A new week and I have a new task. For those just joining GuyGoesGreen, every week my wife assigns me a green challenge and it my duty to research and act on that challenge. This week Ashley’s task is to stop wasting food. This is really a task for both of us because on many occasions we have ended up throwing away food that we just bought a week or two prior with the intention of eating. We need to stop wasting food and start using what we have.
How many times have you had unused food in the fridge? We have had it happen all too often. I would imagine that this can have an impact on the environment not only through the garbage that is generated, but the wasted energy that goes into growing, harvesting, packaging and transporting just to go to the landfill.
Ashley has been composting for quite a while so much of this waste ends up as flower food, but why cause undue garbage if we can help it. I suspect that my week will entail devising a strategy for keeping track of older food in our fridge, researching the impact of food waste or packaging and finally finding some positive way to change how we live.
If you are just joining us or have been following us now for a few weeks, thank you for stopping by my little area of the internet! Please let me know in the comments area below if you have any comments, tips for conserving food or resources that can help me find more information.
Hey Ben, this is a good topic! I learned in order to not waste food you have to plan the week before. I will figure out what I want to make for the next week like on Tuesday and only go shopping for those items on the weekend. That way you are only buying things that you will use up in the next week and not worry about it going to waste. You also get to try new recipes that way and you won’t be making constant trips to the grocery store.
Great Task! Jenna is right! I have a menu for each week with dishes that have the same ingredients. So, I make all of my Mexican food at the same time so I can use up that sour cream and salsa and not throw half of it away. Also, I have learned to buy a whole chicken and use it over 3 or 4 meals. For instance, we’ll eat 1/2 the chicken one night as chicken with gravy, the other 1/2 the next night as chicken paprika, and then the scraps get pulled off the bones to make either chicken soup or chicken bbq sandwiches. Wasting any food is bad but wasting meat is the worst because that poor animal died so that we could throw it in the trash!
Thanks for the input Rachel and Jenna! It seems that we can only really plan 2-3 meals a week, but then we try to use up the rest in various recipes. Unfortunately some stuff seems hard to reuse (like cilantro). Mebbe we will try to plan a little bit earlier.
Great challenge; this is one of my personal challenges too. I find it difficult to menu plan, but I know it works for others. It doesn’t work for us because with kids appetites can fluctuate wildly. I tend to plan for the next 3 or 4 days, building meals around what is already in the fridge.
My top tip, however, is to keep the top shelf on your fridge solely for the things that need using up, then put in a house ‘rule’ that things must be taken off that top shelf before new things are open.
So many times I ‘lose’ things in the back of the ‘fridge’, so this really helps to reduce waste.
Good luck!
The top shelf idea is really great Mrs. Green. We do not have any children, but menu planning doesn’t work for me because MY appetite can fluctuate wildly.