I hate wasting money.  Who doesn’t?  If you could save some money, wouldn’t you?  If you think of how much money you waste throwing away food, you’d be surprised.  Half of an avocado, $0.60; a half dozen eggs, $0.60; half a carton of Half and Half, $0.75… and that is in Fargo, ND.  This doesn’t include fresh produce that can be very expensive in the winter months.  Especially now that Ben and I are eating healthier, we need to make sure we are eating all of our food, and throwing away none.

Ben and I have not been horrible at wasting food, but to me, even wasting a potato annoys me.  I think that if I would have planned meals better we wouldn’t have had this issue.  This week is the end of us wasting food.  We have found several ways to prevent this from happening.  Mrs. Green from MyZeroWaste.com says that by keeping foods on the top shelf that need to be used first before anything new.  This is a great tip I would have never thought about.  This may require a little reorganizing of our fridge, but will likely do.  Another tip which we will implement is putting a dry erase board on our fridge that will help us see what we have to use up without digging.  Then just erase when it’s gone.  This challenge for Ben will also allow him to be more creative when it comes to preparing meals.

Another way to prevent this food waste from going into the garbage and also save money is to compost it.  Yes, you still waste food, but you make up the money in the nutrient rich soil you make from it.  This will give you better results from your organic gardening.  In North Dakota you can’t compost outdoors in the winter because the temperature plummets below freezing for about 4 months.  We invested in a NatureMill Composter that we put into our garage to keep the compost brewing throughout winter.  It runs on approximately $0.50 worth of electricity per month, doesn’t take up much space, made from recycled materials and you can get a batch of compost ready for the garden in 2 weeks instead of 3 months.  Did I also mention it’s made in the USA?  Everyone should purchase one of these.

Besides saving tons of money, we will also reduce our waste output for the city and reduce the amount of methane gas that is released into the atmosphere.  Reducing food waste has a snowball effect on our carbon footprint.  We’ll save money, create more meals and help the environment.  Also, since we don’t put out the garbage unless the bin is full, many times weeks between, the garbage man won’t idle his engine while unloading our garbage.  With the great soil we’ll get from food scraps we’ll have a better garden next year.  If you have any other suggestions on how to eliminate food waste, please comment below.