As we all know, a trip to the supermarket these days
can be quite expensive. And I don't like to waste food.
In light of this, I try to shop very mindfully, asking myself questions like, "If I buy this, how likely is it to get eaten?" and
"Will this portion I'm buying end up generating leftovers...and if so, how likely are those leftovers to be eaten?"
An incredible amount of food is thrown out every day; a lot of it is
leftover food that spoiled because it was either forgotten about (pushed to the back of the fridge) or unwanted the next day (for one reason or another.)
Think about it this way. If you had
$5 in your pocket, would you open your window and let it fly away in the breeze? Most of us wouldn't. But if we toss food in the trash (or into the garbage disposal), it's pretty much the same thing as opening the window and watching our hard-earned money being thrown into the wind.
Here are 5 organized ways to make better use of leftovers:
1. Use
tomorrow. The longer leftovers are in the fridge, the less likely they are to be eaten. Try to always eat them the next day, either for lunch or incorporate them into your evening meal.
2. Freeze and plan a "leftovers night" on your calendar. When making a meal, make enough for two meals. Eat one half tonight. Freeze the other half for "Leftovers Night." Then, schedule that leftovers night on your calendar to heat and eat.
3. Reduce the amount of food you make. If you rarely eat your leftovers, reduce the amount of food you make so there is only enough for ONE night's meal. This way, you won't have any leftovers.
4. Shop for just a few meals. The more you have in your fridge, the better the chances you're going to end up with food waste. You'll be so focused on cooking the foods you purchased so they don't go bad that the leftovers often get forgotten about. Plus, it's very challenging to "see" leftovers in an overcrowded fridge. I never shop for a week's
worth of food; I prefer shopping in smaller amounts (3 day's worth), eating whatever we purchased, and then replenishing the fridge.
5. Watch cooking shows. The more
you watch cooking shows, the less food you'll waste. You'll start building ideas like using up leftover veggies in a frittata, salvaging day-old bread by making it into bread crumbs or a French toast bake, or freezing extra tomato paste that you don't have another use for this week. The more you watch these shows, the more creative you'll be able to be with leftover food...and food scraps as well.
