I feel incredibly guilty sometimes when I pour wasted food into the trash bin. In this act, I’m reminded of the days when my mom said that there are many at this moment who are going to sleep on an empty stomach and I should be thankful for the full plate in front of me. That teaching still runs deep, it’s just that the travails of hectic work schedules and leading a busy city life sometimes distract me and I end up buying tons of groceries, cooking much more than I can finish and stuff truckloads more than my fridge can actually handle! I’m trying to find out ways to not waste food when I’m cooking for only myself.
Living alone comes with a lot of responsibility of managing the house {ok, a tiny apartment in my case though!} all by myself, figuring out what to eat, what to buy, where to buy and how to save money. Phew, that’s a lot of work! I did a bit of looking out and zeroed on a few very basic pointers which we all know but may have been overlooking or just plain forgetting about it.
Before heading out to Traders Joe, chart out a Meal Plan.
These meal planners are becoming essential for people like me who stand in front of the open fridge and scratch our head to understand what I can have for lunch or dinner and then settle for Doordash delivery! You can actually feed in your go-to items in a meal planner or just download a pre-filled meal plan. And guess what, some meal planners even show weekly deals at our local grocers! There are tons of options out there, Mealime, Pepperplate, Paprika. This way you know exactly which ingredient you will be needing throughout the week, subsequently, almost bang-on portions and no grocery overloaded car trunk.
A weekly budget to spend on food items will also help to curb the impulse or let’s-try buying.
It’s the need of the hour for spendthrifts like me. Picture this last week I just picked up a packet of cranberries, I had the honest intention of making a compote out of it, but laziness took over and I ultimately threw the packet out today morning. And this cycle has been going on for several items now and needs to stop right now. Hence, I have decided to have a strict budget in mind next time I head for grocery and try not to go beyond it. I’m trying to put an end to seeing-in-the-aisle and throwing it in the cart impulses and looks-good-may-try but end up wasting let’s-try buying!
When following a recipe, try to get some single-serve ones or portion it down if you can.
Yeah, so true. I sometimes try and follow some starry recipes but end up making so much. Now, I have learnt and take a bit less than half the portion size of all the ingredients listed in the recipe or simply look for recipes that are single-serve or just meant for one person. Are you looking for single-serve recipes too, I swear by One Dish Kitchen or if you want more options, Tasty is at your disposal!
Meal Prepping is just as important as meal planning.
Yes, I’m happy to admit that I was very meal prepping averse but once I started it took out all the ‘what on earth am I going to eat’ anxiety and more importantly lessened the food wastage. Why? Because I exactly know what I’ll cook today, I have the veggies chopped on Sunday and ziplocked, the meat is marinated in individual wraps in single-serve portion size, and I’m ready to go. So, no more cooking too much which I have to eat for two more meals or if I don’t want to eat it anymore, then popping into the waste bin.
Try versatile recipes, cook once, and use leftovers for a few other recipes.
Do you want to know how? Cook chicken breasts and veggies on Monday, use the leftover chicken, throw it with mayo and fried onions and jalapeños to make a spicy sandwich for lunch the next day. And if you had cooked a king’s meal size equivalent chicken breasts and still have leftovers, then add some noodles and a small portion of veggies and broth to make a hearty soup out of it. See how we’re steering clear from wastage and saving bucks in the process!
Good storage containers can be your savior.
Yes, these containers prolong the life of the leftovers by sealing freshness and flavor. And they can be your best friend when storing marinated meat or cut up salad for meal prepping. Take a look at the Glass Meal Prep and Storage Containers on Amazon, you may like it!
You probably don’t know what the freezer can do for you!
Ziplock up the marinated stuff, the frozen berries for the morning smoothie, the large batch of soups in single-serve portions. I’m sure you haven’t yet realized the full potential of the freezer till now, right? See how much you can possibly re-eat if properly stored!
Expiration dates always elude me, don’t let that happen to you.
I ignore the dates and only realize it has gone bad when the stench invades through my fridge or my teeny tiny pantry. Eww! These days I’m checking the cream cheese expiry dates, the heavy whipping cream ‘best sell by’ dates to be on top of the ‘lessen-food-wastage’ game!
I am trying to do my weekly grocery shopping with my best friend,
In this way if we see a great deal at Costco selling two large loaves of bread together, we split it up, both the cost and the bread! This is what we do for the pasta sauces, the pasta and spaghetti boxes, the huge package of salmon or chicken, and the bag of clementine. In this way I’m buying for one, otherwise I have had occasions when I have got a big bag of clementine and the ones at the bottom got all moldy from languishing for long and subsequently thrown away!
Sometimes frozen food may be the right answer.
You heard it right, I know it’s always better fresh but if you’re alone and can’t possibly finish off a box of strawberries which get bad pretty fast, getting a bag of frozen berries is always better. Thaw a portion you’ll need for the breakfast smoothie and the rest stays comfortably in the freezer. Money-saving anyone!!
The sauces, spices usually don’t go bad fast, you can stock them up to spruce up a quick meal.
Bland or not-so-tasty dinner today, try some chili garlic or sriracha sauce rather than shoving it away and ultimately throwing it. I am stocking up on Dijon mustard, Jalapeño, Relish sauces, and some sprinkling spices.
Keep a tab on how much food you order
This was what I was doing, ordering Uber Eats although I had food from yesterday ready to be eaten. Increasing my food spending and wastage. I went the grocery budget route for this and have capped my food ordering to a certain $ and this is helping me to cut down extra food in the fridge too.
Learning from grocery mistakes from last week.
If you know that you’ll only eat a small part of the frozen dumplings and the rest will languish, then don’t buy it again. It’s pretty easy to figure out your own eating patterns like you chicken twice a week, a pork loin once, a green smoothie thrice a week and dessert one night a week. Don’t go overboard when shopping for these then. Learning is everywhere you see, even in what we eat!!
My poor lonely soul cooking and slogging in the kitchen and then throwing a part of that food after a few days! Why? Just because I had pushed it to the back of my fridge and placed another leftover from the Uber Eats delivery that I got yesterday. Nope not anymore, I’m not wasting my hard-earned bucks like this. Imagine the cream cheese or the pasta or the to-much-ordered food that I or you threw away a few days back. Adding that up can be quite a few bucks and can very well go towards something constructive. So, let’s get on with this, we’ve got this!!