Jul 14, 2014

What a Waste!

Something happened today that I'm not proud of.

We overspent a little last month when we were on vacation, so we're trying to get back on track this month by being super careful about every dollar we spend. I decided to go through the freezer to see if there was anything that I could use for suppers this week so we could save some money on groceries.

Instead of saving money, I found myself throwing it away.

We filled close to two garbage bags with outdated food. Not just slightly outdated - I threw away a frozen pork tenderloin from 2012, and frozen dinners from 2011. Seriously. Plus I found four bags of french fries (how many bags of fries do two people need?) and several bags of frozen vegetables plus frozen fish that I didn't realize I had. And frozen fruit. You would not believe the frozen fruit in my freezer! Five or six bags. (Smoothies for breakfast for the next month I think.)

I did come up with three meals for the week comprised almost entirely of stuff already in my cupboards and freezer but I am so disappointed with myself. It would be one thing if it was the first time this happened, but it wasn't! Financially we do okay, but we certainly don't make enough to throw money away on groceries.

I now have a small whiteboard with a list of all of the items in both of our freezers. Even though I'm almost embarassed about the whole thing, I'm hoping that by posting here I'll hold myself accountable and never, ever wind up throwing away hundreds of dollars worth of groceries again.

post signature



3 comments:

  1. I do the SAME THING. It's usually refrigerated stuff for me. I feel like we waste SO much food in my house, and it makes me sad... but I don't know how to just buy what I'll use right then...

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is the worst when it happens but it does! I have cleaned out the freezer before and thought why didn't I use this!! Good idea about having a list of what is in the freezer!

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's so easy to waste food, so I feel your frustration! I'm funny about expiration dates so I go through our kitchen pretty often to toss things, but even then we still end up wasting a lot!

    ReplyDelete