All week I will be sharing ways to save money and cut your budget in 2012. Today, I will be sharing how to stop wasting food. Here are a few tips to help you stop throwing money away!
Have a plan: Have a purpose for everything you buy! I believe that planning out your menu before you shop is the single most effective way to reduce your grocery bill. When you carefully create a weekly menu you can reduce the amount of food you waste because you have a plan for everything you got. You’ll also save yourself time and money at the grocery store when you have a complete shopping list and you buy only what you need.
Store your food properly: Here is a spreadsheet to help you know how to store your items.
Freeze extra produce: Did you find a good sale on bananas and can’t eat them all before they go bad? Instead of throwing them out, try to freeze them. You can freeze them and use them in a fruit smoothie! Check out more ways to freeze produce here.
Use up your leftovers: With a little creatively, many leftovers can be reinvented into other meals. You can also freeze meal-sized portions to take to work or for another meal in future. Many recipes can also be divided in half easily, and sometimes I mix up the entire recipe but freeze half of it before I cook it.
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Kami says
We received a quesadilla maker as a gift, and it is our preferred method of using left-overs. The kids love “make your own quesadilla” night. We break out all the leftovers from the week, add some shredded cheese and a pack of tortillas. You could do the same thing in a pan, you don’t have to have the quesadilla maker.
chrissy says
Kami,
Great idea!!