Food waste is a big problem that is costing us a lot of money and is bad for our planet. These are some of the top tips for reducing food waste.
In the US, 30-40% of the food supply is wasted! That’s more than 20 pounds of food per person, per month. Not only does that waste contribute to pollution, but it also wastes us a lot of money.
Things like meal planning, labeling, and dating leftovers, planning your shopping trips, and even once-a-month grocery shopping can help prevent food waste.
There are so many other great tips to help you reduce food waste. Below are some bloggers’ top tips. They are sure to help you stop the food waste and save money.
Top Tips for Reducing Food Waste
Making Produce Last
Making Lettuce Last: We’ve all had lettuce go bad. Sometimes it seems like the day after you bring it home, it’s already going bad. Victoria at A Modern Homestead used to deal with this issue, but not anymore. She learned a tip that can help keep lettuce fresh for up to 5 weeks.
How to Store Produce: Merissa at Little House Living shares a lot of great tips for helping make your produce last. Produce is something that gets wasted a lot because of improper storage, so be sure you are storing it correctly
Keeping Guacamole Green: It’s never fun to be craving guacamole and go to the fridge and find it brown and gross. Paula at Dinner with the Rollos finds the secret to keeping guacamole green longer, and it’s simple!
Using Soft Apples: No one likes a soft apple, but don’t throw them out just yet. Habiba from Craftify My Life has an apple sauce recipe for using up old apples.
Keeping Cut Fruit Fresh: What about once you have cut fresh fruit, can you still keep it fresh? Yes, there are ways to prolong the life of cut fresh fruit as well. Kim at Two Kids and a Coupon has great tips for keeping cut fruit fresh.
Freezing Food
Freezing Cookies and Desserts: All food waste is bad, but there is something extra sad about throwing away desserts that have gone bad. Thankfully, Jennifer at The Jenny Evolution has tips on freezing cookies and desserts.
Freezing Candy: End up with too much candy? The Stress-Free Christmas tells us how to freeze candy for later.
Freezing Kiwi: Did you know you can also freeze kiwi? Stock up when they are in season and freeze them for smoothies later. Pam at Sidewalk Shoes shares an easy way to freeze kiwi.
More Foods You Can Freeze: Head over to Retro Housewife Goes Green for a huge list of foods you can freeze and how to do so properly.
Using Your Scraps
Using Citrus Peels: You don’t even have to waste your citrus peels. They are great for cleaning your garbage disposal. Over on Retro Housewife Goes Green, you can learn how to deep clean your garbage disposal with citrus peels.
Using Old Lemons: You can also use lemons that are past their prime for cleaning. Bren at Bren Did has 15 all-natural homemade lemon cleaning products that are perfect for those lemons you need to use up.
Another way to prevent wasting lemons and limes is by juicing them and freezing the juice. Kalyn at Kalyn’s Kitchen shares how to properly freeze fresh lemon and lime juice. She also has great tips for freezing fresh basil.
Using Garlic Scapes: Garlic scapes are a food that is often wasted before we can ever end up with it. They are often cut off to allow the garlic bulb to grow larger. If you garden or can find some at a farmers’ market, Ellen at Confessions of an Overworked Mom has some tips for preserving garlic scapes.
More Helpful Resources
Want more ways to save on food? Here are some other articles to check out.
Habiba says
Wow – I love this list of ideas! I don’t like to throw away food, and I found quite a view ways to plan or store my food better. But there are definitely ideas here, that are new to me! Thank you for this post!!!