5 Ways To Stop Wasting Food

The average person wastes 10% of their groceries.  Here are five tips to help you waste less.

Thanks to "The Huffington Post", we can save money and stop feeling guilty because we waste all of that food.

1.  Plan out your meals.  That way, you're less likely to buy something and forget about it.  And it saves you money, because you make fewer impulse buys.  I am the QUEEN of impulse buying when it comes to food.  Bonus:  Don't go grocery shopping hungry.

2.  Make one night a week "leftover night."  Or, if you're me, make every other night  a week a "leftover night".  Just match up your leftovers in the fridge to make a meal.  Or think of them as "ingredients" instead of "leftovers," and throw it all together.

3.  Buy your vegetables frozen instead of fresh.  They don't lose that many nutrients when they're frozen, and obviously they last a lot longer.  Of course, fresh veggies almost always taste better but, frozen will last longer.  I once bought four ears of corn and ended up throwing two of them away.  The next time I shopping for corn, I bought 8 frozen cobs (that tasted great) and I still have four of them left in my freezer.

4.  Stop buying everything in bulk.  It's cheaper to shop at Costco if you actually use the stuff.  But if you don't, you end up wasting money and food.  So things like cereal and coffee are good in bulk, but not fresh produce and bread.  Don't you wish you could buy HALF a loaf of bread at he store?  I live alone so bread always goes to waste.

5.  Stop paying attention to the sell-by dates.  Food companies put them there, not the FDA.  So in general, if something smells bad, don't eat it.  But otherwise you're probably okay.  Bonus:  Did you know that milk stays fresh ONE WEEK after the sell-by date?

A writer for "The Huffington Post" actually did a story last month where he only ate expired food for a week, and didn't get sick!