Help me stop wasting food! Is meal planning the answer?

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This probably sounds stupid but I feel like I am
Wasting food - it seems to go off so quickly I never seem to use it all.
Even when I meal plan, I end up with leftover bits and bobs that inevitably go to waste and
I hate it - makes me so cross with myself.
I know people talk about making extra and freezing but when I do that it never seems to taste quite right when I cook from frozen. Maybe I’m just a terrible cook!
How do you stay organised and on top of food/meals etc?

I know it sounds like it should be obvious, I’m so
Organised in other areas but feel like this is one area I am falling down on

I am actually contemplating moving away from a single weekly shop to help with food wastage. Meal plan and prep food for a couple of days. Then repeat. Not sure if that helps though.

Buy less! What sorts of food do you find you are wasting?

Sliced bread can be frozen and toasted from the freezer.

Make a "clear the fridge" veg soup at weekends, and freeze in individual tubs.

Use leftovers for lunches. Or in an omelette/baked potato.

Mainly veg at the moment - it doesn’t seem to last! That’s a really good idea about the soup.
I think I need to have more order in the fridge so I can see what’s actually in there as well.
I also never seem to use the stuff in my freezer

Veg is tricky because at the moment it's so hot - I think it's already on the turn when I buy it, but otherwise have Tupperware boxes and take leftovers for lunch, I buy basics for the month ish (Aldi) then shop 2-3 times a week for fresh which allows me to adapt to peoples changing plans

Depends what it is

Like if veg is on the turn, I make it into a soup which freezes fine or gets eaten for lunch

Or do a big pan of roast veggies and use those for lunches

I shop twice a week for fruit and veg, plan out what I need and buy that. Unfortunately, the problem is so much fruit and veg is sold in quantities determined by the store. So if you want a leek, you have to buy a pack of three, etc. I try to limit buying things in quantities where I won’t use them all.

Beyond that, maybe just buy less? So I plan what veg we need for 3-4 days but 1-2 of those days I’ll plan for frozen peas (which I always have in the freezer). If we have leftover veg, we’ll eat that instead and peas don’t go to waste as they’re frozen.

Yes, meal plan. There’s two of us and recipes are invariably for four so we always freeze the leftovers. Always build in two days of keftovers dinners into to the meal plan so we have a day spare here and there which is when stuff going off gets used up, or if nothing to use, then it’s freezer surprise that day! We rarely have to throw anything away.

Bread is frozen the day it’s bought and used by the slice as required.

The meal plan means using an ingredient that’s fresh as many times as required. Eg butternut squash. One meal might use half, so make sure there’s another meal in the plan to use the rest of it the same week.

I’ve started freezing things like peppers that I havnt used then bung them in a curry/pasta from frozen.

I meal plan evening meals but leave lunches to what’s needing used up so for example if there’s mushrooms left over we’ll have omelette the next lunch or if there’s tomatoes we might have cheese and tomato toastie the next day etc

Soup as PP said is also a great way to use up veg.

Cream cheese which has been opened and needs used up is lovely in pasta sauces.

You can freeze pesto in ice cube trays then defrost 1 at a time as you need them - I just found this out recently! Amazing 😆

Freeze passata

If your really struggling maybe just start using more frozen fruit and veg - then you can just use what you need per night.

I meal plan and usually get to the cupboard is bare stage the day befor shopping day.

Any leftovers I take to work for lunch. I buy mostly frozen veg so I don't have stuff going off before I have chance to use it. I only buy what I need, I don't grab stuff 'just in case'. I cut down a lot on the top up shopping.

My secret weapon though are two hollow legged teens.

Meal planning does work as it cuts down impulse buys.Also good when you have teens,stick it on the fridge and they know what not to help themselves to.Ours mostly based on things DD likes to eat so she can prep before I get home and we cook together.One day I will come home to it all done

Have a day each week that’s store cupboard/freezer/fridge lucky dip.

Only replace stuff you actually eat .... so e.g. if you never eat frozen veg really, use up on a lucky dip night and never buy again.

Soup and stews or veg chilli to use up anything lurking. Veg chilli great with sour cream and salsa.

Think r

I used to be a big waster and now I am pretty OCD about meal planning, batch cooking and not wasting anything really :)
Some of my go to meals are...

Veggie and lentil bake
Chicken / chorizo bean stew
Sausage casserole
Roast veggie pasta sauce
Chicken and veg fajitas

Frittatas are a good option to use up lots of bits in the freezer to grab for teas / lunches

Or the obvious (not in this weather) soups!

What kind of veg is going off?

I buy frozen broccoli, cauliflower, peas. Salad stuff will last for days, potatoes and carrots for a few weeks in the fridge

I meal plan for the whole week Fri-Thurs, but I shop three times. Friday is the big shop, then I top up meat and veg on Monday and Wednesday. That way we get the freshest fresh produce.

OP look at this website - loads of info to help you NOT waste food. Www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Could you buy frozen veg op and use it out the freezer accordingly? Sometimes frozen veg is nicer and "fresher" anyway.

Have you got a freezer? Things like peppers etc you can chop up, freeze and stir fry from frozen. Plus you don't need to stick to the dates on packaging, except for meat and fish. Eg to tell if an egg is off you can put it in a bowl of water, if it sinks it's ok, if it floats it's no good.

Oh, and broccoli is nicer ready frozen anyway.

If you can, buy veg loose. Buy the amount you need not a bag or punnet.
Store fruit veg like tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, squash, aubergines in a veg rack, not the fridge. Store fruit in a fruit bowl.

Buy veg that lasts ages. Squashes, spring greens and cabbage last a while as do romaine lettuce. Don't buy ready-chopped veg or prepared salads.

Yes to freezing sauces and passata, and agree that reheating meals from frozen isn't the same.

Take leftover to work as lunch. It helps if there is a microwave. Get inventive with wraps and sandwiches. Adding something like a bit of cheese or chillis or pickles or something can perk it up.

My grandmother used to shop daily and only buy what she needed. That worked well in the “old days” but now with everyone working, it’s so much harder. I’ve been trying to cut down on waste. I bought some bananas, some were on the turn, so I made a banana pudding. So that added more ingredients to it. Then only half of it got eaten! So I’m not sure if I ended up creating more waste by making the darn pudding!

I’m buying a lot more frozen ingredients to try and avoid things going off before I use them. And I dug my slow cooker out and have been using that a lot more as it’s easy to then freeze any leftovers.

You can plan till you’re blue in the face, but you just need to buy less.

I’ve been through this recently. Have stopped the weekly shop and I’m really using as much as possible before anything new gets bought.

Your fridge and cupboards don’t need to be full

I’m terrible for throwing food away! Really need to plan more/buy less. And I keep intending to cook more often from scratch but it doesn’t happen very often. I wish I could get organised to find a recipe, buy the ingredients & make it all in the same day. I only work part time so there’s no reason why I can’t sort it out! I have a slow cooker which has hardly been used.
I would welcome advice on storing potatoes (old) as they don’t seem to last 5 minutes. New potatoes I store in the fridge so they last longer.
I also need to stick to Aldi, with just the few things they don’t sell being bought in ASDA. Aldi is amazing!
I used to meal plan every week ( just evening meals) so will definitely start doing that again.

You can meal plan all you like but you have to master the art of connecting the meals.
If there are 2 slices of bacon left from Sunday breakfast then on Monday you have mac cheese n bacon bits with broccoli thrown in too. Then on Tuesday you have sausage mash and veg using the rest of the broccoli, if there are potatoes left you bake them next night with tuna and salad. Then the left over salad is for chicken wraps and wedges the next night. Then the chicken is a fast curry and so on and so forth. If you slice some peppers into the salad, you use the other half next night and stuff with mince and veg. Link your meals.
Frozen peas, frozen corn and a mixed veg always at hand so you can supplement small helpings of the leftovers.
Always have some part-bake bread in the freezer, on nights when you pot-luck and end up with a soup or stew concoction. Just the smell jazzes the whole thing up.
Get some frozen chopped garlic, chilli and onions in the freezer, the base for many a pot-luck soup using bits and bobs from the back of the fridge shelves, and it doesn't add to the leftovers.

I’m actually now wondering if it’s my fridge as cabbage, broc and leeks seem to brown really quickly and that doesn’t sound like it happens to everyone else?
Switching to frozen is a good shout - I have it in always but usually as a back up.
Freezing The leftover bits of veg is also a great idea as I often make random meals of noodles/pasta bake and veg etc so I can use them from the freezer.

@jelly79 do you use a particular recipe for your veg and lentil bake?

I think I’ll make some soup tomorrow if it cools down and if no I’ll chop a load of the veg currently in the fridge and freeze it in freezer bags.
I’m also going to sort through my freezer this weekend and label the drawers so I know exactly what’s inside.

Oh and thanks for all the advice and website link!