Category Archives: The Weekly Waste Word

Tips on how to not waste food.

The Weekly Waste Word: Meal Planning

A few weeks ago, we discussed the importance of making a grocery list. Going one step further, planning the week’s meals speeds up grocery shopping and reduces household food waste. Meal planning forces you to have a purpose for each purchased item (with one or two fun exceptions). Deciding on meals can be a chore, but no more so […]

October 15, 2007 | Also posted in Household | Comments closed

The Weekly Waste Word: Bagged Produce

As you might have guessed, I’m not a big fan of washed and cut produce. Sure, it’s convenient and has its uses, but for the most part it breaks down quicker than the uncut version because it exposes more of the fruit or vegetable to oxidation. It also further removes us from the idea that produce is grown and don’t […]

October 1, 2007 | Also posted in Household, Supermarket | Comments closed

The Weekly Waste Word: What by?

At the beginning of each week, I try to give readers one tip on how to avoid food waste. This week’s advice: know the difference between sell-by and use-by dates. Use-by and best-by dates are decent guides for when an item shouldn’t be consumed. Sell-by dates, on the other hand, tell a store how long it […]

September 24, 2007 | Also posted in Supermarket | Comments closed

The Weekly Waste Word: hot dog buns

Specialty breads are the most frequently wasted baked goods. We’re talking about hamburger and hot dog buns, mostly. When planning a barbecue, it’s hard to know how many packages to buy and, often, we get too many for fear of running out. Then you don’t cook all the meat or people aren’t eating carbs, etc. For a variety of reasons, […]

September 10, 2007 | Also posted in Household, Personal | Comments closed

The Weekly Waste Word: Restaurant Portions

At the beginning of each week, I try to give readers one tip on how to avoid food waste. This week’s advice: If you don’t like eating leftovers, don’t order an appetizer and an entrée.  Take a look at the nutritional information from Chili’s or the Macaroni Grill. Feel like some pasta and meatballs? Here’s 2,400 calories, […]

September 4, 2007 | Also posted in Restaurant | Comments closed

The Weekly Waste Word: Dressed for Spoilage

At the beginning of each week, I try to give readers one tip on how to avoid food waste. This week’s advice: Don’t dress a big salad. You can avoid wilty lettuce waste by serving the salad “dry.” With the dressing on the side, diners can disperse it as they see fit. One of my real pet peeves is […]

August 27, 2007 | Also posted in Household, Restaurant | Comments closed

The Weekly Waste Word: Like the List

At the beginning of each week, I try to give readers one tip on how to avoid food waste. Here’s this week’s advice: Make a shopping list and stick to it. Grocery stores are masterful persuaders. Everything from the music to the lighting to the layout of a supermarket is set up to encourage you to […]

August 21, 2007 | Also posted in Supermarket | Comments closed

The Weekly Waste Word: Appetite for Shopping

Today marks the second installment in this series of tips for avoiding waste. “The Weekly Waste Word” will run every Monday, the day I usually do my grocery shopping. This advice may be a bit basic, but it bears repeating: Don’t shop hungry. “Don’t go hungry—you’ll buy everything, because it all looks good,” said Alicia Ross, a […]

August 13, 2007 | Also posted in Household | Comments closed

The Weekly Waste Word

Here’s a new feature on Wasted Food. Barring any breaking news, I’ll post a quick tip or fact about home food waste every Monday. This fact confirmed what I’d long feared–as much as 30 percent of the egg white stays with the egg shell. While I came across this message on a hint sheet for restaurants, […]

August 6, 2007 | Also posted in Household | Comments closed