Tip #6 – Eat what you pay for

This article on CBC.ca today was a real eye-opener.  Over half of the food waste in Canada comes from households throwing out small amounts of leftovers, slightly-over the sell-by date food, and sketchy vegetables.

I’m not innocent of throwing out food – but I always feel terrible when I do it, and it’s usually become a mini-ecosystem before I get to that stage.

There is an environmental side to this issue, but again, this is a blog about saving money.  If you’re throwing half your food away before eating it, that’s half your food budge squandered!

So here are my tips to make sure you waste as little money on uneaten food as possible.

1 – Write a meal plan.  Plan out your week’s meals in advance, thinking about what ingredients you will need, what ingredients you already have, and fill in the gaps with a shopping list.  It’s also a good way to avoid eating out too often as a snap decision, as you already have your plan ahead of time.  It’s often useful to include a “leftovers” day in your week’s meal plan, to help you think about saving food for a future date.

2 – Separate the items on your shopping list (also, use a shopping list…).  I use four categories: meat, fruit/veg, other food, and other (toilet paper, washing up liquid, etc).  This nicely separates out my perishable from non-perishable foods, so I can think about what should be bought when.  It also helps with planning out what I need for my meals so I don’t miss anything.

3 – Shop in batches.  If you’re a Saturday shopper, continue as normal, but only buy your ‘meat,’ ‘other food,’ and ‘other’ sections.  Reserve the fruit/veg section to purchase in two or three batches throughout the week, according to what your meal plan is.  For instance, if you need four peppers on Tuesday, and another four on Thursday, there’s no point buying all eight during the Saturday shop.  Instead, visit your local farmer’s market, small supermarket, or local store multiple times per week, picking up only what you need.  The pain of slightly higher vegetable prices will be more than made up by the fact that you’re not throwing things out every week.

4 – Invest in good freezer-ware.  Freeze any leftovers which you think may be left uneaten during the week.  This will drastically increase the life of the leftovers – and may save you from an expensive desperate take-out in the future! 

5 – Understand sell-by and use-by dates.  Sell-by dates are the date before which stores must sell the item.  YOUR FOOD IS STILL FINE!  DON’T THROW IT OUT!  Use-by is the date before which the manufacturer guarantees the product is safe to eat, given normal conditions (ex. refrigeration).  Your milk will not suddenly go off on the use-by date, but a sniff test is advised.  I’m usually happy to eat items up to two days after the use-by date, using sniff and squeeze tests, depending on the item.

6 – Cut off the bad bits if possible.  A little mould on a corner of a loaf of bread hasn’t penetrated the whole loaf – yet.  Same with cheese.  Equally, a small bruise on a piece of fruit can be removed and the rest of the fruit is just fine.  Promise J

7 – Think about the starving children in China/Africa/next door.  You are incredibly lucky to be able to afford to throw out food.  Many aren’t.  By not spending money on wasted food, you can save your pennies to make sure you stay lucky for longer.  I put this one last because I don’t believe in guilt-tripping.  But if it helps you to keep seemingly small things in perspective, then it’s worth it.

Happy October!