In regards to food, “Waste not, want not.” You may have heard this expression as a child when you wouldn’t eat your greens. In the U.S. alone, the amount of food that is wasted on a daily basis is staggering.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “if just 5 percent of Americans’ food waste was recovered it would represent one day’s worth of food for 4 million people.” Moreover, according to CNN, “The U.N. World Food Program says the total surplus of the U.S. alone could satisfy “every empty stomach” in Africa (France’s leftovers could feed the Democratic Republic of Congo; and Italy’s could feed Ethiopia’s undernourished).”
In addition, it costs the U.S. close to one billion dollars every year to dispose of food waste. This poses a hidden danger to the environment. The EPA states that “when food rots, it releases methane – a greenhouse gas which the EPA says is 20 times more damaging to the environment that carbon dioxide.”
However, food waste is not new to this country. The USDA asserts that 25.9 million tons of food gets thrown out every year. Some researchers estimate this statistic to be even higher given the amount of food that restaurants, supermarkets, and convenience stores throw out.
These statistics bring home the point that all of us need to do a better job of avoiding food waste at home. During this economic crisis, it is incumbent upon all of us to find new and alternative ways to save money.
While buying food in bulk has its merits, one of the best ways to avoid food waste is to prepare meals ahead of time or, at the very least, only buy those items that will be utilized for that night’s dinner preparation.
Consider the last time you visited a restaurant for breakfast, as an example. Perhaps you ordered bacon and eggs. Most restaurants add a large portion of home fries to the dish. Perhaps you didn’t eat the entire mound of home fries or maybe you didn’t have any of it. That is waste. Next time, ask to take it home in a doggie bag or ask that it not be included.
The point is that when we go out to eat or shop for groceries, we should only buy that which we intend to eat.
There is an old saying, “Never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach.” It happens to be true. We tend to buy more than is on our list when we are hungry.
If you have a pantry closet, it’s a good idea to sort the foods so that (1) you will not buy the items you already have in stock, (2) you can easily find those items you need to prepare dinner, and (3) whatever leftovers you have can be used to prepare the following night’s dinner.
Avoiding food waste is not only important to our environment, but it can save quite a bit of money in the long run.
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Price comparison book are very helpful when you’re shopping for your family’s groceries. I’ve long advocated stocking up on your favorite products when they are available at discounted prices, but keeping track of the prices at different stores can be tough. My husband often jokes that I have an elephant’s memory, and I still struggle with remembering which grocery store has the best price on milk.
Making a price comparison notebook will make this an easy task for everyone. In this notebook, you can record the different prices you find at different stores. You can also record container sizes to help you make a good comparison. Follow these easy steps to build your own price comparison notebook:
Decide how big you want your notebook to be. If you carry a small purse or you are already carrying the world in your bag, you may want a small, pocketbook-sized notebook. On the other hand, I carry a purse big enough to hold a library book, so I don’t have any problem fitting a full-sized binder into my bag. After you’ve decided what size works for you, a quick stop at an office supply store will make it easy to pick out a binder that matches your needs.
Insert pages into your notebook. If you opted for a full-sized notebook, you can just use standard paper that has been hole-punched. Smaller notebooks, however, may be the perfect size for notecards. While you’re selecting your binder, you should be on the lookout for the perfect filler, too.
Create sections in your notebook. You’ll want sections in your notebook to make it easy for you to quickly find the page you’re looking for. I have sections for lunchmeat, snacks, dairy items, and baking goods (to name a few). Think of your visits to the grocery store to help you decide what sections your binder will need.
Start recording prices. When you pay your next visit to the grocery store, you’re ready to start filling in information about your favorite products. You may want to wait until you get home and transfer the prices from your receipt to your notebook. Sometimes you get a few weird looks as you write prices down in the store.
Enjoy the fruits of your labor. The next time you are browsing through a grocery store’s sales ad and you aren’t sure if the items listed are really being offered at a bargain price, you can pull out your handy-dandy notebook. You’ll be able to quickly see for yourself if the sales is as good as the ad says it is.
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Finding foods that my kids will love to eat is a constant challenge. They’d love to eat chips and candy all the time if the choice of snack foods were left up to them. It’s too bad for them that I don’t agree. For some silly reason (note sarcasm here) I feel like I need to make sure that a few healthy snacks work their way into the rotation of snack foods, too. And, of course, there is always the budget to consider. Junk food is too expensive to indulge in it all of the time.
That leaves me with the challenge of finding healthy, but fun foods that my kids will want to eat. I don’t want to spend too much for them, either. What’s a mom to do?
One way I’ve learned to make snack time fun is to take the ordinary, healthy snacks that I want the kids to eat and to turn them into something the kids can play with. I don’t know why, but my kids love anything they get to eat with their fingers. Some of our regular snacks include:
Fruit Kabobs: Fruit takes on a whole new life when you cut it into bite-sized pieces and pierce it with a bamboo skewer. You can even switch out the types of fruit you use to take advantage of the produce that’s in season and on sale in your area.
Celery and Peanut Butter: Getting kids to eat vegetables isn’t always easy, but a little peanut butter sure makes it easier. In a few minutes, I can cut a bunch of celery into finger-sized pieces and spread a dab of peanut butter over the top.
Fruit Roll-ups: When I’m in a hurry, fruit roll-ups are a godsend. My kids still get a little fruit, but I don’t have to go to the effort of washing and prepping their snack. I know that it’s not a real fruit, but I figure that it won’t hurt the kids to enjoy these once in awhile. A box of fruit snacks is good, too, but the kids enjoy the roll-ups more.
Pretzels: When my kids are craving the crunch of potato chips, I surprise them with a bowl of pretzels. Since pretzels come in many different shapes and sizes, they never know which one they are going to get. I keep an eye out for the one that’s on sale at the grocery store, and then we’re all happy.
Cheese: My kids used to whine that they wanted to fun-shaped cheese that they saw at the grocery store. Now, I make my own. I use a few of those small, metal cookie cutters to cut cute shapes out of the plain, ordinary cheese. I use the leftovers in my cooking so that they don’t go to waste.
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