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EXCEPT FOR A SCALLION or cucumber—feel free to add other items—finding something green in your refrigerator is generally not good. This morning, I reached for the butter and caught a glimpse of dark green. It was a wedge of never-opened goat cheese, $5.60 worth. Or, to view it another way, $253 in lost retirement savings over the next 40 years.
Before we left for Florida this winter, we removed from the fridge all items that would not survive six weeks. That process alone triggered a debate over what to keep or throw. In any case, a lot of money went in the trash. Many of the things we found upon our return had simply been forgotten during our pre-trip purge. Like goat cheese.
According to Feeding America, nearly 40% of all food is wasted in America. An estimated 39% of that waste occurs at home, amounting to some 42 billion pounds of food each year, including my 0.51 pound of cheese. I often wonder how anyone knows that statistic. I suspect it won’t be long before high-tech kitchen appliances report our every wasteful action.
I also decided to look in the pantry for old food. Sure enough, there was a cache of forgotten cans, jars and boxes, including a jar of beets. I haven’t eaten beets since forced to by my mother in 1952. The jar said “use by 3/23/2018.” It must have come with us when we moved to our condo.
In addition, I found souvenir food that was either way outdated or questionable as to its use. Souvenir food is the stuff you buy in gift shops when traveling. It seems cool at the time, but when you get home, you’ll never cook anything as intended. I found Real Texas BBQ rub, Cajun spices, cactus jelly, and paprika from the last time I was in Budapest. When was the last time I was in Budapest? My favorite find was a “special” tea you sip from a gourd. I picked it up in Argentina. I was told it was very relaxing, which is yet to be determined.
When on a cleaning spree, don’t give too much credibility to expiration dates. Except for baby formula, there are no federal regulations on food dating. The “use by,” “best by” and “expiration” dates are pretty arbitrary and more intended to reflect a decline in flavor—unless the product has turned green, of course.
It’s possible to waste money in other ways, too, like on junk food and snacks. One estimate says we spend nearly $30,000 in a lifetime on salty and sweet snacks. Based on the annual spending rate on snacks of almost $480 a year and a 10% investment return, cutting them out could turn into more than $230,000 over 40 years. As I’ve said before, let me at your shopping cart and I’ll find savings that will put you on track for early retirement, and maybe lose weight, too.
While all this throwing away and snacking is going on, the U.S. manages to rank as the most obese country in the world, if you exclude an array of Pacific Islands and Kuwait. It would appear our financial woes aren’t caused by what we fail to put in the bank, but rather by what we put in our mouth—or planned to and forgot about.
The two best ways to reduce your food and drink expense are: (1) give up alcohol; and (2) don’t go out to eat. One big night at a fancy restaurant with a bottle of good wine can easily exceed the cost of food at a grocery store for the next week or two.
I quickly inventory my refrigerator (not freezer) about every 3 days and cook accordingly. I waste very little food. Today – need to use sour cream – baking Nigella’s Old-Fashioned Sandwich bread.
I agree that most food in America goes to waste(waist). But I couldn’t help noticing your comment about the Saffron and see how it might pose a problem, so if you’ll send it all to me I’ll see that it’s properly disposed of.
Good article Dick! You were talking about me.
Our freezer died last week. Wife and I scrambled to fit as much frozen food into freezer compartment of fridge as possible. We did not lose as much food as expected because we had a lot of frozen food with expired dates. None of it was old enough to vote but some was pretty old.
We are a household of 2 seniors and I am ashamed to say how much food we waste. I could have retired a lot sooner if we had figured out how to reduce our food waste. First world problem.
It is very impressive how organizations with a strong point of view, can unequivocally report statistics that are unverifiable. While I take the food waste statistics with a grain of salt, I have committed food waste myself. In the last several years I’ve made great progress in this area. It saves me money.
I once volunteered to go out and contact our town’s homeless population. We urged them to take advantage of a shelter set up during a cold snap. For security, we traveled in a group. We encountered about 20 homeless people. Our team leader reported that we counted 70 and speculated that many more were uncounted. The local paper reported her count as a fact. Thats when I stopped trusting statistics.
There is always an agenda…what famous person lamented “lies, damned lies, and statistics”?
We are the most obese country in the world as you stated … but much more importantly we are the most metabolically unhealthy … Trillions wasted on healthcare that would be better spent on educating people on their diets
Food waste has been a source of contentious comments from me over the years, but my wife is actually pretty organized and efficient. She keeps an inventory list of items on the front of the extra freezer and adds and subtracts as needed. Much of the refrigerator waste is from my condiments, she’s a condiment-free eater.
Her organized pantry includes a requirement that all labels must face outward, which led to last year’s April Fool’s prank from my daughter and me.
Back when had a pantry and a refrigerator, when we got home from the market we’d write the expiration date with a Sharpie, a very visible reminder of when it should be used. No more looking for tiny dates who knows where.
Being nomadic since November, our new “problem” is failing to completely consume food we buy wherever we are.
We need wide narrow pantries so all items face forward and no item is behind another 😃
I really do have paprika I bought in Budapest many years ago. Actually I think we have spices older than our adult children. My favorite may be all the Saffron we store in our freezer.
I once lived in a condo with a deep narrow pantry, with roll out shelves. Every time I dig through cabinets for a can of beef consommé or diced tomatoes, I miss that pantry.
That “special” tea you sip from a gourd, is called mate. Trust me, you didn’t miss a thing. And you actually saved money by not buying the associated “special” gourds and sipping straw.
Sad to admit Mike, but I bought the gourd and sipping straw as well. I was expecting great things from the tea.
Matcha is gooda especially from a gourda :). Thanks for a great piece on a subject I know too well. I recently watched a video on using refrigerator “extras” by freezing bits of leftover veggie scraps throughout the week and using it for making vegetable stock and soups.
Dick…Chamomile tea contains antioxidants that may improve a host of health conditions. I find it especially soothing when I have a cold. You can purchase it here in the GOOD OLE USA.