Waste.

We do grocery shopping once a week. Normally on Sunday mornings. We plan our weeks meals and then buy what we need. We rotate in refrigerated review meals and plan stuff that we already have some of the fixings for - but especially over the holidays I'm bothered by how much we waste!

We have chickens and they eat mist of the fruit and vegetables that are bad. I try to catch most of them before they get bad and juice or use them. But still there is a crazy amount of waste.

Leftovers that never get eaten. Milk products that pass their prime. Condiments that get used a few times and then never see the light of day. As I clean out the fridge one more time I've decided that my New Years resolution is to be less wasteful. You might ask how I plan to do this (especially in a house where we try new dishes a few times a week)? My answer is simple.

Plan better!

While I was cleaning out the pantry I found 4 bags of sunflower seeds that had all gone bad. Multiple boxes of crackers that were months old and yucky. Way too many boxes of popcorn. Bags of chips that are 1/4 full.

From now on here is the plan.
1. Everything will have a date on it.
2. At least two meals a week will be leftover meals or freezer meals.
3. Once a month I will clean out the deep recesses of the pantry and freezer.
4. Most important is I will make a plan to finish up stuff before it goes bad.

What do you do about food waste?