Experts’ Easy Tips to Stop Wasting Food (and Save Money)

August 14, 2024

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One thing that’s incredibly frustrating is spending your hard-earned cash on healthy food, and then having to throw it away. It happens — sometimes we buy too much, or our best-intended meal-prep plans change. In the United States, more than one-third of the food in the supply chain ends up in landfills each year, not only wasting money, but also contributing to climate change. Meanwhile, over 44 million Americans experience food insecurity. One thing is clear: We all need effective strategies to help us stop wasting food.

Fortunately, there are practical solutions available to everyone, from innovative apps to subscription services to storage tips and creative recipes. Here are practical tips that can help you eliminate food waste in your kitchen, save money, and contribute to a more sustainable future.

Stop wasting food — there’s an app for that

Supply and demand are basic economic tenets, and they are put to good use in the app Too Good To Go. The concept is simple yet revolutionary: Businesses list their unsold food items, which users can then purchase at a significant discount. This not only prevents perfectly good food from going to waste, but also offers consumers affordable meals and supports local businesses in managing their excess inventory. It’s a win-win.

Using the Too Good To Go app is straightforward. After downloading the app and creating an account, users can browse a list of participating local businesses, including bakeries, restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores. Users purchase a “Surprise Bag,” a surprise assortment of leftover food from the businesses, at a fraction of the original price. Then the user picks up their Surprise Bag at a specified time.

Users consistently praise the Too Good To Go app for its ease of use and the quality of the food. The r/toogoodto sub on Reddit has more than 45,000 members, while r/TooGoodToGoCanada has over 21,000 members. Users post pictures of what they got and how much they spent. From an anecdotal look through the images, there are a lot of baked goods, sandwiches, and pizza; sometimes users post about juices and fresh foods from grocery stores. In bigger cities, it looks like you can sometimes get a balanced meal from a restaurant that includes protein, carbs, and salad, though most of the photos are either snacks or portions of meals.

One caveat: The app may be harder to use if you live in a small town, or if you have dietary restrictions or allergies.

Subscribe to an “ugly” produce box

Another effective strategy to combat food waste is embracing the imperfect. “Ugly” produce boxes are subscription services that deliver cosmetically imperfect but perfectly edible fruits and vegetables to your doorstep. These services source produce that doesn’t meet the aesthetic standards of grocery stores — think misshapen carrots, slightly blemished apples, or undersized peppers — but is still fresh, nutritious, and delicious.

Companies like Misfits Market and Imperfect Foods curate these boxes based on seasonal availability and your preferences, delivering them weekly or bi-weekly. I subscribe to Odd Bunch, a Canadian company that offers subscription boxes of imperfect, surplus, and locally sourced fruits and vegetables.

Experts estimate that of the 92 billion pounds of wasted food per year, millions of pounds of produce are discarded simply because they don’t look perfect. By choosing so-called ugly produce, you’re directly contributing to reducing food waste and supporting sustainable agriculture. Plus, you can save up to 30% or more compared to regular grocery store prices, making it a cost-effective option as well.

Again, there are caveats: Some users may find that the selection in their box is not as varied or as tailored to their needs as they would like. Additionally, the unpredictability of what you receive can be a challenge for meal planning. Lastly, these services, which often operate on a subscription basis, might not be as convenient for those with irregular schedules or varying grocery needs.

Expert tips for saving most-wasted foods

Of course, once you have the food in your home, you need to know how to use it before it spoils. According to a recent survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Hello Fresh, lettuce, bananas, milk, apples, and bread are the most-tossed items in American households.

One of the first things chef Dan Churchill from Centr recommends is to start by thinking about your shopping and meal-planning habits, and assess what you actually like to eat and what will get you most excited about cooking. Then, managing your kitchen is key.

“Beyond just shopping and planning, learning how to store your food properly — whether it’s in the fridge, pantry, or freezer — is huge. Labeling ingredients and making your storage system more visually appealing can also help you become more comfortable and confident in the kitchen. That’s the first step in realizing how easy great cooking can actually be,” says Churchill. “Finally, getting creative with ingredients and leftovers is super helpful. Know which ingredients in your kitchen can be used in several ways — hint, likely all of them can — and what those recipes are.”

Here are a few ideas from Churchill for some of those most-wasted items:

Bread: Turn stale bread into croutons for soups or salads, breadcrumbs for Italian dishes, or use it for bread pudding or overnight baked French toast.
Milk: Using excess milk to make creamy sauces and soups is a great way to utilize any leftover milk before it goes bad. Additionally, plenty of pancake, muffin, and cake recipes require milk. Make a batch over the weekend for easy weekday breakfasts, and store them in the fridge or freezer.
Apples: “If you have an excess of apples or apples that are about to go bad, putting them into a smoothie is my favorite way to utilize them,” Churchill says. “My Ginger, Apple, and Banana Smoothie is my favorite way to do that. Ginger is loaded with antioxidants and, when paired with apple and spinach in this revitalizing smoothie, adds a zingy, delicious flavor. An apple bake or pie is also a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth and prevent waste. Apple cinnamon pancakes are also a great breakfast option.”

To use up the lettuce in your fridge before it goes slimy, making a delicious dressing can motivate you (and your family) to devour it. Chelsea LeBlanc, RDN, has a cost-effective hack: “One of my favorite tips is to use an almost empty peanut butter jar to make a simple peanut butter dressing,” she says. “It’s delicious on salads, stir fry, and grain bowls.” You can also use an abundance of lettuce to make nutritious and refreshing wraps for cooked proteins or your favorite sandwich fillings.

Understand sell-by, use-by, and expiration dates

Another way to stop wasting food is to better understand what the dates on packages really mean.

“This may come as a surprise, but most foods are safe to eat beyond their package dates,” LeBlanc says. “Most of these dates are for quality, not for safety, and sadly, there is no standard dating system for food safety labeling. This leads to confusion and unnecessary waste.”

Here are three common packaging labels:

Sell-by-date: Indicates the last day a product should be sold in stores, helping retailers manage inventory, but not necessarily when it becomes unsafe to consume.
Use-by date: This suggests the last date for peak quality and optimal flavor, as determined by the manufacturer, though the product may still be safe to eat after that.
Expiration: Specifies the date after which the product should not be consumed, as it may no longer be safe or effective, particularly for items like medications and infant formula. However, many foods, such as canned goods and dried products, can remain safe and edible past their expiration dates if stored properly.

“Most foods are safe to eat beyond the package dates as long as they have been handled and stored safely,” adds LeBlanc. “Before tossing your food, do a sight and sniff test. If it looks and smells good, it’s likely okay to eat. Your wallet and the environment will thank you.”

Smart food storage tips to reduce waste

Proper food storage is essential for extending the shelf life of your groceries and preventing unnecessary waste. By following a few simple storage tips, you can keep your food fresh longer and make a significant impact on reducing food waste in your home.

Make it visible. Chrissy Arsenault, a registered dietitian with the International Personal Trainer Academy, recommends storing food in airtight, clear, BPA-free plastic or glass containers. Label storage containers with the contents and date.
First in, first out. “Rotating stock by placing older items in front is a good way to make sure that you consume the oldest food first,” Arsenault says. “This is the oldest trick in the book for anyone who’s worked at a grocery store or restaurant to make sure there’s minimal food waste.”
Chill out. Arsenault also suggests storing nuts and seeds in the fridge or freezer to help extend their shelf life. Churchill also recommends taking care with fresh herbs: “Tucking them in a mason jar or glass of water in the fridge can help extend their lifespan by days or even weeks, vs. burying them in your produce drawer where they’re likely to get squashed.”
Bag it. I started using reusable linen produce bags from Ambrosia Bags a few months ago and have noticed a huge difference in how long my fruits and vegetables stay fresh. For example, when I used to toss carrots in the fridge, they were soft and bendy in a few days. When I properly store them in the Ambrosia Bags vegetable bag, they last weeks without getting soft. Each bag in the set tells you what type of produce it’s meant for (like mushrooms, berries, or greens), along with instructions on how to properly store it (wash it first or keep it dry).