We were frustrated by the weekly ritual of throwing food from the fridge into the garbage so we could fill it with more food. A classic American activity. Studies show Americans toss 40 percent of food into the trash.
Trying to beat the statistics we looked hard at what was fermenting in the fridge. Much of it was purchased with good intentions. You mean to cook in but something comes up, and you end up eating out. Another factor was the desire to be healthy and eat more fresh fruit & veggies.
The solutions we came up with was to use more canned and frozen items. Frozen vegetables included green beans, broccoli, and cauliflower. We also switched to frozen meat such as salmon, hamburger, ground turkey, and chicken breast.
We don’t drink much milk, but do need it occasionally, so we started buying the half-quart organic milk once we learned of its long shelf life. A long shelf life saves money. For lettuce, we noticed that romaine lettuce lasts two weeks so we use that and as opposed to iceberg lettuce, which doesn’t last as long. Romaine is also healthier than iceberg lettuce.
Having basic and quick meals seems to help get the food used up before it goes bad. We can happily report that tossing food is now a rare activity.
The Late Frugal
