• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Living Well Kitchen logo

  • Home
  • About
    • Meet Meme
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
  • Recipes
    • Breakfast
    • Appetizer & Snacks
      • Snacks
    • Main Dish
      • Vegetarian
      • Seafood
      • Meat
      • Poultry
      • Pork
    • Specific Recipes
      • Vegetarian
        • Vegan
      • Kid Friendly
      • Gluten Free
      • Dairy Free
      • Nut Free
      • Egg Free
      • Soy Free
    • Sides
      • Vegetables
      • Beans
      • Grains
      • Potatoes
      • Bread
      • Sauce
    • Salad
    • Soup
    • Drinks
    • Dessert
    • Slow Cooker
    • Instant Pot
    • Season
      • Winter
      • Spring
      • Summer
      • Fall
  • Videos
    • Recipes
    • Bloopers
  • Easy Meals
  • Quiz
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Easy Meals
  • Breakfast
  • Main Dish
  • Dessert
  • Slow Cooker
  • Videos
  • Intuitive Eating
  • Quiz
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ×
    Videos » Live

    How to Reduce Food Waste

    Published: Apr 20, 2017 · Updated: Mar 31, 2018 · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads

    Five tips for how to realistically reduce food waste

    Mexican Fried Quinoa from Living Well Kitchen

    Food waste is not cool. It's bad for the environment and your budget.

    Instead of continually contributing to the alarming amount of food waste that happens every year, here are a few tips to reduce the food waste in your house.

    [clickToTweet tweet="Five tips for how to realistically reduce food waste. #foodwaste" quote="Five tips for how to realistically reduce food waste. #foodwaste"]

    Know what you have

    Make a list of everything in your kitchen. What's in your pantry, refrigerator and freezer?

    Keep an inventory. (I like to keep a list on a whiteboard on my fridge)

    Knowing all of these things will prevent you from buying something you already have and make sure you buy the right things you need when you go to the store. It can also help with meal planning

    Mexican Quinoa Casserole from Living Well Kitchen

    Shop with a realistic attitude

    Buy what you need. Be honest about what you actually need to buy.

    How often will you be eating at home this week? How much will you need to make that happen?

    Stock up on non perishables or items that take at least a few weeks to go bad. Don't buy large quantities of produce or meat or other items you know will go bad before you can use them all. Only buy those in bulk if you know you will be using them before they go bad.

    If you end up getting stuck in the appeal of a bargain, try to buy items that store well in the pantry (and make sure you have enough room in your house for them).

    Stuffed Bell Peppers from Living Well Kitchen

    Clean out the fridge weekly

    Designate a day or two every week to clean out the kitchen. Use up your leftovers in creative ways, so you don't get bored.

    Some of my favorites include fried rice, fried quinoa, stir fry, omelets, frittatas, casseroles, stuffed peppers.

    Embrace the waste(d things)

    Don't toss the usually unwanted things.

    Obviously, this goes with using your common sense. If something has obviously gone bad or is past its expiration date & looks risky, toss it. Otherwise, what can you do with things that might not be all that pretty anymore but are usable.

    Save scraps from your veggies and freeze them until you have enough to make a batch of veggie broth. Or do the same and save them for the next time you have leftover chicken bones (after making a roasted chicken), so you can make chicken broth.

    Maybe the fruit or veggie isn't all the pretty, but that doesn't mean it won't be tasty. Buy the funny looking fruits & veggies. Sometimes you can even get a discount for the not-so-perfect ones. (Be sure to look for obvious signs that it is going bad soon and skip it if that's the case)

    Crock-Pot Vegetable Broth from Living Well Kitchen

    Have a backup plan

    Not every week is going to go as planned, so have a backup plan for what to do with food that you didn't get to use that week.

    You can freeze it, prepare it and freeze, make soup or a casserole and freeze, pickle, or can it.

    If you have leftover fruit or veggies, you can blend and pour into ice cubes to use in smoothies later. If the veggie is hard, like a carrot, steam before blending.

    If all else fails, share, donate or compost.

    Meme

    Check out my Facebook Live post where I share more about these five tips:

    « Vegan French Toast Casserole
    Almond Coconut Banana Bread »
    • Yummly
    • Share
    • Tweet

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Welcome!

    Meme (a brunette female) is holding umbrella and spinning around in front of the Eiffel Tower wearing a denim jacket, skirt, and blue shoesHi, I'm Meme -- a thirty-something girl from Alabama living in San Diego! Join me as I prove that living a guilt-free, healthy lifestyle can be budget friendly, delicious & fun!
    Read More

    Let's Connect

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Most Popular

    pork tenderloin with gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans on white plate with yellow and white striped napkin

    Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin

    jar of chocolate sauce with a spoon in it. empty small glass ice cream cups with a bowl of cherries on a wicker table

    Easy Chocolate Sauce

    Protein Pancakes from Living Well Kitchen

    protein pancakes

    white plate with a slice of zucchini lasagna

    Zucchini Lasagna

    spatula holding a microwave cookie

    Microwave Oatmeal Cookie

    stack of almond butter banana cookies with one cookie facing the front on wooden cutting board with a glass of milk, banana, oats, vanilla extract, and almond butter container

    Almond Butter Banana Cookies

    Gluten free Crab Cakes from Living Well Kitchen @memeinge

    Gluten free Crab Cakes

    chicken salad and a ritz cracker in a glass bowl on white table with green napkin

    No Mayo Chicken Salad

    Intuitive Eating

    brunette female holding a heart shaped pizza in a Parisian cafe

    Why Emotional Eating Isn't Bad

    hand holding an apple in front of apple trees

    Should I Eat Conventional or Organic Produce?

    havanese dog standing on arm of cream chair with a quilt in chair

    Intuitive Eating and Weight Loss

    brunette female sitting in a blanket in Versaille garden smiling and holding a container of container of food she is about to be eating

    What is Intuitive Eating

    Easy Meals

    close up of a cut avocado BLT

    Avocado BLT

    white plate with beef jerky nachos, red and green bell pepper, beef jerky, cilantro

    Beef Jerky Nachos

    salmon fillets covered in pesto in a white baking dish on wooden table

    Pesto Salmon

    Crock-Pot Lemon Chicken from Living Well Kitchen

    Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken

    Salads

    white countertop with clear bowl of miso dressing with a silver spoon next to a container of miso paste and a microplane with fresh ginger

    Miso Dressing

    white and black napkin with plate of pita chips, celery, and red bell peppers, and a bowl of chicken salad with pita chip in bowl

    Hummus Chicken Salad

    fresh strawberries on white counter with glass container of strawberry dressing, jar of balsamic vinegar

    Strawberry Salad Dressing

    bowl of Buffalo Chicken Salad, blue cheese, wing sauce, celery, cilantro

    Buffalo Chicken Salad

    As Seen On:

    As Seen On

    In Season

    bowl of ginger beef soup on a gold and white napkin with garlic, limes, and ginger

    Ginger Beef Soup

    Avocado Deviled Eggs

    rectangle serving dish with crawfish dip on a square plate with sliced orange bell peppers and pita chips with a green napkin

    Crawfish Dip

    white plate on floral napkin with deviled eggs, green napkin topped with hard boiled eggs and container of hummus

    Hummus Deviled Eggs

    Footer

    Living Well Kitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

    • Home
    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Recipes

    Copyright © 2022

    We use cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT