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I’ve been using a blender, as well, to “drink” fruits and veggies that are on the verge of rot. This lets me consume food rather than throw it away. I certainly have seen its effectiveness.

Other major ways to prevent waste include keeping a record of the things you throw away — so you know not to buy them again! — and getting into the habit of eating a certain amount of fruits/veggies each day. For example, I eat one banana every morning, so I KNOW that I need exactly 7 per week: no more, no less. That predictability helps me reduce waste.

1) BUY FEWER FRUITS AND VEGGIES AND SHOP MORE FREQUENTLY. I always get really excited about all that gorgeous produce and go way overboard, buying enough to last me through the month. Except, of course, it doesn’t last– It rots and then I’m sad.

2) MAKE MINI-MEALS RIGHT AWAY. I see a lot of other commentors talking about freezing, and that’s great. For me, I usually make 5-10 pre-made meals (this week it was quinoa with broccoli, zucchini, and cashews) and then they’re all ready to take to work each day for lunch.

3) KNOW WHAT TO FREEZE. Blanching sounds like an awesome magic trick, but I’m much too lazy for that. Thus, I focus more on cooking with veggies and getting fruits that freeze easily. For example, I only like to eat bananas if they’re a little green, which only happens for a few hours and isn’t as nutritious as ripe bananas. So, I buy too many bananas, wait for them to over-ripen, peel and freeze them– and then have unsweetened chocolate-banana sorbet or smoothies. I do the same with grapes… Yummy little bite-sized grape popsicles.

3) JUICE ‘EM. You can absolutely plow through veggies with a juicer, even the questionable ones like mushy apples (gross). The fruit scraps that the juicer spits out can be cooked into oatmeal, and it you blend the veggie scraps with flaxmeal and spread it on a baking sheet, you can cook it into a yummy flourless flatbread.

The recipes I’m giving here are just examples of things you can do– There are billions of ways to use up juicer scraps and use frozen bananas, etc.

I buy some vegetables already frozen, but I do this for those that aren’t available frozen or are cheaper fresh.

We’ve tried several ways to manage our food, but the best is to have a stable of recipes for what’s available in season and buy to it, as well as having some old standards in the deep-freeze.

It took us some time to find inexpensive produce after we moved– but look for groceries that cater to middle-income ethnic populations, and you can find a wider variety of produce at better prices. Sometimes that means you buy more than you can eat, especially if you are buying on a weekly basis and things come up during the week to derail your meal concepts.

Processing your veggies when you get home from veggie shopping, or the next day, is a good way to make sure they get eaten. Greens, for instance, that aren’t for salad can be washed and blanched and in the fridge, ready for a quick saute and amendments. Mushrooms can be braised or sauteed in butter and will keep longer for when you want them.

One of my favorite recipes is Chard stems, blanched and sauteed with butter & olive oil, with parmesan finish.

Make a big soup with whatever’s left over and a can of chopped tomato.

Meal plan– example: when I make a turkey, mashed potatoes, corn and gravy one day, I will make turkey calzones, corn/potato cakes with gravy the next night if we have leftovers. It changes it up enough that the family doesn’t mind leftovers because it is different. It works!! I also pack my lunch for work with leftovers.

Grow a garden when you can- I can’t grow during the winter months where I live but I take advantage of freezing what I can. Many items can be frozen for winter months, even greeen peppers,zucchini and stewed tomatoes.If you can’t do this, you can buy frozen or canned veggies. They aren’t as great as fresh but they still work great.

Good way to save on groceries in general is to:
Base your meal plan on the items on sale in your grocery store. I found refridgerated biscuits on sale plus coupons so I bought several. I can make alot of meals from them like cinammon rolls, calzones, mini pizzas, biscuits and gravy and also just using as dinner roll.

2)Learn to can your own vegetables (if you don’t mind cooked foods).

3)Buy a big freezer.

4)If some fruit or vegetable becomes inedible-> compost pile for your garden.

5) No matter the expense for a healthful diet, it’s not as expensive as a hospital bill (and you usually feel much better).

I eat less meat than most Americans are used to eating, but as it turns out, I’m a lot healthier that way. I am by no means a vegetarian (from what I’ve read, meat is important for long term health!), but you really don’t need to eat as much meat as you think you do, and if you’re honest with yourself, that’s probably more than half of your grocery budget (unless you are buying a stupid amount of vegetables, or buying them out of season or from a big box store).

For some perspective: I just bought a package of pork chops for $5 on sale, and it’s probably going to last me about 2.5-3 weeks. I spend less than $10/week on veggies. The cost per person goes down as you add more people. When I was cooking for two, my budget only went up by about 50%, because of package deals designed for couples.

I suspect the reason Americans feel like eating fresh is so expensive is because they’re conditioned to think that they need way more meat than they really do.

The other thing, of course, is to know where to buy your produce. The cheapest place for produce is NOT the same place as for dry goods and processed junk! Shop around, and I’m sure you’ll find it cheaper and fresher somewhere else. (Grocery stores in ethnic neighborhoods are good for this… At least, in my experience…) In the summer months, look for roadside stands and farmer’s markets… Or a friendly neighbor with a backyard garden. One summer I pigged out on all the fresh squash I could eat for 75 cents a pound! That was incredibly lucky, though… XD

Also: rice and beans are your friend. Beans in particular can be an amazingly healthy and cheap way to stretch your budget when added to recipes. Do yourself a favor and buy them dried rather than canned. There’s a bit more prep work involved, but it’s more a matter of foresight than actual time spent preparing the meal, and your wallet will thank you!

Recently started juicing. Good place for a lot of produce waste. I’m now in direct competition with my backyard laying hens.

However, living in Korea, we have a ton of food waste. Why? Because the pesticide use is three times higher than almost any other country. So we have to peel our apples, potatoes, almost everything. I hate this, because I know there are tons of nutrients in the peels, but I don’t want our family to ingest that many toxins, either. The peels would make toxic compost, and organic is prohibitively expensive ($3-4 per apple). Any ideas?

cooking seasonally can also be a tactic to cut down on food costs — you’re more likely to find sales or just low prices on stuff in season.

learning how to store veggies the right way (i.e. putting an apple with the onions to keep both fresh) helps too. i’ve seen some great links online about how we tend to store everything together in the fridge which causes some food to rot more quickly than it shld.