Worst Wastes of Food
I was cleaning out the fridge the other day when it hit me just how wasteful it can be.
Think about it for a moment, every dollar you spend on food you throw out may as well have been ripped up and thrown away for all the good it does you. It’s an enormous waste, and depending on how long you leave it in the refrigerator it could be a health hazard.
So, how to prevent it?
Well the first thing that comes to mind is simple:
Eat everything.
It sounds easy enough, but lots of things sound easy but don’t turn out that way; especially when you have kids involved. Kids can be notoriously picky eaters, and what’s worse is they can pick it up from the strangest places, so even if you trained them to try anything they can suddenly decide they don’t want something they loved just the other day. There’s very little more annoying than a teenager who wants to go to McDonalds because he doesn’t want to eat leftover spaghetti; even though spaghetti sauce is often better the next day.
Follow past the cut for a few ideas:
Make Just Enough.
This is probably the easiest in principle and one of the hardest in practice.  Make enough to feed everyone without anyone going hungry or there being any leftovers. The downside to this method is that it can be hard on people who are watching their weight, because if there’s just a little left over, it becomes easy to overeat, and that’s not a good thing.
Make Something You Can Work With.
Some kids just don’t like the idea of leftovers: they don’t want to eat the same old thing they had yesterday.  Or maybe they decide there’s something wrong with the very idea. One way to deal with this is to make something that you can use for the basis of another dish the next day. Maybe do a roast on Monday, then divide the remaining meat in half – make a stir-fry on Tuesday and a stew on Wednesday. Stews are great for re-using leftovers.
Freeze Single Servings.
Don’t just put everything in a container and bung it in the fridge. Instead, take the time to put together single-meal size portions and freeze them. Not only will it last longer that way, but it’s often easier to convince kids to eat something frozen than leftovers from the fridge. It lets you combine economy of scale with the utility of single meals.
These are just a few ideas that have worked for our family over the years; if you have other ideas please don’t hesitate to add them to the comments.
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