I have been on a (decades-long) quest to eliminate food waste, while also making gorgeous, flavorful meals from scratch. “Impossible!” you say. I’m here to show you that this is not only possible, but will also result in the most delicious, healthy, and economical way to feed your family. I promise!
So what is this magical method? It takes a bit of practice, and this will go faster and faster the better you get at it. Here are a the critical but simple steps that will drive your food waste to zero, without sacrificing taste!
Before you go to the store (or put in your online order)
Planning is absolutely THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP to eliminate food waste. You’ve heard “Fail to plan, then plan to fail.” BUT… this doesn’t need to take very long and you DON’T need complex spreadsheets, apps, or subscriptions. With practice this takes about 20 min a week. This should save you much more than $20/week in groceries so I would consider this time well spent. ($60/hour is a pretty decent salary, especially for a volunteer job.)
Here is the planning method:
Rarely do I start with a blank slate when meal planning— this week’s meals are inspired by what is already in the fridge or what is in season. I find this to be a bonus as I struggle with finding inspiration from a blank sheet of (real or imagined) paper.
- Do a quick fridge survey/clean out: Identify what needs to be used soon and think of what recipes might use them up. If your mind is a blank, do a quick Pinterest search of your ingredients for inspiration. Put these recipes in the top of your mind (or write under “Meal Ideas” in this FREE Printable) as you’re thinking about the next meals to prepare. If the number of meals from this survey is three or more, stop here! Only buy ingredients that will fill in these recipes. (While you’re at it, take out anything that is spoiled and make a mental note of it– we will revisit this later.) Then skip to building your grocery list.
- Look for seasonal specials: If you’ve identified less than three meals above, check out the grocery store sales on meat and produce. Not only will this save you money but it will likely be an indication of what is in peak season. Buying in season will be fresher, healthier, and will taste the absolute best! (And it will last longer at home before spoiling!) Get a (single) meal idea by doing a quick Pinterest search on some of these items. Add this meal to your list. If the number of meals from steps 1&2 are three or more, stop here! Jump to building your grocery list. Caveat: If your freezer or pantry are busting at the seams, you may want to regularly skip this step and move onto step 3&4 to get your inventory down to a manageable level.
- Do a freezer survey: If meals identified above are less than three, look in your freezer. What needs to be used up here? Look for things that may not keep long (e.g. seafood) or meats that have been in the freezer a while. These then build the foundation for your next meal ideas. Extra ground beef? Maybe it’s time for a taco night. Did you freeze some extra marinara a while back? Maybe time for another Italian night. You get the idea. Add these meals to your list. If your total number of meals is three or more, stop here and skip to building your grocery list.
- Do a pantry survey: If meals identified above are still less than three, look in your pantry. What can provide some inspiration or has been in there a while? Do you have a half-finished box of Trader Joe’s falafel? Or is your pantry full of pasta from a prior sale? Do you have a can of garbanzo beans screaming to become curry? Do you have quinoa from your last “I’m going to eat only healthy gluten-free grains” kick? Again, if you’re lacking inspiration, do a Pinterest search of these ingredients to see what strikes you! Add these meals to your list. If your total number of meals is three or more, move on to building your grocery list.
- Find something entirely new! Only if you’ve done ALL of steps 1-4 should you start with a blank slate. (And wow, you must have some bare cupboards.) Have you had a hankering for something lately? Any ideas you’ve seen in your feed that you want to try? Take a scroll through Pinterest or a quick “meal ideas” search to get some inspiration. Now, finally move on to building your grocery list.
Since you’re only thinking of a few meals, with a little practice it should be easy to keep these in your head as you’re building your grocery list. But if you are one that likes to write everything down, go for it! That’s why the printable is here!
Wait, that’s not enough meals…
You might be wondering: why only three meals? Don’t I need to feed my family for a week+? Are we grocery shopping multiple times a week? Will my family starve? No. This is based on a weekly grocery run (which I feel is ideal to make sure you’re getting the healthiest fresh produce) and no more. If you have a grocery store that does free pickup, your weekly grocery trip should take less than an hour to order and pick up!
I have found that most people (myself included) grossly overbuy and overestimate what they will need and use. Starting a little under will help correct this. Let’s say 1-2 nights a week you’ll be in a rush, grab something on the go or get takeout. Maybe another night you’ll pop in frozen lasagna, chicken nuggets, or have leftovers. There is an entire art to repurposing leftovers, which will be the subject of many future posts. There’s also an art to rotating freezer meals. These will fill in any extra days without risking food waste. This already brings you down to four dinners. If you eat out one night, you’re at three. You’ll be good, I promise!
Building your grocery list
Ingredients for meals
Now that you have a few meal ideas to start with, let’s start building a grocery list. (Or directly add to your shopping cart in your favorite grocery store app– you can get some time savings here!) Glance at the recipes for your meals and make note of any items you don’t have and write these in column 2 of the FREE printable. (With a little practice you’ll be able to do this quickly in your favorite grocery store app.) Build this for all three (or four) of your recipes and then stop! This isn’t what you are going to buy.
You’re thinking wait, what? Why not? I’ll tell you why not… because of substitutions!
Review meal items for subs
Effectively using substitutions keeps your inventory low and works to eliminate food waste. Most people think substitutions are simply to make things healthier. A true scroungist would agree (health is important!), but substitutions also serve to reduce the number of ingredients you need. Check out these substitutions, or these, or for substituting veggies, try these. As you find substitutes, start crossing things off your list (or remove from your cart) the things you already have (via substitution) or that can double between recipes. Simply by doing this you should have removed at least 1/3 of the items from your list, perhaps more!
(If you’re like me and need to see it in action, I’ll walk through an example later to show you how this works, both in planning and day-by-day execution.)
Finding substitutions becomes especially important for fresh, perishable ingredients. This takes practice, so don’t worry if this is difficult at first.
Other grocery items
Fill in the rest of your grocery list (“Other (non-meal plan) Staples”) with things that you eat often as single ingredients or pantry items. Breakfast cereals, eggs, milk, fruit, cut veggies, bread, lunch meat, “kid’s” foods, snacks. However, focus on the perishability of these. I’ve assembled a “Perishability” printable with common grocery items arranged by how long they keep. Be careful to limit the total number of items from columns 1&2. You’ll review these again in the next step.
Review and eliminate
This last one is also a CRITICAL STEP in eliminating food waste, almost as important as planning. Review your list in its entirety, and make sure in total you’re only buying a handful of things from each of the first two columns in the Perishability printable. These won’t keep beyond your grocery week, with the first column usually spoiling in a few days.
Also limit the quantity of each item in these first two columns. Don’t be tempted by bulk quantity discounts! You most likely will end up throwing these away. (Unless of course, you find ways to preserve these by blanching, pickling, canning, or freezing. If you’re doing this, I’d call you an advanced scroungist already!)
Find ways to substitute things you have in your freezer or pantry, double up with your other recipes, or simply omit some of the single ingredient foods you typically buy if you’re too heavy in columns 1&2.
Hopefully you’ve crossed a few things off your list. For good measure cross one more thing off. Done? Ok, now you’ve optimized your list to eliminate food waste and you’re ready to shop! Or you’re ready to click the check out button in your online app. (I swear, online grocery shopping saves me two hours a week… two whole hours! Let’s be serious, this is significant.)
Eliminate food waste throughout the week
This is not a meal plan, per se, in that I have not told you what to make each day of the week. This is intentional to allow for maximum flexibility, which is perfect for “plan rebels” like me. However, to eliminate food waste from what you just bought, the order you prepare your meals throughout the week matters. Some ingredients spoil more quickly than others.
Review the “Perishables” printable identifying these ingredients (first column) that will spoil quickly. These are what you want to use first! The second column should keep at least one week; however, these are ordered (more or less) by how fast they spoil. (This of course varies depending on where you live.) Use ingredients at the top of the list first, followed by those further down. The last column should keep for multiple weeks and can carry over to your next week(s) list. And now we’ve come full circle! These third-column items (and maybe some second-column items that need to be used ASAP!) become your inspiration ingredients in step 1 next week!
Don’t make an extra stop!
If you’ve forgotten something or something was out of stock at the store, there is almost always a substitute. (Review the suggestions again in Building your grocery list.) And sometimes the recipe doesn’t suffer too much without it. My first experience with this was when I was probably about 13, making a pumpkin pie. I forgot the entire last column of ingredients! And shockingly it still turned out ok… although I probably wouldn’t recommend it. However, many recipes are ok with some minor omissions, and finding substitutions is key! Embracing both of these will help you to eliminate food waste.
Retrospective to eliminate food waste
So we come to our last step in the process. (This is also the first!) I come from the agile software world where we do “Retrospectives” to “foster a culture of continuous improvement.” That’s a fancy software-engineery way to say “We always want to get better!” Retrospectives are a look back on the previous “iteration” to find areas for improvement. Remember when I said we will revisit the spoiled ingredients you cleaned out from your fridge? Here is when we look at them.
Your retrospective and Step 1 of your planning can be done simultaneously. As you’re removing things that have spoiled, take note of what these are. Do they come from column 1 or 2 of our perishables table? Did you buy too many different ingredients? Too much of one ingredient? Did you plan too many meals? Take these answers into consideration when building your next week’s shopping list. Maybe if you have a busy week only plan for three meals instead of four, or two meals instead of three. Or perhaps focus on more meals that use ingredients from the third column to give you some added buffer week-to-week. Maybe identify where you fell prey to quantity discounts. If you take mental note each week, I promise you’ll improve and dial into your optimal flow to eliminate food waste.
I’d love to hear how you’re doing! Leave your challenges, insight, or inspiration in the comments. Happy scrounging!