If you love good food, you likely love experimenting in the kitchen. Cooking at home is an excellent way to control the ingredients, and it helps keep you away from fast food. But, unfortunately, it’s also quite easy to waste food, and landfilling good food is a terrible habit that we can all break. So, here are ten easy ways to help reduce your food waste.
1. Do Not Throw Away The Leftover Food
There are tons of new dishes you can make from the leftover food. With a few leftover recipes, you can turn them into something delicious and healthy. Try them out!
2. Buy In Bulk
Several food items (like oats, rice, cereal, and even nuts) can be stored for a long time. So rather than buying them in small packages every week or so, buy them in bulk.
3. Be A Conscious Shopper
The smartest thing you can do to reduce your kitchen waste is to shop smart and consciously. Always check the “best-before” and “packaged on” dates while shopping at the grocery.
4. Store Food Properly
Store perishable foods in the refrigerator, or freeze them when you get home from shopping. And if you have some leftovers, make sure you put them into a clean container with a proper lid and keep it in the refrigerator.
5. Grow Some Vegetables Or Fruits yourself
Growing your food can be the best way to reduce your food waste. There are many food ingredients that you can grow at home, harvest, and add fresh to your delicious dishes. This will save you some money and help you cut down the plastic packages you bring home from the stores.
6. Compost Your Food Waste
It is a known fact that vegetable peels make an excellent fertilizer. Composting food waste is a great way to give your plant babies some homemade nutrients. Instead of tipping veggie peels or eggshells into the bin, store them, and compost them.
7. Make A Smoothie Out Of Your Greens
Got a lot of stems, ends, and peels from your produce? Put them into a blender and make a healthy smoothie out of them.
8. Switch To Sustainable Alternatives
Many of your kitchen products can be replaced with a sustainable alternative, like glass jars instead of plastic containers or beeswax wrap instead of plastic lids.
9. Cook In Proper Portion
One of the important ways to reduce your food waste is not to overmake. It is always tempting to make more food than you need. Instead, cook according to your appetite, or measure the ingredients according to the serving.
10. Share Your Food
There are many food-sharing apps available, and hopefully, a lot more of them are coming up. So sign up on food-sharing apps like Olio, match with people and share that leftover.
It is possible to reduce your kitchen waste. All you need is a little planning and safe storage habits.