A few things I do to reduce food waste

Here are some things that I personally do to help reduce food waste. Growing up, we never ever had food waste. My parents weren't just frugal, it was more of a lifestyle where I lived. I remember that my dad would use veggie peels/skins and crushed eggshells,  as fertilizer in the garden. So even those weren't just thrown away.  I can't remember a time that we ever threw food away. The bones and whatever leftover scraps there were, went to the dog. My mom always called me wasteful, because I was extremely picky (I still am...lol). However, she would be happy to see how much I've grown, if she was still alive. So here's my list

1. Wash, dice and freeze whatever produce can be frozen. I like to do this after a trip to the produce market. Not only does it keep produce from spoiling, but it also simplifies my life. I don't have to clean and dice veggies every time I cook a meal.

2. Wash and dice (I just stick mine into the Ninja blender) a whole bunch of parsley/cilantro then freeze as ice cubes. When making soups or stews, I just add a cube or 2 to my meal.

3. Make a big batch of smoothies with produce that are close to it's expiration date and freeze as ice cubes. Need a smoothie? Just place a few cubes into a glass or container and thaw in fridge overnight. You can also save leftover smoothie this way. Same can be done with yogurt that close to it's expiration date.

4. Add the leftover bagged salad (I like the Romaine mix) to fruit smoothies. You know the leftovers that hardly has enough lettuce in the bag to make a proper salad. I use all of that.

5. When making fresh squeezed juice, I use the leftover pulp to make muffins. I just use a basic muffin mix recipe, add some essence of choice and some pulp. Easy peasy.

6. I've never liked eating the heel of the bread (I still don't). Instead of using breadcrumbs in meatloaf, I use leftover bread. In SA we have a recipe called Frikkadel (It's kinda like a fried meatball). You soak the bread in either milk or water. Then squeeze out liquid and add softened bread to your meat mix. The bread acts like a binder, so there's no need to go out and buy breadcrumbs especially for these meals.

7. Use leftover bread to make bread pudding. I'm sure many of you have done this.

8. When I cook a roast beef, I shred the leftovers and use it to make a meat pie (just add a jar of gravy and some frozen mixed veg. or I add the gravy to shredded meat and make 'burritos). Just add refried beans and meat to tortilla, top with cheese and bake.

9. Have leftover produce like onions, peppers, mushrooms. Dice it up and make omelets and freeze. I've frozen omelets before and it still tastes great when we eat it a week later.

10. Most importantly,  freeze whatever leftover food that you can. I like to eat leftovers for lunch, but sometimes I cook way too much (this is from years of cooking for a large family. I don't know how to make small meals), so into the freezer it goes.

That's all I can think of for now. Have any tips to help eliminate food waste - please feel free to share in the comments.