Cooking at home can be a great way to save money and prepare fresh, delicious meals. Yet, there are times when you reach into the fridge and find everything you bought has gone expired or moldy. Here are a few tips to reduce waste when cooking from home!
Store Food Properly
One thing to note when storing food is that different parts of a refrigerator are at different temperatures. It is important to know which products should go where.
When storing milk and eggs, do not put them in the door or the top shelf. Those two spots are typically the warmest and cause dairy products to spoil faster. The best place to store them is the middle shelf, where the temperature is consistently cooler. However, it is okay to put condiments in the fridge door.
If you have two drawers in your refrigerator, designate one for fruits and the other for vegetables. Fruits release ethylene, which can cause veggies to spoil, so it’s best to keep them separate.
The best place to store meat is the bottom shelf of the refrigerator or the freezer. I recommend placing a tray underneath the meat to prevent any possible leakage.
If your fridge is packed to the brim and overflowing, this can prevent proper air circulation leaving fresh food to go bad faster. Try keeping items away from the back of the fridge as the small gap between the shelf and the back wall allows for proper airflow.
When storing chopped vegetables and fruits it's important to note that it will have a shorter lifespan in the fridge compared to storing whole vegetables. Specifically for an avocado, I’ve learned the pit prevents it from browning when cut open. So, if I’m only able to use half of an avocado, I store the half with the pit inside to have a fresh avocado to use the next day! Also, if you have leftover guacamole, keep the pit in there too!
Also, note that not all produce should be stored in the fridge. Check out the Academy of Culinary Nutrition for an easy guide to help you determine how and where to store certain foods.
Keep the Scraps
While cooking, many of us have a habit of throwing out or composting parts of vegetables that are very much usable. Here are a few tips and recipes to deliciously use every part of the vegetable.
Broccoli and cauliflower stems are still edible! A few easy ways to use the stems is by
Chopping into small cubes and roasting them for a side dish: Roasted Broccoli Stalks
Shred the stems and add to all a salad: Light & Easy Broccoli Salad
Puree into a yummy broccoli pesto or cauliflower pizza dough
Store onion and garlic stems, vegetable peelings, carrot and celery ends, leftover herbs, and more in the freezer to later make a rich and delicious veggie stock.
When using the juice of oranges, lemons, and limes, be sure to zest them beforehand. You can store the zest in the fridge or freezer, or dehydrate it. Zest holds a lot of the citrus flavor and can be a great addition to meals.
Understand Expiry Date Labels
“Best Before Date”: The unopened product, if stored properly, is of good quality until that date. This does not mean it has gone bad yet, but the quality will start decreasing soon after.
“Sell By Date”: This date tells the store how long this item should be displayed. An item with a sell by date just tells you that it is of the highest quality/freshness until this date and you can still eat it after that date.
“Use By Date”: This is the last day to get the highest quality of the item, but it can still be consumed soon after that date.
“Expiration Date”: Food should not be eaten, sold, or bought after this date.
Hope these tips help make your food last longer and reduce waste when cooking at home!
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