One of my New Year’s resolutions is to reduce food waste in my household. This should not only save a bit of money, but also reduce our environmental footprint as well.
My worst offenses:
- I have a bad habit of buying perishable vegetables, like bean sprouts, without a set plan to cook them that day.
- I also make batches of things like roasted peppers, pop them in food storage containers, and “lose” them in the back of the refrigerator, only to discover a “science project gone terribly awry”, in the future.
- I’ve been guilty of buying the big packages of chicken on sale, and ending out throwing out about a 1/3 of the package, due to spoilage.
- My daughter’s contribution to food waste, is her habit of grabbing a fresh piece of fruit, when she still has half of one left… life with a 4 year old.
So, how am I going to resolve this problem?
- I have already resolved the issue with my daughter and her fruit obsession. All the fruit goes in a large wooden bowl, and is placed in a cupboard, far from her reach. While my daughter is mostly non-verbal, due to her autism, she has a fruit picture card she gives me to get some when she wants it. She picks the piece she wants, and the bowl goes back up out of reach.
- I will just have to hold myself back from buying produce that is quick to perish, unless I an going to cook it that day, or have an established plan to do so the next day.
- I’ve started to put more leftover prepared items directly into the freezer.
- I will do more frequent “fridge purges”, to avoid the “petri dish effect”… yeah, I am a little ashamed, to need that one.
- I am going to start using that vacuum food storage bag system I bought a few months ago, instead of letting the box collect dust in the corner. This will be great for when the larger packs of chicken are on sale.
- I resolve to make sure produce trimmings actually make it to my tumbling composter, and not lazily tossed into the trash.
- I’ve already started making smaller pizzas using 1/2 of a pound of dough, and smaller batches of pasta and rice. As a family of 2 rather than 3 now, we simply don’t need that much.
- Put the open jars of pasta sauce in a door shelf, so they don’t get shuffled to back of refrigerator. This should prevent unwittingly opening a new jar, when one is already open.
Writing about food spoilage, made me think of the "Tiny Ugly Germs", from Yo Gabba Gabba... so I couldn't resist sharing them.
What are your tips for reducing waste and improving food storage, for the New Year?
