Food waste is a serious issue. According to Feeding America, around 119 billion pounds of food is wasted in the US every year, worth more than $408 billion. Here are some of the most commonly wasted foods, and what changes you can make to save food and money.
The most commonly wasted foods
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A recent survey from HelloFresh asked 2,000 Americans about their shopping and leftover habits. In addition to some surprising stats—like how 19% of people overestimate how much food they’ll even need on a given week, or how one-third of people don’t eat the leftovers they save—it revealed the most commonly wasted food items:
- Lettuce (27%)
- Bananas (23%)
- Milk (21%)
- Apples (21%)
- Bread (21%)
- Avocado (17%)
- Deli items (16%)
- Eggs (16%)
- Meat (15%)
- Carrots (14%)
It’s OK to not finish all your food, but less OK to not do something productive with it. Fortunately, fruits and veggies—which make up the majority of the waste list—are among the best foods to compost. And it’s easy enough these days that everyone should be doing it: Store leftover scraps in a reusable bin in your freezer, then drop it off at your local composting site or get an at-home composting device. Here’s a full guide on how to do it. It won’t save you money upfront at the grocery store, but it’s better for the environment and, depending on if you use the compost in your garden or elsewhere, can save you a little bit in the long run.
For more immediate savings, use a more efficient grocery list system, like an app that helps you decide what is missing from your at-home stock and what needs to be topped up the next time you hit the grocery store.
Finally, find new ways to use the foods that get wasted often. (Lifehacker has a load of unconventional recipes to help.) HelloFresh also suggested a few good options for the most commonly wasted foods, like sautéing lettuce in oyster sauce, or slicing and freezing bananas as soon as you get them.
Older apples can make applesauce; older bread can make croutons. A little clever thinking can save you time, money, and mitigate waste. A win-win-win.