Avoid Wasting Food

If were to ask Ricky to tell you about my quirks one thing he would tell you is that I don't like to waste any food. We try to use every last bit of every food item in our house. Here are some tips that can help you maximize the use of your food. This can help you save money too.

• Take an inventory of the food you already have: If you know what food you have in your house it will be easier to go grocery shopping. You will know what you have to work with, and what ingredients to buy in order to supplement your home pantry and create delicious meals.
• Check expirations dates before you buy food: Most grocery stores aren't going to sell you food that has expired, but you can give yourself some time by finding foods with expiration dates that are far away. For example, when you choose a gallon of milk glance at all the cartons on the shelf. Generally there will be two or three groups of expirations dates, pick a carton that has the expiration date that is the farthest away. This gives you a longer time period before your milk goes bad. This is especially important if you are shopping the sales. Ricky and I like to buy cereal and crackers when they are on sale. We buy large quantities of these items. By checking the expiration dates we can buy the boxes that are good for a year.
• Plan your menues: If you have a plan, you are less likely to end up wasting food. For example, bananas and oranges and grapes all taste great, but chances are if you buy all of them some will go bad. Plan your menu and only buy the produce you know you will be able to use in a week or two (however often you grocery shop).
• Use the internet: If you have an ingredient in your fridge that is going bad go to the Kraft foods or Betty Crocker web sites. You can type the ingredient in their search box and all kinds of recipes will come up for the food you need to use. We have found lots of tasty dishes this way.
• If you aren't going to eat all of a meal in one or two settings freeze some: Most foods can be frozen. If you make a large casserole dish of food or find yourself with too many leftovers just freeze the extras in a freezer bag that has the dish name and date it was frozen on it.
• Make pizza: If you have leftover sauces (marinara, alfredo, etc) and meat or veggies you can make a pizza. Just throw the leftovers on some crust and pile on the cheese. Here are some of the yummy pizzas we have made with leftovers -Alfredo sauce with chicken and broccoli, taco meat with salsa and corn, sloppy joe meat with carrots, sweet and sour chicken with green peppers and mushrooms. The list could go on and on. If you don't want to make pizza you can make a calzone instead.
• Make a grilled-cheese sandwich: You can use leftover meats in grilled-cheese or Snackmaster sandwiches.
• Make a pot pie: If you have lots of leftover meat and/or veggies you can make a pot pie.
• Throw the left-over food into a tortilla shell: Ricky and I have found that a surprising number of leftovers taste great in a tortilla shell. We toast the tortilla shell in a frying pan and let the cheese melt (sometimes we add a little taco seasoning) while the leftovers warm in the microwave. Meat, veggies, or even pasta tastes great.
• Make a casserole: You can cook some pasta, rice, or potatoes and throw it in a casserole dish with your leftovers. Put cheese on top and bake until everything is bubbly and the cheese is starting to brown.
• Make shepherd's pie: If you potatoes or carrots that are loosing their freshness - don't toss them out, make a shepherd's pie.
• Make bread: Bananas, apples, pumpkin, carrots and other fruits and veggies make great breads.