Food Waste Friday

Kristen over at The Frugal Girl photographs the food she wastes each Friday and posts it on her blog. She's one of the bloggers who has inspired me to make an effort to waste less food, along with Jonathan Bloom of Wasted Food.

In the past month, I wrote this post about my method of labeling leftovers so they wouldn't end up "out of sight and out of mind," and this one about designating one area of the refrigerator for food that needs to be eaten right away with a label that reads "Eat Me!" And our food waste has been reduced drastically in that time. My husband has been a champ about eating the food in that area, no matter how unappetizing it may seem.

Since I usually grocery shop on Wednesdays (I work mostly at home so I can shop when it's less crowded), I throw away food that's gone bad on Wednesdays. This week I had only a part of a bunch of parsley that had gone yellow. I'll post a photo next Wednesday if I have any food waste.

It may sound silly, but these little games have not just helped us waste less food, but have a little fun in the process. It really does feel good not to throw so much food away. And it's not that hard. What strategies have helped you reduce your food waste? Please share in the Comments section. Even if you're not doing so well, we can all learn from each other!

Free Stuff Alert: Bank of America is continuing its Museums on Us program, which means B of A customers can get free admission into museums on the first weekend of the month, just by flashing your debit card. That's this weekend, April 4th and 5th. In Los Angeles, that includes LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and the Autry Museum of Western Heritage. Click here for details and to check which museums are free in your area.