Tricks and tips to avoid wasting of foods

Did you forget to book in your calender to eat this banana you bought 3 days ago and that you now have to throw away? No surprise, since bananas are picky! Either too much ripe or not enough ripe. Never in-between! The consequence : it's more often seen in the trash than in your stomach.

But it,s not the only one. The list of foods we throw to the trash everyday is huge. You doubt? Take a look at those numbers  :

• 35,5 millions tons of foods finishes in the trash each year in Canada only
• 2,2 millions of those are to blame on canadian families only

So here's a few tips and tricks on how to avoid wasting foods and help the planet (and your wallet)!

Determine your food needs

What do I need for the week?

Two bananas in the trash can = 1 dollar  trown away. It seems little, just like this, but if we add all the bananas you ate over one year... it hurts!

Did you know that a better management of food consumption ( not only bananas, you know) can make you save up to 1000 $ per month?

To achieve this, go on with steps :

1. Évaluate the contents of your fridge and storage
2. Determine foods you could use this week (starting by ones whose expiring date is getting near)
3. Establish a list of meals which contains those foods
4. Make a grocery list for missing foods

No to temptation

At the grocery store, you'll have to use of determination.

To avoid unnecessary food waste, you have to try to keep your eyes on your grocery list. Because yes, some foods will tempt your eyes – and your stomach – while roaming around the aisles. We don't know about you, but for us we find it kind of difficult to go past the chocolate muffin stand without dropping one package (by mistake,  of course 🙄) in our grocery cart!

So let's try to follow this grocerylist to the letter and... may your will be stronger!

Why planning one chicken recipe when you can plan two of it?

A good tip to avoid foods waste is to choose foods you can divide and use more than one time over the week.

If you're a chicken fan, plan 2 to 3 meal which will contain chicken (soup, stew, burger, wrap, pie). This way, if you buy a whole chicken, you won't even waste a crumb of it!

Organise your fridge to avoid wasting foods

Perishable products first

You bought a new bread, but there's already one left in the storage room? To avoid wasting foods, do just like at the grocery store : the new one behind the older one!

Even for products in the fridge : put perishable products up front, to be able to think to use them first thing first.

A good way to avoid wasting foods is indeed to cook perishable foods at the beginning of the week : fishes, seafoods, meat, poultry, etc. Keep frozen products, pastas and other starchy for later on : they'll wait.

Finally, the fridge should be kept at a good temperature (so around 4°C), to avoid unnecessary foods lost. 

To each food it's container 

By using right places and containers for right foods, you're reducing foods waste.

For meat, fishes and cheese, use hermetical containers. Since those foods have tendencies to spoil faster, it's important important to keep them in sealed containers.

Fruits and vegetables are less picky. They need light air circulation which quality containers can offer. It'll keep their freshness for a longer time!

Offer a new life to foods

The freezer : your best ally to avoid wasting foods

You're left with half a cauldron of soup, but you're not so pleased about the idea of eating it for all the following days to come? Divide it into various freezing safe containers. This way, you'll be able to keep it until the next time you crave soup (and with the winter they said we would have, believe us, it won't be so far!)

The same rule goes for various foods, even unusual ones. You haven't finished your bottle of wine from last night? Don't throw it away! Wine freeze well and can be use, for exemple, for making few sauces.

Same thing goes for coffee. You have a a bit of coffee left from this morning batch? Instead of throwing it away, freeze it and use it later on for ice coffee. Few ice cubes, a drop of aromatized cream and there you go!

From the plate to the lunch box

No matter how we plan carefully the preparation of our recipe, it happens to everyone from time to time to wrongly calculate portions (I don't know about you, but being stuck with too much pastas is a daily part of our life!).

All your little family is served but you still have 3 meals of spaghetti left? Keep leftovers for your lunchs. It'll make a change of usual sandwhichs and will allow, at the same time, to avoid wasting foods.

« Pimp » foods which are « getting wasted »

It became a classics : you buy strawberries, you forget them in the refrigerator a couple of days and one day, while moving the butter, you realize they were there all along. The problem : they're not as fresh and dashing as when they were at the beginning of the week. 

No problem. Instead of giving it out to the trash, offer those strawberries a new life. Salads, pies, mousses, puff pastries, cakes, cookies : possibilities are infinite!

Do the same for all your fruits and vegetables. Vegetables which aren't fresh anymore could, for exemple, make great potages!

Use tools you have access to

Many tools are up for you to use on the web. The MAPAQ, for exemple, offers 2 guides that could be of use in your fight against foods waste  :

→ The guide « meilleur avant, bon après ? », which helps you find what foods are perishable and non-perishable.

→ The thermoguide, which informs you about how much time you can store those foods.

Finally think about food banks

Like you probably know, not everyone has the chance to eat enough. It's to offer help to those vulnerable people that Food Banks of Quebec was born. You should know that each donation can make a great difference in the life of a family near you.

Take a look at la carte des banques alimentaires du Québec to find a food bank near you.

Plan, organise, recuperate : with all those tips, no more unnecessary bananas wasting! Make chips with it or trasnform peels into cakes, but don't throw it away anymore. And if you go further in this fight against foods waste, you can take a look at our article about zero waste life style.

Planet says thank you 🌎 !