Not Frugal- Why do I continue to throw money away?
Tue 23 Oct 2007, Written by Eden
Categories: Food, Frugality
I’ve made a lot of progress on this frugal lifestyle concept, but I still have a long way to go. Today is trash day in my neighborhood so I took a few moments to clean out the refrigerator before taking the trash out of the house. Sadly, I have to admit that I am still throwing away food!
At my last trip to the grocery store I bought some extra turkey because it was on sale and today I found some in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator that I had forgotten to either use or freeze in time. There were a few other things here and there, nothing too extreme, but it is a frustrating problem none-the-less. Would I be more careful if I actually had to put three one dollar bills in the trash can instead of a package of turkey? I think I would, but I’m not sure how to really fix the problem. It’s sad that I have so much food in my house that out of pure laziness or forgetfulness I have to throw it away. I know one thing for sure, when I get home tonight I will go through everything in the refrigerator and figure out what needs to be eaten first to avoid any more food being wasted. Perhaps I can guilt myself into fixing this problem or make a donation to a homeless shelter when I do this. I don’t know, but I hope I can fix this some day.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:44 am | Vixen said:
I actually keep an inventory of my pantry. There is a little piece of paper with a list of the food in it posted to the inside. When I use something, I strike it off.
When it comes to perishables, besides basic condiments and accountrements, I only buy enough groceries to last me the week. If even that.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:52 am | Frank said:
@Vixen - Interesting idea. I can see how the inventory could probably work for me. I gained a lot of control over my finances by making a detailed spreadsheet to track my spending so maybe the same concept would for for me when it comes to the pantry and the refrigerator. I’ll have to try that out.
Thanks for stopping by!
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:17 pm | Dawn said:
We have our 20 year-old son still at home so wasting food doesn’t usually happen. But when there are veggies or meats getting past their prime we make a homemade pizza. We keep some of those pouch pizza mixes and canned sauce on hand and use them up. We have come up with some rather tasty combo pizza’s. Another solution is keeping some canned chicken or beef broth on hand. You can turn the stuff into soup. Can’t go wrong with soup!
October 23rd, 2007 at 7:22 pm | Frank said:
Good ideas, Dawn. We have some cats at home but I doubt they can eat as much as your 20 year old son.
I gathered a lot of things together and made some pasta tonight using a lot of stuff that would have been thrown out soon. It’s a start, but I still have some work to do.
October 24th, 2007 at 8:51 pm | Ben said:
Here are two tactics that my wife and I use to eliminate food wastage. Were not 100% successful, but we’re better than we were a couple of years ago.
1) We plan a fortnight’s worth of meals and write up a shopping list. We also inventory what we have in the pantry and the freezer and incorporate some of it into the fortnightly meal planner. When we freeze meat/chicken we write the quanitity and freeze date on some stickers and adhere the stickers to the bags. This saves wondering about mystery meat packages.
2) Eat leftovers for lunch. I’m fortunate that I have a fridge in my workspace and able to store leftovers until I use them.
3) Don’t be afraid to try cooking different styles of cuisine. Develop some confidence and you’ll be able to do some off the cuff meals from bits and pieces.
Hope these suggestions are useful.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:05 am | Jo said:
Been there done that ! I’m with Ben. Meal plan and shop is the best way to go. Not only does it help with the frugal training but takes the pressure of the ever asked question ‘What’s for dinner ?’
Stops the pop into the local store for the bits and pieces that turns into an expensive full blown impulse buying experience.
Love your comment about throwing away the dollar bills, just wouldn’t happen would it.
Jo
October 25th, 2007 at 7:05 am | Frank said:
Thanks for the great feedback everyone.
I have talked about doing a meal plan and sometimes I do one in my head, but maybe I need to take the next step and actually write it down.
I started looking at my local stores ads the weekend before I go shopping and making a general plan of what to eat/buy that week, but just like budgeting my money I think I need to put something in writing to really make progress here.
Thanks all!
October 25th, 2007 at 5:16 pm | Ben said:
Hi there again.
I’m glad that the idea of a meal plan sounds useful.
I’ll add some extra details. In Australia there are three food magazines that are sold in the supermarkets. These magazines are the main recipe source. The recipes are designed to be tasty, easy to cook and budget conscious.
I created a printable meal plan in word that takes up one page per fortnight. The plan lists the days of the week, the meals, and the magazine issue that will supply the recipe. Some recipes my wife and I cook come from coobooks or other recipes gathered over the years.
I usually print up 20 sheets at a time and put them in a folder. My wife and I have been following this system for just under a year and a half and it has saved quite a bit of time.
It’s a matter of making it a habit to use a system like this. One of my hobbies is taking regular tasks and refining them to be easy to complete so I can spend more time with my children.
Hope this extra information is useful.
October 26th, 2007 at 8:45 am | Frank said:
Ben, that is an impressive system! I like that idea. It’s so easy to get off track when life is crazy and it seems like there is no time, but having a plan laid out like that would really help me to stick with it- I’m good at reading along and following instructions.
Thanks, I’m going to work on putting something like that together.
October 29th, 2007 at 10:04 pm | Ben said:
Hi there yet again.
Good luck with putting a system together.