10 Tips to Reduce Food Waste

Source: www.slate.com

Unless you are getting a lot of use from your compost heap, chances are you’d like to save money by reducing food waste in your kitchen. Here are ten things to keep in mind the next time you visit the grocery store or stat cooking:

Adhere to a grocery list: By sticking to a grocery list, you ensure that you buy just what you need – no more, no less. Going to the store without a list makes you more likely to purchase superfluous items, which may only get wasted later.
Shop several times per week: Buying ingredients for a dinner you plan to eat that night can prove to be less wasteful trying buy a bunch of things think you may need in the days to come.
Stick with a single genre of food: ingredients for Asian and Italian food don’t ordinarily mix very well. If everything you buy can go together in the same dishes, you will be far less likely to waste food.
Buy food with cash only: When you use cash, you will see exactly much you are spending on food. Then, you may be more inclined to buy less and waste less.
Use your supermarket salad bar: This is especially useful for singles or couples. Often, you may not be able to finish a whole sack of potatoes from the produce aisle on your own. Your supermarket salad bar should be able to sell you precise amounts of pre-chopped veggies so you don’t end up buying more than you need.
Don’t go overboard with experimental purchases: when cooking with new ingredients, by only a small amount first to make sure you can really cook with it. Otherwise, you can end up with leftovers that you don’t feel like using.
Wash and prepare produce right away: Properly cleaned and stored produce will last longer, which means there will be less of a chance of you throwing it away.
Keep an inventory of what food you have: This will keep you from accidently re-buying food you don’t need. If you also keep track of the expiration dates, you will know what to eat before it spoils.
Use your freezer: Your freezer cannot only extend the life of many kinds of food, but also modify them for cooking. Freeze produce before it expires to use in smoothies later, or combine several old ingredients from your freezer to make a stew.
Schedule days to eat your leftovers: designate a few nights a week as “leftover nights.” That way, you are sure to eat your leftovers instead of throwing them away. Challenge yourself to whip up a recipe using only leftovers!

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10 Tips to Reduce Food Waste