do you throw away much food?

[kenyantykoon]

i dont throw away food. ever. i think that it would be the abomination of abominations that would cause God to strike me dead seeing as how so many of my country men are dying away of hunger

[mickeylily]

Waste food, or waste your health with bad food? It's better to choose health.
Why don't u make a list according to ur cooking plan, then buy food as the list?

[disneysteve]

Why don't u make a list according to ur cooking plan, then buy food as the list?

That is a common recommendation, but it isn't always so easy to put into practice. My family is not together for dinner every night due to varying schedules. We eat together Thursday night and usually Friday night. Weekends we're usually together though sometimes DD is off at some youth group event or we go out somewhere and dine out. Monday and Tuesday nights I work late. Wednesday nights, DD has religious school and I often have meetings so we eat on the go.

Makes it tough to buy something and use it up before it goes bad.

[Staceyy]

We rarely throw away food. I was really surprised at how long bread will last if stored in the microwave. We went away on a trip for a week and forgot and left an open but resealed bag of bread in the microwave, where we store our bread due to lack of counter or other space. The bread was totally fresh. If it had been left out on the counter, it would have been moldy. We also often freeze our bread.

Most leftovers are eaten the next day or frozen. I chop onions and green peppers and freeze them. I freeze berries such as fresh strawberries, blackberries etc. to keep them from going bad. If I'm going out of town for a week, I will freeze my milk. They say the plastic green bags will prolong the life of your fruits and vegetables, but I've never tried them. Frozen leftovers often make their way into my homemade soups.

[cptacek]

My sister always chops her green/red/yellow peppers and freezes them. She says that is a good way to store them. I need to do that, but haven't yet got in the habit

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Milk mostly and only

[sarah]

After I was widowed I stopped cooking for a while and a lot of food was wasted Now that I don't live alone anymore less food is wasted and any scraps tend to go to the dog.

[LuxLiving]

No we don't waste much food at all. I work hard at using up what I buy. The occasional vegetable may get by me, but usually I spot it before then and get it chopped and in the freezer for soup.

[donlat3]

I am horrible with this. I never finish something before it goes bad.

[paymydebt]

No I don't throw away food and try to conserve. When you are on a tight budget you can't afford to do so. Plus it's wrong to waste when there are people less fortunate who are going hungry.

[wincrasher]

95% of the time I throw out leftovers. Only if something was especially good or was expensive will I save it.

Like if I have a leftover steak - I'll put it in a freezer bag and pop it in the freezer.

Or if I make a big pot of chili with the intention of putting it in containers to use later.

But leftovers from a normal dinner go in the dumper. There usually is very little left, normally just a few ounces of each thing. I'm not saving 3 spoonfuls of green beans. The trick is just not to make too much to begin with.

My bigger problem is perfectly good food in the pantry going past it's expiration date. I'm constantly going thru it to put in the donation box before it goes bad.

But leftover I don't know what in a tupperware from who know's when? Gross.

[MTLaura]

Extra Work

They say the plastic green bags will prolong the life of your fruits and vegetables, but I've never tried them. Frozen leftovers often make their way into my homemade soups.

I bought some because the husband has become a picky eater lately. The trick is when you see moisture forming on the inside of those bags, you dump the fruits/veggies out, wipe the bag out, wipe the f/v's, put them back in and they will last longer. If you don't wipe out the moisture.....lost produce....voice of experience!
IDLaura

[kenyantykoon]

throwing away food is an unspeakable abomination of abominations; in all the fullness of the words. i dont want to be struck down with lightning by God for throwing away the stuff he so graciously gave me to eat

[Miss Curly]

I was throwing away so much produce and bread that I finally invested in specialty storage containers. "Freshvac" for produce, "Desidry" for bread, crackers and tomatoes.

Now I am actually able to take advantage of sale produce (when red peppers and asparagus go on sale for instance) and buy more than I normally would because the containers do help keep food from spoiling as quickly.

[lynclarke]

It is a rare day when I throw anything out!! Disney guy, of course you can buy two stalks of bok choy. Just walk up and take off two stalks from the whole "head", and put them in a plastic bag!! I do it all the time.

My husband's favorite night of the week is "leftover" night. He loves getting a medley of things on his plate. If we have any little bits of leftovers, either the cats get them or my husband's fishing "bugs" get them!! Those bugs will strip clean a corncob or chicken bones!!

On average, I would guess we do not throw out one item a month!