Waste of food - my experience

This week's experiment is one of the biggest challenges of my daily life and Lucia's lifestyle seems very different to mine!!!

I currently live with two roommates and my cat R. The cat eats cat food that i buy and my roommates and I have very different schedules, so we don't share food and each one cooks for herself only. Sometimes we coincide at dinner, but it is something that happens randomly once every two months or less!!!

It is a huge challenge to buy and cook food for only one person and not to waste some of it every week. I have three meals a day and two snacks. I have established easy breakfasts because I start at 8 am every day, I cook lunch to eat at my office and my dinners are always light and easy if I prepare them. The snacks are fruits, crackers or nuts.

THIS WEEK

For me, the purpose to lower the chances to waste food will start when I go shopping. First thing I'm going to do is to look up for my week's activities and be real honest about the actual time I'm going to have to cook (and I actually only cook for lunch- breakfasts are fresh fruits, yogurt and granola, for dinner is tortillas, cheese or a salad). Once I see the week's scenario I'll probably realize that I can only cook for two or three lunches so I'll make a shopping list based on that (I will completely avoid buying food without a shopping list!!). And when I feel like cooking beans, lentils or chickpeas, since it is difficult to cook just a little bit, I will make the whole bag and freeze half of it (or more) to eat it later on.

IN TWO WEEKS

I will be moving out of my current house in two weeks. I'm still be having a roommate, so I'm going to bring up this subject with my roommate to find a way to share the food we buy and cook. It might be helpful and more easy to follow Lucia's suggestions. I will inform how it goes!

Thanks,

P.

Waste of food.

I have been always bothered by the fact that we waste food. It hurts me to throw away that what just a couple of days before was so celebrated and wanted. there are many reasons to stop wasting food. So, I decided this must be changed. 
In our household we are two grown ups and a little girl (M) almost 2 years old. M Food is always a bit of a challenge. When she is hungry food must be there, period. And if she doesnt like it, something else must appear on her dish asap. So, sometimes I end up with a lot of baby food.
Each household and person have different habits when it comes to food. Feel free to do your own experiment.

First Week
I put all rests of food in containers -nothing new-, but even if there are only three spoons of food left I do...But normally I just put them in the fridge somewhere and forget about it (WRONG!). When I open it again I just look in that jungle of fresh products and boxes and guess what...yes, I do pick up the fresh products.

The right side of the fridge...
Well I decided all products that need to be eaten will "live" on the right side of the fridge. So easy. It is no rocket science but it works, you actually get to see what you need to use and you know where it is. I noticed it is better if I use see-through containers then I don't even have to think what is in them. I just have it before my eyes.

I always think of the right side before I cook. I did and I realized that we cook too much food and that is why we never get to eat it all. And the same happened with the baby food which is worst because I don't like to keep it long to avoid food poisoning.

Second Week
I eat all the rests.  I literally tried to do so in the moment... It was crazy but I still recommend it to do it for a week or so because you get to understand better your food portions. After that I decided to think how can I better use my rests: Tomorrow's lunch or as an entrée at dinner time. In my case my lunches are mostly rests from the day before and we decided some of our dinners isis our "Rests day meal" which means we empty all containers of the fridge.
I also decided to cook for M food I would like to eat myself so if she doesnt eat it nor like it,  I will take it as my lunch. I also decided M is big enough to eat what mama and papa eat. Luckily, she  agrees often...Not always, which is a bit sad but I am trying hard to understand her food needs.

Third week
I make a zero throw away week. Do it, it will help you tune the last details so you get to get the best of your food. I did it and I threw away a squashed banana forgotten in my bag (not nice) and a bit of an aubergine. Not bad but this week I am going for the zero!

RESULTS:
I don't have to cook so much like before (Yupi!) 
We are saving electricity
And since we are not wasting food we are saving some money.