This school year, I have two new roommates in my three-bedroom basement suite, and I’ve observed that the compost bin in our kitchen fills up much faster than with my previous roommates. Besides the regular food scraps, I also notice partially used ingredients, such as onions and bell peppers, and lots of bread being thrown out regularly. Grocery shopping for one person can be challenging, but there are things I do to try to minimize food waste and save some money.
Before going grocery shopping, I like to consider what my schedule is like for the next few weeks and how much cooking I might do. This helps me to decide what to put on my shopping list. Generally, I only buy about one week’s worth of produce as it’s hard to keep it fresh. Also, grocery stores regularly reduce prices to clear old produce so I could maybe get things cheaper on my next shopping trip.
When I get home from a grocery run, I try to portion whatever can be portioned. For instance, a large pack of ground beef would be separated into meal-sized portions and frozen. This makes it easy for me to quickly grab a bag to thaw out the night before if I plan on cooking the next day. It also helps me avoid having to thaw and refreeze meat, which can lead to quality loss.
A trick I have for ensuring that partially used ingredients don’t go to waste is to have a list of such ingredients on the refrigerator door. This helps me to remember what I have in the fridge and to plan meals using those ingredients. I try to store partially used ingredients in air-tight containers or Ziploc bags to prolong their freshness. It can be fun to look up recipes to utilize the leftover ingredients.
After seeing the amount of food that was being wasted by my roommates, I decided to suggest sharing some items to reduce wastage. Although the three of us come from vastly different backgrounds and cook very different types of food, there are some ingredients that we all use. We will agree on what to share and one of us will pick up those items on our next grocery run and divide the cost by three. There is a designated space in our refrigerator where we place our partially used ingredients for the next person to use.
Considering how food prices have ballooned over the past year, ensuring that we minimize wastage can save us a significant sum of money over time. In addition, food waste has well-documented environmental impacts. So by taking steps to cut food wastage, we are also doing our part to protect the environment.
Saving money and the environment at the same time sounds like a no-brainer to me.