Curing Food Waste

...the average family of four in America wastes $600 worth of groceries a year? That's $50 a month! There are ways to cure that $600 overage that will pay off in health dividends too, as well as your financial bottom line. Read more here.

Know thy self when adopting a plan:

I tend to buy more frozen food than fresh because I know that in my house spontaneity rules, and I don't always get to follow through with menu ideas throughout the week. Things change, and we roll with it.We keep the kitchen stocked with the basics, so it's easy to combine, and mix and match ingredients creatively. We are the culinary equivalent of mix and match Garanimals in the culinary domestic world.

We have a relatively small family who are not big eaters, so I can use half a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, and put the rest back in the freezer. There tends to be less waste for us this way. Fresh food is more likely to wilt and shrivel in the vegetable bin. Menu planners would be shocked by this, but I buy mixed salads on the day I feel like eating it. Everyone gets feed healthy meals in a timely manner, but I go about it differently, working with rather than against my less structured personality.