101 things you can do to not waste uneaten food.

101 Things you can do to not waste uneaten food.

I just hate the thought of wasting food.  America wastes almost half of the food that we buy.  As a Nation, we have thrown away around $165 Billion each year. I couldn't believe how much food just gets thrown away each and every year.  While people starve in other countries because they don't have enough to eat. While our obesity numbers grow and grow, not to mention the dollar amount of food that grows right along with it. 

 So I make it a point in my kitchen to do as little waste as possible.

If I see something in my fridge or pantry has an expiration date that is almost up 

Regrow it

 

Yep, you can regrow many of your groceries. Some by seed and some by soaking in water. 

• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Lettuce
• Sweet Potatoes
• Green Onions
• Celery
• Garlic
• Pineapple
• Bok choy
• Avocado 
• Ginger
• Lemongrass
• Bean Sprouts
• Onions
• Fennel 
• Tomatoes
• Shallots
• Lemons
• Kiwi
• Basil
• Parsnips
• Leeks

 Freeze it

You can freeze almost anything. It is great for quickly saving your food. 

I did this last week with cream so it didn't go bad while I was on my diet. 

Here are some things that you can freeze. 

• Bacon Bits
• Bananas. Freeze bits on a cookie sheet before putting them in a bag and they won't stick together.
• Berries.  Freeze bits on a cookie sheet before putting them in a bag and they won't stick together.
• Breadcrumbs 
• Brewed Coffee. Great to freeze in ice cube trays. 
• Broths/Stocks
• Bottled water
• Butter 
• Cake
• Candy
• Casseroles
• Chocolate 
• Citrus Zest
• Cookies
• Cranberries, Dried
• Cream. Great to freeze in ice cube trays.  
• Deli Meat
• Dog treats
• Doughs. Cookie, pizza, and bread
• Fish
• Granola
• Grapes
• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Herbs
• Hummus
• Jams and jellies
• Juices 
• Lemon Juice. Great to freeze in ice cube trays.  
• Limes/Lemons diced
• Meat
• Muffins
• Nuts
• Onions chopped.   Freeze bits on a cookie sheet before putting them in a bag and they won't stick together.
• Pasta Sauce
• Pastries
• Pesto. Great to freeze in ice cube trays.  
• Pies
• Potatoes, Hash or diced
• Shredded Cheese
• Smoothie packets premade
• Soups
• Tofu
• Tortilla
• Veggies but not all veggies
• Zucchini, grated

Helpful tips. Just make sure when you freeze liquid it will expand and might break a container if you don't leave it open enough for air to escape. 

Beware when freezing dairy products they might curdle when thawed 

Food not to freeze

• Sour Cream
• Eggs
• Mayo
• Rice
• Soft Cheeses
• Cucumber
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Cream Pies
• Fried Food

Make "what's in the fridge" meals

• Tacos. Are a great one. You can put leftover lettuce and pretty much any kind of meat you have left in the fridge(other than lunch meat). Grab a can of refried beans and a tomato and you have tacos. You can do taco salad or just tacos. 
• Fried rice is another one that's good. You can throw what veggies you have left, add some rice and scrambled eggs and there you go!
• Burritos 
• Cob salads. Or just anything salads
  
  

Plan your weekly meals

If you plan ahead and know exactly what you need to buy then you don't waste food.  Plus you save money not buying uneaten food.  

If you don't think you will have time to cook every night plan a couple eat out nights where you go get a pizza or sub and don't cook. But make sure you include them in your weekly plans.  I schedule about 5 meals for each week then when we go to grandparents or don't want to cook I am not wasting any food by not cooking it

• Sit down the with a couple of cookbooks and plan the next two weeks out. 
• Go through the cookbooks and pick out and write down the recipes that you want to cook.
• Write down all the ingredients you will need. If you need only one tomato, write that down.  Then if the next recipe needs it just add another tomato to the list.  This way you don't overbuy. 
• Post the list of weekly meal where you will see it as the fridge. 
• Rewrite an organized shopping list with a few staples that you will need for food other than meals like milk, butter, eggs, chips, Ect. 

This will help a ton with not over buying and throwing out any extra food. 

Compost / or chicken feed 

You can compost pretty much anything FOOD. It is great for the environment and great for your garden. 

Of course, there are a couple of things you can't compost like nonbiodegradable stuff(Glass, plastic, other man-made items). As well as bones. 

Chicken Buckets. If you have Chickens you know what I am talking about. That bucket that always sits under your sink in wait for you to fill it with all the left overs from dinner. Yeah that bucket. I dreaded that bucket as a kids and that is part of the reason I am hoping I never have to have chickens again. 

While having Chickens is great for some people and they are pretty great to have(just not me). But here are some things you cannot give to your chickens.

• Bones
• Chicken meat or raw eggs. Don't want Cannibal chicken. Not that they know the difference 
• Chocolate or candy
• Raw Potato Skins
• Avocado pits and peels. Those go to the Compost
• Dry and Undercooked beans
• Onion. This will give the eggs a smell

Research it. What you think is bad might still be good

If I see something in my fridge or pantry has an expiration date that is almost up. I look up online recipes with that particular ingredient in it. Like just this last week I had some dried apricots that were past the sell by date but still good.  So I found recipes for "Dried Apricot Jam" and "Apricot scones". Which used up most of the Apricot but I still had a few left so I froze them. 

Another example was that I had some Applesauce that my grandma made and canned for my twin boys. Now at a year old they are picky eaters. So I tried to figure out what I could make with them. And that's how I made my Applesauce bread that I will post later. 

There are so many things that your throwing away that can still be used. For instance just because the best by date is a couple day over doesn't mean that its bad(With the exception of raw meat).  My rule it if it doesn't smell bad and doesn't look weird(discoloration, mold, ect.) that it is probably ok to eat. 

They put sell by or best by dates on everything. And some thing just cant go bad, some take a really long time to go bad.  The manufacturers are required to put a date one everything but that doesn't mean that the food goes bad on that specific date. And they cannot know exactly when an item will go bad. 

I found an unopen bag of organic brown sugar that expired 3 years before. And you know what it was just fine. Tasted, acted and was just like the new brown sugar at the store.  Its the same with most shelf life foods. 

Dehydrate it.

You Can dehydrate just about anything, and it a great way to use up the food that you cant eat.

You Can dehydrate with a Dehydrator or your oven on a low temp. 

• Veggies. Any kind of Veggies. Just make sure they are all about the same size so they dry evenly
• Fruit. I love eating dried fruit. And its all good to dehydrate.
• Herbs. It is easy to dehydrate any fresh herd that you didn't get a chance to use

Make a stock

Veggie stock. Any left over veggies, peels or remnants.

Chicken stock. If you have a chicken carcass from a roasted chicken. Optional to add veggies.

Beef stock. Any beef bones with or without meat attached. Optional to add veggies.

Shrimp stock. The outer shells after you shell the shrimp. Great for seafood dishes.

Bone stock. Pork, beef or fowl

 To make a stock place 8 cups of water in a large pot along with the veggies and/or bones. Bring to boil then reduce to a low simmer and let simmer for 2 days. I know its a long time but this makes all the nutrients come out of the veggies and bones and into the broth.  You will probably need to add water a couple times to make sure that it stays around 8 cups. Once done strain through a bread cloth.   Pour into(about an inch from the top) glass pint jars to cool, then place in freezer with lids slightly undone. You can tighten them up when they are fully frozen

Using the leftovers

• Cilantro. Take any left over cilantro and blend up with a little olive oil. Then freeze into ice cube trays. 
• Beet tops. Steam and eat with butter, salt and pepper. Or use in veggie stock
• Kale. You can put in smoothies or you can sauté with onions and eat with butter.
• Brown Bananas. Just because they are brown doesn't mean they are bad. You can make banana bread. Or cut into pieces place on a cookie tray and freeze(once frozen you can place bananas in zip lock bag).
• Fall décor pumpkins. You Can make pumpkin puree and/or dried pumpkin seeds. 

Berries. Berries go bad very fast and it can be hard to use all of them. You can freeze them or             Make a jam

Thanks you for taking the time to read my posts. 

Please message me if you ever have any questions or have a post request. 

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Twin mommy blogger signing off.