Waste Not, Want Not

I read a statistic that Americans waste as much as 40% the food we purchase.  Then I did a seach online, and the amount of food waste in the US is estimated by various sources from 12% to 40%. I suspect the answer is somewhere in the middle and varies greatly from person to person.  However, what matters to me right now, is what my family wastes.  How much money are we throwing in the composter, down the garbage disposal or in the trash?

So Quincy and I cleaned out the fridge, freezer, and cupboards...  The composter, garbage disposal and trash got gourmet meals.  Quincy had a great time "feeding" the garbage disposal and making a mess. I guess at least our garden will benefit from some of it, but I would prefer that we had benefited in a more direct way...

What did we waste?  The primary culprits were:

1. Leftovers.  Those little containers get lost in the back of the fridge never to see the light of day again.  Some were from homemade meals and some were from restaurant meals that we thought we would reheat at home and never did.
2. Partially used containers of ingredients.  These can be decieving, especially the ones in containers you can't see through.  For example, after using part of a container of sour cream when we have enchiladas one night, the other half tends to get forgotten and eventually thrown out.
3. Fruits and veggies that have gone bad.  I always have the best intentions when I shop.  We are going to eat LOTS of fruit and veggies.  Somehow we never eat ALL of them before they turn.
4. Mystery things in the freezer.  I have no idea how long some of that stuff had been there, but I'm sure it was a LONG time.

So what are we going to do about it?  Well, to start I've planned the next week worth of meals, including breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks to incorporate what we have left over after throwing out the bad stuff.  The fruit and veggies that weren't bad yet are immediately in line for consumption.  The extra ingredents from this week's recipes have been incorporated into next week's meal plan.  Leftovers have been frozen (and labeled!) in individual serving containers to be heated up for lunches.  A shopping list has been created that includes only what we will need this week.

Commitment one: I will utilize the food I buy.  I will make an effort not to buy more perishible food than my family will eat this week, and utlilize everything I buy.