Waste…

I decided to dedicate my Saturday morning to rearranging all the food products in our pantry and throw away any outdated goods. I figured this might be my only shot to get organized for a while and assumed this task would take about an hour.

THREE hours later, I slipped my final can into an organized row.

And for the part I am ashamed to admit…

I had to toss 6 trash bags of food. I easily wasted several hundred dollars of grocery budget by letting my food expire. As someone who worked in a grocery store, I guess I missed the lesson on first in, first out.

It’s not that I don’t know how it happened. I come home from work, exercise, tidy the house, and tiredly open the pantry doors to grab whatever food is in front. I simply lack the energy to move things around – especially in the last 9 months.

Off to Walmart I went to purchase $15 worth of plastic bins. Using plastic bins as drawers in my linen closet has helped to keep my shampoos, lotions, and body washes organized so I figured I’d give it a shot in the kitchen. Pulling out 10 individual cans to find one in the back? Not going to happen. Pulling out one clear plastic bin? Pretty darn easy.

Ugh. Why didn’t I think to do this years ago! I wouldn’t have to live with the guilt of all that wasted food!!

Posted by Beks on June 30, 2011 at 7:52 PM in Saving Money, Spending Money | 17 Comments »
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Kim responded:
Posted: July 1st, 2011 at 1:31 am
When is that baby due again? This sounds like nesting to me!
Susan responded:
Posted: July 1st, 2011 at 7:11 am
WOW! Six bags! Can you elaborate a bit more? We’re a family of five and I stock up quite a lot so I’m curious how your pantry got that way? Did you buy duplicates? Do you eat a lot of boxed or canned foods? Most of that stuff stays good for months or years…

Trying to get a picture in my mind. Hope you are very proud of yourself for organizing and buying bins to help you stay on track from now on – good job!
Tracy responded:
Posted: July 1st, 2011 at 8:07 am
Generally speaking, unrefrigerated food doesn’t go bad. The quality may not be the best, taste-wise and texturally, but it is still safe to eat. The expiration dates are generally best-if-used-before dates. It’s not a waste of money to have “expired” pantry foods if you still eat them.
Money Beagle responded:
Posted: July 1st, 2011 at 8:21 am
We like to buy clementines when they’re in season, and they come in a little wooden container. After we eat them, those containers are great as closet or under the sink organizers. We’ve definitely improved our organization by using these, plus they don’t cost anything!
CanadianKate responded:
Posted: July 1st, 2011 at 8:38 am
@Money Beagle: I love your suggestion of using the clementine crates. I hate tossing them out but have never found a good use for them.

@Beks: don’t feel too bad, it happens from time to time. Just this year I found I had to do the same thing. I’m pretending I’m getting ready to move (I’m not but will be in about 5 years so thought I’d get a jump on the process.) My goal is to rid my home of a green garbage bag full of stuff each week – either garbage/recycle, pass along to kids or freecycle.)

When I did the pantry closet in the basement, I found cans of Alphaghetti there (quick favourite after school snack for a couple of my day care kids – I haven’t had the day care for 12 years) and food I had saved when I shut down my dad’s house 5 years ago (if I haven’t used it in 5 years, I’m not likely to use it now.)

I’m slowly using up stuff that wasn’t bad but will be getting too old soon.

My new policy is one item upstairs in the kitchen, one in the pantry in the basement. As I bring the item up from the pantry, I write it on the list in the kitchen and strive to replace it within two weeks. If, after two weeks, it hasn’t reached my price point, I still buy it because, I reason, waiting for a sale and buying 10 isn’t going to save me anything if I toss out 5 of them 4 years from now.

There are exceptions: breakfast cereal, tinned mandarins (we can go through 4 cans in a week if dh is eating spinach/mandarin salad) and pickles (they only go on sale 2 – 3 times per year but I go through a lot of them – the joke used to be “how will you know Kate is pregnant if she eats so many pickles all the time?”)

But in general, my shelves are emptier now but more than sufficient for us. Should a storm disrupt the food supply for 2 weeks, we’ll be fine.
Jen responded:
Posted: July 1st, 2011 at 9:05 am
I used to get so frustrated when I’d throw food out: produce I bought with great intentions of eating, leftovers that sat in the frig too long, etc.

When my son was born, I started to think more about what we were eating (I would have thought of it while I was still pregnant, but I was too busy puking all nine months!) I read the book, “My 2-year-old eats octopus eats octopus” and got inspired.

Anyway, I realized that most of my waste came from being tired at dinnertime and being overwhelmed when I saw raw ingredients in the frig and pantry, so grabbed some processed food instead. I started spending about 30 minutes meal planning once a week, creating a grocery list, and getting groceries once a week. I save that hour many times over since I know what’s for dinner (and I’m a big fan of using the crockpot to cut prep time on a busy day). If I make a meal with some produce, but don’t need the whole item, I just chop it up and freeze it so I have it for next time.

I’ve been doing this for a little over a year now, and in all that time put together, I’ve thrown less than 1 small garbage bag of food out. I’m eating better, feeling better, feeding my family better and saving a TON of money.
Carla responded:
Posted: July 1st, 2011 at 9:06 am
Eek! That sucks!! Well live & learn! I bet that doesn’t happen again!
emmi responded:
Posted: July 1st, 2011 at 10:35 am
I would easily eat a canned good within 2 years after expiration as long as the can is not dented and shows no sign of bulging (obviously)
Newlyweds on a Budget responded:
Posted: July 1st, 2011 at 11:27 am
wow that is a LOT of food. I would have never thought! I get mad when i have to throw away veggies that have gone bad.
Honey responded:
Posted: July 1st, 2011 at 12:11 pm
Our house doesn’t even have room for that much food total, let alone to throw food away and have a full pantry leftover! This seems borderline hoarding to me!
Jon responded:
Posted: July 1st, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Next time, instead of spending money to organize your excess, why not question yourself on why you have so much to begin with? Six bags of outdated food? Seriously? I’ve never had that much food in my pantry, period. I’m all about stocking up when something is free or sharply discounted, but even that doesn’t account for all that you wasted. Are you a hoarder?
margot responded:
Posted: July 2nd, 2011 at 7:58 am
Why on earth do you own so much food that you could even get rid of SIX bags?? I don’t have six bags of good food in my pantry, let alone expired food. Having six bags of extra food to waste doesn’t jive with other blog entries where you’ve portrayed your household as being on a strict budget and living on ramen.

And as others have said, nearly all of the food that you threw away was probably good. Most processed food can be eating way after the expiration date. That’s just a sell-by date, because manufacturers must put one on the food.
Beks responded:
Posted: July 2nd, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Perhaps I should have clarified – our trash can is about 18″ tall by 6″ wide by 15″ across. One can be filled with about 6-8 cans before the bag rips. Still a lot of wasted canned goods but not nearly the amount some of you assume. My goodness, how big of trash cans do you guys use??
Caitlin responded:
Posted: July 2nd, 2011 at 3:14 pm
When most people say a trash/garbage bag, they are referring to the big black ones you put out at the curb, not the small ones you keep in individual garbage cans inside a home.

They usually range from approx 50gal to 75 gal for a “standard” garbage bag (not counting giant yard waste bags).
Susan responded:
Posted: July 3rd, 2011 at 6:14 am
Actually Caitlin, when working in a kitchen most people use the 13 gallon tall white kitchen garbage bags.

The big black ones are most often used for yard work debris or are used inside a large can that some people use for curbside collection of household garbage. (our community provides both trash and recycling pick-up and we do not use bags inside of the large city provided collection cans)

The small bags that Beks describes are more normally used in bathrooms or perhaps a home office.
Personal Finance for Teachers responded:
Posted: July 4th, 2011 at 8:00 am
My wife just did the same thing for our fridge. Wow – we do waste a bunch of food also. From the cleaning, she got rid of 3 bags of food. We are going to tackle the pantry next – with the same results I am sure.

I have been thinking how this happened. For the refrigerator (and the pantry also), we just make too many impulse purchases and do not know what we have. Therefore, things go bad. Most of the things in our pantry come from couponing. Sad, but true. I have come to realize that even if you pay 25 cents for something, you have just wasted 25 cents if you don’t use it. Sad.

I read something this morning on a couponing blog that will be a big help with the pantry items. Continue to buy the same amounts and get the good deals, but determine what you will use and give the rest to charity. Everyone might be doing that, but it was new to me and I am going to start the next time I shop.
Kim responded:
Posted: July 5th, 2011 at 10:15 am
I agree with the fact that too much food in your pantry sometimes makes the task of making dinner overwhelming. The only things that really expire in my pantry are baking items (baking powder can lose its effectiveness) and spices. I always have a couple of cans of soup, beans, and tomato products; anything else I buy as-needed. It’s also a way to trim the grocery budget if it grows unwieldy (my grocery line item is fighting with gasoline for room in the budget!).