Food waste: People misread 'use by' label; 40% of U.S. food is tossed

[csziggy]

22. I try to plan to use most of the things you're throwing out

I'll buy large packages of chicken breasts, bring them home, salt & pepper, bake them, cut them up, package in 1-2 cup batches, and freeze. Then when I need chicken for a quick or lazy dinner, I thaw out the cooked chicken and can toss it into a mix.

If I buy more onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, or other aromatics than I need for cooking that day, I usually go ahead and cook all of it. Then freeze the part I don't need and can pull it out to add to start my meal another day, which saves time. Since I like to caramelize my onions for many dishes, I might as well cook a large batch at once.

Bell peppers can be sliced or chopped and frozen without being cooked and used to add color and flavor, though they need to be cooked, not eaten thawed.

I second freezing bananas to use in smoothies or baked goods. I have a favorite banana bread recipe that calls for three bananas. I can add one banana at a time until I have three in a bag and make my bread whenever I feel like it.

The brown head of lettuce is one thing I never overcame. Now we buy bagged lettuce - that gives us a more interesting mix of greens and a smaller amount so we can use it before it goes bad.