Never Throw Out Food Again and Save $1200 Annually: Part 1



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A friend asked me to speak to this. I am not an expert in the kitchen, but I rarely throw out food. The longer I’ve thought about it, the more I realize that food is just another thing that needs to stay organized. According to Timothy Jones*, food expert, the average american family throws away at least $1200 in food each year. *cite: CBSnew.com

There are some people who have really done some work on this topic, so I will refer you to  http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/ first and then tell you what I find to be helpful in my own refrigerator.

(Note: When I use the word refrigerator that does not include your freezer.)

Sort:  Remember the show Cribs on MTV andhow the refrigerators were meticulously organized?  Keeping a tidy refrigerator  helps you see what you have. Organize items like grocery stores do:

1. Sort like items together
2. Put items that expire soon in the front and older expiration dates in the back.  

Minimize:  Don’t keep a lot in the refrigerator. My friends have looked in my refrigerator several times and thought I had little to nothing. I look at it and know that  same food will last a week!

Use What You Have: There are lots of ingredient finder sites that let you type in items you have in your home and leads you to recipes with these ingredients. http://www.supercook.com is one of these.

Blend it:  Soft/dark bananas and the like are sometimes better in smoothies. Look online for fruit and even vegetable, yes vegetable smoothies.

More ideas to come in the next few days on this topic...