How To Stop Wasting Food By Organizing Your Fridge

I can remember a time in our lives where I used to spend more than $1,000 each month for groceries. I told myself that I had a big family, so the cost was justified. We easily dropped $250 or more each week on groceries without thinking twice about it.

Our packed freezer, pantry, and the refrigerator was a sight to see, especially at the end of the month.

The reason being that all of those foods we thought we had to have, turned out to be things we didn’t even eat and ended up being thrown out.

One of the biggest problem areas for this was our fridge.

After throwing away thousands of dollars of food each week, I finally decided to change my habits and tried something different.

So I’ll show you how to stop wasting food because it’s just wasteful and a money waster too.

Plus, when you don’t waste food, you’re not throwing out your hard-earned dollars, plus your time that you spent buying it and taking it to your house.

And, with these zero waste food ideas, you’ll be saving more than just your time and money too.

Here is how we stopped wasting food in our home by organizing our fridge.

Take Everything Out

When was the last time you had a clean and empty fridge? My guess is the day you moved in!

Break out the lunchboxes and coolers and take everything out of your refrigerator.

Give everything a good wipe down and get it clean again.

Don’t put any of these back in just yet. Let’s learn how to stop wasting food.

Go Through Your Food Items

Before you put anything back in, use this time to go through your refrigerator items.

Is there anything about to expire or go bad?

Do you even use this item? Are there any items past their expiration date?

Ask yourself these questions when going through the contents of your fridge so you can stop wasting food.

Keep everything that will go bad or expire soon together, otherwise take the time to categorize your remaining items.

Grab a Sharpie marker and some washi tape and write the expiration date on the top of the bottle or package. That way you can easily see when the item is going to expire so it can get used up.

This is one helpful way so you don’t waste food.

Make An Eat First Basket Or Bin

This is something I genuinely believe every fridge should have and a great way on how to stop wasting food.

You can use whatever container works best for you, but this is a must-have! Get a label, or just attach a piece of paper to a bin that says eat first.

Any item that is going to expire soon or has a short shelf life should go in this bin or basket.

Make sure this is one of the first things you see when you open your fridge, so you don’t forget about it.

This is where I put the leftovers so they are grabbed first. If they aren’t eaten within two days, I will vacuum seal them up and put them in the freezer.

Here are some ways to use up produce so it doesn’t go bad!

Plan Your Meals

If you are not already planning your meals, you need to be so you can stop wasting food!

Meal planning will not only help you save money on your groceries, but it will help make sure you are using up all of the food in your fridge.

In your meal plan, make sure you consult your eat first bin to make sure that you aren’t letting any food go bad.

Don’t know where to start planning your meals? Here’s how to make a meal plan.

Allow A Section For Leftovers

Depending on the layout of your fridge, you may not have an entire shelf or area you can dedicate to leftovers.

However, it is essential to make sure your leftovers don’t get lost in your fridge so you can stop wasting food.

Next, to my Eat First bin, I have a designated area for leftovers.

This ensures that when I open my fridge, I know exactly where to go to find food first.

If we have no leftovers or the eat first bin is empty, then I start browsing the rest of the fridge.

Organize Like Items Together

When you go to put things back into your fridge, you want to make sure you are keeping like items together.

This will make it easier to find what you need, and ensure that you don’t buy something you already have.

This will help make sure you are keeping track of what you have throughout the week with these zero waste food ideas.

Clean Your Fridge Regularly

This one might sound like a no-brainer, but most of us don’t do this automatically.

Cleaning your refrigerator will not only make sure you get the chance to remove rotting food but that you had the opportunity to organize your fridge.

Keeping your fridge organized will help you prevent food waste, but daily life may get things out of place sometimes.

If you aren’t able to see your options and use them before they go bad, they will spoil, and you will have to throw that food away.

If you organize your fridge the right way, you can not just avoid food waste, but avoid throwing your money away with it!

So I hope you’ve learned how to stop wasting food because it’s just wasteful and it’s a money waster too.

Plus, when you don’t waste food, you’re not throwing out your hard-earned dollars, plus your time that you spent buying it and taking it to your house.

And, with these zero waste food ideas, you’ll be saving more than just your time and money too.

Organizing your fridge can sound tedious, but trust me, it’s doable!

YOUR TURN: What are some other tips to stop wasting food that you could share? Let me know in the comments below!

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