Don't over-plan. I am worst about wasting food when I plan to cook more meals than we can finish in a week. This is a big temptation if you don't have time to go to the grocery store more than once a week, but I guess the solution is having some pantry/freezer basics around in case you underestimate.

Any tips for saving all the vegetable ends that are supposedly good for stock, but take up a lot of space if you're accumulating in a small freezer? (Things like kale stems and leek tops are kind of bulky.)

Great common sense tips. My veggie bin is useless. Veggies go bad quickly. Like the idea of "pickling".

When I make small batches of broth or stock, I go with one sandwich or quart sized bag to 1-2 cups water. I used to wait and save so I could make normal sized 6-12 cup batches, but then I wouldn't use all the broth before it would go bad.

extra points for the portlandia reference!

The tip that has helped me and my husbadn the most: store beer in the veggie bins, and veggies on the shelf. I won't forget there's a beer in there, but I will forget about carrots.

I'm a planner so I can't not plan when it comes to food prep...lettuce is washed and chopped, herbs (dill,chives,parsley) chopped and frozen, leftovers in baby cubes for a quick go-to meal for my son...here are some ideas:

http://www.bitesforbabies.com/bye-bye-bottomless-pit/

@Button...Do you cut up the veggie scraps in smaller pieces? Might take up less room.

Definitely divvy up your large batches of soup into smaller containers, label and date. Also if you want, weigh them, container and all as it'll make it easier when at the last minute to pull out of freezer and pop into the microwave and use weight defrost.

This way, if something weighs 5Oz, tell the microwave that and it'll automatically set the time for however many minutes it thinks it needs, and you'll have at least a partially thawed item to then quickly get heated up and thawed on the stove.

This, of course, assumes you own a scale like I do. (the Escali Arti).

I would also suggest, though I haven't thought of this until now, the date you bought something, or better yet, find the expire date and make it LEGIBLE and make sure people know it is what it is, so it is more likely to be consumed by then. Nothing is worse than taking a GOOD glug of milk and having it be sour, ick. That is how I got off of milk for the longest time.

Oh I still have it on my cereal but almost never drink it by the glassful anymore as a result.

Good ideas, and most of them are in use at my house.

We've cut down our waste, but it isn't perfect. However -- my old food all goes to my chickens, who convert the scraps and leftovers into nice fresh eggs.

My tactic? I shop for fruit and vegetables twice a week and I only buy enough for a couple of days. That's probably not too feasible for many busy households who can't keep running out to the store, but it works well enough for me. It's also a good tactic if you're limited in terms of space.

@Jamie310 that's funny, but don't your veggies go limp out of the crisper?

Putting the beer in the veggie bin and the veggies on the shelf is brilliant. I'm going to give that a try.

I also agree on not overplanning. If I plan out all the meals for a week, often times stuff comes up (late home from work, last minute going out with a friend, etc.) and I don't have time to cook everything I bought to eat. I think it's good to leave a few gaps in your meal plan and a pantry stocked with goods (pasta, canned or frozen food) that can be used to fill the gaps if needed.

i'm with cheryl K, it's not convenient but it's better waste-wise if i just buy what i need for a couple days. otherwise too much ends up getting thrown out.
now if only stores would sell celery by the stalk instead of the bunch...

If the store where you usually shop has a salad bar, try getting the celery from there. It's already chopped and you can buy just the amount that you need. :D

I've made an effort for several years to use up all of the food that I buy. Some weeks I do a good job while other weeks I do a poor job. However, I have greatly reduced the amount of food waste that I produce. I live alone, so I eat a lot of leftovers. I'll typically make 4 servings when I'm cooking and will have two lunches and two suppers. Sometimes, I end up with more, but not often. I stop by the store or farmers' market a couple of times a week. I do a good job of planning what I cook, so I know what I want and get in and out of those places pretty quickly. I do not eat a lot of processed foods so nearly everything I eat, I cook from scratch.

@Jamie310: Ha ha, it's true. I never forget I have beer.

I meal plan and shop once a week and usually stick to the plan. Produce left over at the end of the week goes in a soup or a frittata for the weekend. The only stuff that always, always goes bad before I can use it all are fresh herbs.

I love this!

Definitely swiping the beer-goes-in-the-crisper trick.

These are good tips in helping prevent food waste. Especially when food waste is a major issue for consumers in America. http://2ndgreenrevolution.com/2013/01/30/a-small-re-invention-of-food-waste/

Grew up with meal planning but boy howdy does that not work with my husband. My solution? Have pantry items, dry goods and key staples delivered once per month then go out everyother week to purchase fresh fruit and produce. It minimizes trips to the store, but allows me to pick my own produce - something I don't generally trust to delivery. And heck I usually need to stock up on milk for the kids anyways.

Have 2 or 3 go-to recipes that can be mostly pantry items, or mostly fresh items, or any combo of both.

One great example is the Free-Form Pasta Casserole, posted on the Kitchn (idk how to post hyperlinks here, but a quicks search will bring it up).

Simple soups, fritatas, stir fries are all great ways to use up what you have on hand and not panic about not having all the "right" ingredients for a recipe.

I started meal-planning a couple of months ago mostly to prevent food waste.

Each week, I plan four dinners for the next week (I get lunch at my work). The other three nights are either eating out, leftovers, or simple pantry meals (ie, rice and beans). If I make something quite large (like a stew), I freeze it in single-serve containers.

I have found I'm wasting a LOT less produce and am also actually cooking a few new recipes.

Of course I have to put up with my friends laughing at my meal list on my fridge.

We keep a list of "need to eat" items on the chalkboard in our kitchen. Figuring out how to use the random items in the fridge in combination with our pantry items makes dinner feel like an episode of "Chopped".

I label everything that goes into the freezer, but I'm less good about labeling things in the fridge.

One helpful tip I try to (but don't always) remember is when you make a crockpot of food (especially meat) or a big pot of soup, freeze half of it IMMEDIATELY. The food you put in the freezer will be fresher if frozen immediately, and it will be much easier to eat up half as much food. Especially since it's so easy to fill a 5 quart crock pot or stock pot. Doubly so when there are only two of you in the household.

Repurposing leftovers is also yummy. I just layered stale bread with leftover slow-cooked beef, a little shredded cheese, and some garlic powder and stuck it in the oven. It was like a hot roast beef sandwich served on garlic cheese bread. A delicious blend of crispy, garlicky bread (the torn pieces on top), and the jus-soaked soft, almost pudding-like bread on the bottom. Best part? Hot meal in 20 minutes.

Similar to sarahregs, I have 2 dry erase labels on the fridge door: one listing ingredients that need to be used and one listing the leftovers that need to be eaten. This generally keeps things from being forgotten.

Love the pickling idea though!

I, too, store my beer in the crisper...and my condiments in the other drawer. I stand them up in in topless rectangular food storage containers so they will not rattle around and spill. It's much easier to clean up after- just in case of messy drips and my fridge doors hold just what I need for daily use. I never thought of freezing portions straight off after cooking them but I will now. My baby bird flew away to Minnesota and with just the two of us this would be more practical. Kudos for all the great advice given here!

I agree about using leftover ingredients for a frittata! Stir frys are also great for that :)

Whats a frig? I'm a working collage student, I don't have time to cook my own meals each day. I don't have a frig I have a wonderful freezer!!! :) extra big. Every few weeks I get three days off in a row, I go to my mothers since she has a really BIG kitchen for a BIG family. I'll spend those three days with her planning, cooking and freezing all my meals for the next 10 weeks. Sometimes more sometimes less pending on what is happening around the time of the year. All of its frozen, the bread too, all cut up into slices. Freezing some veggies make them easier to cook in soups. As for when I want some fresh foods. I hit the local farmers market or a small store that sells them cheap as I'm running driving to or from school or work. I only get what I know I will eat with in two days other wise I don't get them. Saves money, saves time, saves energy.

I definitely agree with "make a plan!" but I would also add...only buy what you need! I adopted this mentality after living in Italy for four years. Their fridges are far from being overstocked (like ours!), which inevitably forces, or should I say, encourages you to use up the ingredients in the fridge before they go bad and/or before you buy more. I'm still surprised at how many delicious recipes I've come up with by just throwing together a few (unrelated) ingredients!

I would also add that when you make a plan, think about what you have to do during the week. You don't want to plan a dinner that will take longer if you have errands to run after work. If you are eating at about a certain time every night, it will help you get into a routine.

I live alone and try hard not to waste food. I find that, instead of running out to pick up a few groceries when I think of them, if I wait a few days, I can tackle what's left my fridge and pantry that haven't been consumed. It forces me to be creative with my meals and not have a glut of "a little of this, a little of that" left over.

Since moving into my new apartment, I've started my fridge/pantry from scratch and developed two shopping lists: kitchen/pantry essentials (flour, pasta, canned and dry goods for back-up meals) and a weekly shopping list for fresh produce/bakery items, specific ingredients for that week's planned meals if I don't have it yet, as well as grocery items I go through often (almond milk being one). From this I can plan lunches and about four dinners a week, with the other three being take-out or otherwise up to my boyfriend to make :p I make sure to go through a lot of veggies when I make crock-pot meals and stir-fries, and save the weekends for clearing out older veggies into a pot of stock or fry-up (or my bearded dragon's food dish!). It seems like my fridge is good enough to keep my veggies in pretty good condition, even that bunch of Italian parsley I bought last week, so lucky me :p