A study from several years back indicates that the average U.S. household throws away 14 percent of their food purchases. Even if the percentage has changed slightly since the study, over the course of a year this would still add up to hundreds of dollars.
I'd like to think that we would be careful not to waste food, but I know we encounter some problems with this in our household. I cook from scratch, and we also eat a lot of produce. These are two things I really believe strongly in, but they come with a couple of problems:
1) All those fruits and veggies have to be eaten in a timely manner. That broccoli needs to get cooked this week, otherwise it will go into the compost pile, which is not the wisest use of our money.
2) Cooking from scratch means that sometimes there are bits and pieces leftover that need to be repurposed. I found that too often those bits and pieces added up. And then my fridge simply became a container for forgotten fruits and veggies: the moldy lemon lurking in the back, the forgotten half of an onion wrapped in plastic, the storage container with a few tablespoons of tomato paste from who-knows-when.
And then I became friends with my freezer. Now the freezer is my go-to place for the extra bits and pieces, and I'm able to plan to use those things, rather than let them languish away until they can't be eaten.
For example, if you cook from scratch you will from time to time come across a recipe that requires a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste. Not even half of the can. So then is the rest of the can worth keeping? And if you do keep it, will you even remember to use it before it becomes questionable? I found a great tip over here that has solved my tomato paste issue. Simply spoon out tablespoonfuls of tomato paste onto wax paper, then freeze until solid and store in a labeled ziploc bag. I anticipate buying far fewer cans of tomato paste in the future.
And then lemons. Fresh lemon juice is far superior to what you can buy in a bottle. And it seems like where I shop it's usually cheaper per lemon to buy a bag. But what if you don't need all those lemons? Or if you don't really want to make a couple of quarts of lemonade and drink it all within a day? Ahem.
Go ahead and juice all those lemons, then pour the juice into an ice cube tray and freeze.
You're all set. No more moldy lemons hanging around.
And this works great for lime juice too. A certain someone I know loves to toss a lime juice cube into a glass of Coca-cola. Very occasionally.
Here's a tip for those who like to blend up some leafy greens into smoothies. If you don't grow your own kale, then making up some "kale cubes" is a good way to make sure you don't waste any of the greens you buy. Simply remove the center rib from your kale, then run the raw leaves through a food processor with a little bit of water and freeze the pureed kale in ice cube trays.
Some other things I like to freeze:
chopped onions - just be sure to spread the pieces out and let them freeze individually so that you don't have a big frozen onion block.
chopped bell peppers - treat the same as onions
bananas - simply unpeel then wrap in plastic wrap. Frozen banana is one of our regular smoothie additions
cooked beans - I usually measure out two cups into a ziploc bag
cookie dough - this is more so that the waste doesn't end up on my hips
What about you? How do you make sure your leftovers don't go to waste? Do you use your freezer? Or do you usually plan to cook something using those extras?
If you're looking for some more frugal ideas, head over to Biblical Womanhood for Frugal Friday. Have a great weekend!
