I think one of the biggest threats to frugal cooking and avoiding food waste is hiding things from yourself. So many times I've heard other people say, "I had to toss ______ because I found it hidden in the back of the (fridge, cabinet, pantry, etc.)" In fact I've done it myself.
Since I know this "out of sight, out of mind" tendency is pretty common and I'm not immune to it myself I've worked on a plan to avoid waste. I've tested my plan for 3 months now and in that time I've found that less and less is being wasted.
What did I do?
I have a "bits" basket that sits on the counter. Even though the basket in and of itself isn't ugly, there are far prettier things to line a basket with that bits of food, but the prettier things won't help me combat waste.
What is in my basket?
1/2 of a package of dried blackeyed peas
1/2 of a package of Great Northern beans
1/3 of a package of mint chocolate chips
1/2 of a package of peanut butter chips
1 slice of bread
1/2 of a package or corn tortillas
1 lone graham cracker
1/2 of a sleeve of saltines
I use this basket to hold these things and keep them in my line of sight. When we bake sweets I always check the basket first for add ins. When I need bread crumbs I check the basket first for bread. When we want a snack I check the basket for crackers or use the tortillas to make chips. (It irks me to no end to find two or three partially eaten sleeves of crackers that are all stale....just because someone forgot they put them in the cabinet.) The beans are out as a reminder to me that I need to use these up before I open more.
Now if I could just figure out a way to avoid losing something in the fridge...lol. I'm getting better, but still I had to toss a cucumber this week and I felt so horrible about it.
How do you make sure that you don't lose food?
It's not out on the counter, but I have a basket/drawer in the pantry that's pretty much the same thing. I put open packages in there. But sometimes someone else in the family moves things around, and I find the opened packages elsewhere in the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteFor the fridge, we're lucky in that regard. Our fridge is one of those counter-depth ones. They are quite shallow, so everything is within eyesight when you open the doors. We keep a spare fridge in the garage, where I store things that are much less perishable, like margarine, unopened blocks of cheese, apples, oranges, onions, those sort of items, or backup items, like extra gallons of milk. So, the stuff in the kitchen fridge really is the stuff that will need using up quickly, and I feel aware of that. But still there is the occasional opened jar of condiment that goes bad. Even with the best intentions. . .
Our kitchen is small and the only drawers I have hold the silverware, pot holders and dish towels. But I'm not complaining. When we first got married the kitchen we had had NO drawers...lol.
DeleteI find things moved around, too. Upsets me at times...lol. I used to keep the snack basket out instead of this one, but I'd find myself rummaging through it during the day so it now resides permanently in a cabinet.
Our refrigerator is pretty standard, but it gets rearranged more than anything in the house. I love, love, love my husband, but he always "helps" me by rearranging it. That loosely translates to moving things where what he uses most is on the front...lol. He also likes to do things like freeze the sour cream...last night when I went to open a brand new container it was frozen because he had slid it to the back (touching). For some reason that top shelf has a tendency to freeze things.
Hi Shara! What a great idea, I do something kind of similar. When I have bits of pantry food, I put them in plastic bags and throw away the big boxes. That way I can see exactly how much I have and the boxes don't clutter and crowd my pantry. I really dislike having a messy or disorganized pantry. Whenever I get distracted and don't keep up with it I find that I always forget what I have and start buying doubles. Have a lovely sunday morning! With Love, Delisa :)
ReplyDeleteDelisa, I love plastic bags for holding things like that, too. In my dream world I'd have a shelf devoted to mason jars that I could just dump things in...lol
DeleteI think your bits basket is brilliant. I've just tidied some kitchen cupboards and put half empty cans and bottles within sight so that I can use them up first before opening anything new. I, too, do not like waste.
ReplyDeleteLove from Mum
xx
I'm with Delisa as we toss the boxes (not that we buy too much that comes in boxes, but some things do come in boxes, right?). Bread is always in a basket on the counter -- our hens get whatever is stale. What gets me is when we wind up tossing produce, of course our hens get that, too, but I just don't like paying for organic produce and then seeing it go to the hens... What's the yellow in the baggie in front? Just me being curious. :) Blessings! ~Lisa
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