memes

I got a chest freezer for $200. I freeze everything before or on its expiration date.

Sometimes if its mushy veggies I make a stock and freeze it for the next meal. If its too far gone i have a compost jar in the kitchen and a bin outside.

I started a garden and an edible native hedge this year. I have tea herbs and squash for free now and working on a seed propagation.

I started a coop mushroom grow with my neighbors since he felled some hardwood and I had the plan. The leftover mushrooms we dont eat will be either sold at market or made into liquid cultures.

Were talking about going in on a local half cow or pig. He says if my garden keeps growing we can buy the plot behind us together and start a farm. Would cut grocery costs a lot.

My wife and I have pantry weeks where we dont go grocery shopping, we eat whats in reserve, soak dry beans, thaw last weeks on sale chicken breast and pressure Cook em, make a flatbread and have some curry.

Instant pot helps too. Thinking about getting coturnix quail to feed good scraps to and get eggs out of. I can plant cover crops for em on the last strip of lawn I have.

It doesn't have to be wasteful forever.

A freezer and a pantry full of canned and dried foods.

Only buy fresh meats and veggies when you are actually gonna cook.

Freeze leftovers in single portion sizes.

Eventually you’ll have a bunch of homemade frozen dinners to choose from.

Sell your wardrobe fridge and replace it with a small one.
If the stuff does not fit in your fridge, don't buy it.

And what @technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com said. Over here, milk comes in 1L packets with a 2 day expiry. I only buy for 2-3 days at a time and every time I go out to buy milk, I also refill groceries.

Stuff over here is not more than 10km away, so I can use a bicycle.

Don't mourn, organise!

My SO has ADHD and used to do this. I just cook for the both of us now so it's less food waste. The only issue is sometimes he doesn't like what I make :/

It's not for everyone, or even most people probably, but I deal with it by buying virtually the same thing every week, once a week. No impulse buying. So, I eat everything I buy, every week, because I know exactly how much I eat for each meal, each week. I waste nothing. I don't need a list, I know the path through the store I will take, and I'm in and out in about 20 minutes, including checkout.

I decided to stop thinking about food as entertainment or reward, and now think of food as only nutrition (as much as I can, it's not easy, but that's the idea.)

It’s called a freezer and lunches for the extra. Eat chicken? Batch cook that pallet- brine in about a couple of water, a bouillon cube, garlic and a bunch of salt, parsley, oregano, rosemary (to your taste), and a couple of the cheapest white wine at the grocery store if your feeling fancy or really like gravy. After a few hours or overnight, dry and throw in your oven at 400 for twenty minutes. When its out, let the chicken cool on a cutting board, slice some up and chop up the rest. You now have a baseline chicken that tastes as good as deli-quality that works well in everything from dinners, sandwiches and salads, and if you skip the rosemary, its a good stir fry addin.

Buy more fruit in summer and cereals in winter.

I only wish I could buy half loaves of the breads I like.

I can't get through a whole loaf alone to save my life unless I eat the same thing for 3 meals a day and I'd prefer not to.

i didn't start cooking until I got a big enough kitchen to store plates, forks, knives, spoons, glasses, cooking pans/pots&utensils, cutting boards, leftover food storage, dish towels, and food cupboards and pantry.

rentals rarely have enough for that.

but once i got enough space to have that stuff, and then saved up to buy that stuff little at a time then cooking became a lot more sensible. (middle aged bachelor)

i have recipes that i don't have to think about that create leftovers.

And that is the goal: LEFTOVERS

Leftovers are your bread and butter of saving money and not having to cook.

Buy food that you can cook in advance and reheat. Make a list of meals for the week, cook it all, then freeze it. Too tired to cook later in the week? Take it out of the freezer and reheat it.

Also, try to do recipes you can do in sequences that don't require too much dishwashing, then clean everything up at the end.

Meal prep brah, freeze that shit up

Solution: freezer. I basically never have food go off because basically all of it is either frozen or non perishable.

I solved this by getting into a relationship with someone who genuinely loves to cook for others. I felt super guilty about it for a while but eventually got over it.

Don't buy any perishables unless you're going to use them immediately, i.e. the same day that you buy them. If you buy them, take them home and eat them. Keep lots of non-perishables on hand so you'll be able to cook something without going to the store when you want to do that.

only buy stuff for what you want to eat? like if you plan on making burgers, buy the stuff. you don't need to plan for every day, because you're going to have left overs for the last two or so days.

For me, I try to focus on buying stuff that will keep well, things that I can use a lot of ways, or things I have an immediate plan to use all of.

Or multiple of those things at once. Like if I get a crown of broccoli, it will only stay good in the fridge for a week or two, but I don’t need to eat it all at once, I can just take a bit at a time and add it to other things, like a soup or a pan fry, to get some green in. Frozen veggies solve the only lasting a week or two thing also.

On the other hand there’s things like canned tuna, there is only really one way I’m gonna use that, but it keeps forever in the cabinet, so no wasting fridge space, and the cans are usually small enough I can use it all at once.

Like, if it doesn’t keep well, you you wouldn't use it all at once, and you’d probably only use it for one thing, just don’t bother.

Also, like, look in to how certain things should be best stored, some things can last a lot longer if you figure that out.

I only buy packages, containers, or cartons that will sit within my nutritional budget to eat all of in a single sitting. One, maybe two of those = one meal. Especially those wonderful single-course entrees I can buy at ALDI for like six bucks a pop. That's actually a day's worth of food. Especially because I tend to eat one meal a day (when i am behaving).

Costco rotisserie chickens rock my fucking world too. Those things can be more than one meal!

I will also buy packages of "salad mix"--mixed greens with a few other veggies in it,
and then I'll add a nice dash of salt, and either a splash of apple cider vinegar or a liberal dusting of Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, then shake it all up and just GO TO TOWN on the whole container.

The only perishables I buy are things of this sort that I will most certainly eat RIGHT AWAY.

Everything else is either
a: canned goods where i'll use the whole can at once adding to one of the above items
or,
b: non-perishable usually dry goods with which i can augment other things with pinches and dashes at a time (there are some things like vinegar or certain hot sauces that age and develop more flavor over time).