5 ways to reduce food wastage while cooking

When preparing a meal at home, many people don’t give a second thought about food wastage, measuring ingredients before cooking, or throwing out the excess or leftover food down the garbage disposal or into the trash.

Cooking excess food results in leftovers. While leftover food usually means edible or cooked meals like chicken, rice, vegetables, pasta, casseroles, and curry that remain after a meal and can be saved for another meal, they can also be scraps that won’t be used in the process of making another dish.

Although throwing out leftovers might seem a convenient way of cleaning up the kitchen, most of the food that is tossed out in the trash can is edible or reusable. This ultimately results in food waste and a significant waste of money.

According to Feeding America, a United States–based non-profit organization, people in the states waste around 92 billion pounds of food annually which equals 145 billion meals. Notably, the food that is wasted away approximately costs over $473 billion annually and 38% of all the food in the country.

Although much of that waste reportedly occurs during production and distribution, there are several ways that one can avoid it in their kitchen. Let’s take a look at five clever ways a person can avoid food wastage while cooking and save money.

Disclaimer: This list reflects the writer’s opinion.

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From meal planning to reusing leftovers: 5 clever ways to reduce food wastage while cooking

1) Meal planning

Meal plan (Image via Freepik)

Meal planning can be one of the best ways to avoid having food wastage while cooking. One can plan their meals ahead of grocery shopping based on what ingredients they already have and buy only the necessary ones.

Considering individual portion sizes or the right size for the whole household while meal planning can also help a person avoid overcooking. Notably, planning a meal can also save money as the shopping list will only have things that are already not there in the refrigerator, freezer, and pantry.

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2) Reusing leftovers

Reusing food creatively reduces waste (Image via Unsplash)

Reusing your leftover food, both cooked and uncooked can be another creative way to reduce food wastage and save some money. For example, a person can use their leftover vegetables to make soups and stews.

Leftover rice can be easily transformed into fried rice or can be refrigerated and used with another dish. While stale bread can turn into croutons or breadcrumbs, overripe fruit can be used for making smoothies, jams, or even baked goods.

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3) Storing the right way

Storing leftovers the right way (Image via Freepik)

Storing food the right way can easily help a person avoid food wastage. It also helps keep food fresh and last longer. Sensible storage can be done by using airtight containers or keeping the older packets of food in the front of the shelves.

Besides, the right storage, freezing cooked food in the right way also helps. One can freeze packets of cooked food in different portion sizes and avoid waste. Notably, cheese and butter can also be kept in the freezer as they defrost super-quick.

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4) Bulk cooking

Batch cooking is a meal preparation method (Image via Freepik)

While bulk cooking, also known as batch cooking, is a meal preparation method usually done by people who want to save time on daily cooking, it can also be a great way to avoid food wastage and ultimately save money.

Making large quantities of food and storing them for later use, often in airtight containers in the fridge or freezer can also be a convenient solution for using leftovers.

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5) Use every last bit

One can avoid food wastage using every last bit (Image via Freepik)

Instead of throwing away food scraps and the “almost” empty jars of mustard, jam, spread, sauces, pesto, mayo, or even chutney, one should consider scraping them and using them for dressings, cooking curries, or baking.

Meanwhile, peels from potatoes, apples, carrots, and other vegetables and fruits which are considered to be scrapes can be turned into snacks by deep frying or baking.

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While food wastage is becoming a big problem, an individual can carefully avoid it while cooking by engaging in simple practices of proper storage, using leftover foods to make creative transformations like soups, stir-fries, or fried rice, meal planning, and much more.