for wine and cheese night. Try this easy tomato bruschetta crostini recipe.

Fresh Berries

We have this amazing produce saver container that seriously extends the life of fresh berries so you don’t have to worry about eating them so quickly. We mostly use ours for strawberries, and we swear it almost doubles their shelf life! But if you do find your berries getting to be overripe, there are plenty of ways to use them. They’re great for muddling and using in cocktails (like this strawberry jalapeno mojito), but also work well for muffins, pancakes, and other baked goods.

Fresh Herbs

It’s super easy to end up with extra herbs since you can typically only buy them in large bunches. While they’re still fresh, you can chop them up and store them in the freezer for later use. Check out this article on storing them in ice cube trays with oil. If you have a ton of cilantro laying around, meal prep a batch of our Cilantro-Lime Rice or Avocado Cilantro Lime Crema for use throughout the week. If you like cocktails, you can also use fresh herbs like rosemary and mint to make flavored simple syrup!

Meat

You should never eat meat that’s gone bad, so the best way to prevent wasting this perishable is to either portion it out and freeze it the day you bought it, or cook it within a few days. Even if you don’t know what to do with it, there are plenty of uses for pre-cooked poultry or meat, and cooking it will buy you an extra 4 days or so of storage time in the fridge. Here are some ideas for what to do with common proteins:

• Ground beef: Make a batch of homemade burger patties and store them in the freezer for easy burger nights! Just wrap each patty in cling wrap so they don’t stick to each other, put them in a labeled freezer bag, and freeze.
• Chicken: It’s never a bad thing to have basic grilled chicken seasoned with salt and pepper readily available in the fridge. But for a more flavorful option, our Salsa-Marinated Chicken is a versatile protein for Mexican food that you can use throughout the week in tacos, quesadillas, burrito bowls, burritos, and even on salads!
• Bacon: We can attest to the fact that bacon pretty much tastes great on anything… so we’re pretty sure you’ll be able to find a use for this once it’s cooked and sitting in your fridge 🙂 May we suggest our bacon cheese loaded tater tots for a midnight snack?

Rice

Leftover plain rice is ideal for making delicious fried rice! Chop up some veggies, sauté them in oil, then add cold rice and crisp it before seasoning with soy sauce and other condiments. But here’s another great option for leftover rice: easy burrito filling! Mix it together with some canned beans, cheese, and pre-cooked protein like we do for our Chicken Burritos Ranchero recipe.

Sweet Potatoes

We love sweet potatoes, so you can find plenty of recipes on our blog to help use these up when you have extra on hand. If you made too big a batch of baked or mashed sweet potatoes, use the leftovers to make Sweet Potato White Chocolate Chip Cookies. Or, if you have an extra sweet potato or two lying around, meal prep a batch of Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili for easy lunches and store it in the fridge or freezer. (Side note: these Souper Cubes are our favorite containers for storing prepped food or leftover ingredients in the freezer!)

Compost What You Can

Sometimes food inevitably goes bad and there’s nothing we can do about it… right?

Not quite! 

Yes, if food goes bad then you definitely don’t want to eat it. But that doesn’t mean you have to throw it in the trash, where it’ll end up sitting in a landfill and producing harmful greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change. Instead, you can compost and turn that food waste into nutrient-rich soil for your own backyard.

Unfortunately, composting is not quite that accessible in many areas of the country still. But if you have the ability to, there are a ton of resources online about composting and cool products like this kitchen composter to help you get started. If you already compost, let us know your favorite products and methods in the comments of this post!

*We’re not here to lecture you on the issue of food waste in America! But here are some statistics in case you’re interested in learning more:

• The USDA estimates that somewhere between 30-40% of the US food supply becomes waste
• An analysis of food waste done by the EPA showed that in 2018, nearly 56% of food waste went to landfills
• Over 11% of US households (approximately 38 million Americans) experience what’s called “food insecurity,” meaning that they lack sufficient access to affordable and nutritious food