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I have a pet peeve when it comes to wasted food that I thought I'd mention here in case any restaurant workers are reading (particularly in the Santa Monica area, hint hint...)

For health reasons, I don't eat processed carbs. This means things like rice, bread, etc., of course as well as sweets. I can't tell you how much food I've felt guilty of wasting because even though I placed my order with "no rice" or "no toast" or "you can hold that cute little complimentary muffin," the server or kitchen gave it to me anyway.

That plate on the top left there, with the spuds and biscuit left behind? Could have been mine, except in my case I would have eaten every last bit of the eggs :)

seriously? to waste less food you eat less? that makes no sense. maybe you buy less, or prepare less, but what does eating less have to do with wasting food?

LegsBattaglia, I think they mean that as a culture we tend to overeat, so only eating enough to sustain you, instead of overeating would definitely conserve resources.

I've been trying to pay more attention to the veggies in my fridge. I often forget about them and they go bad, same with softer cheeses (never a problem with parmesan). The goal is now to buy meat when it's on sale and freeze it and buy veg once a week, saving the hardier veg for later in the week. I did well this week. With luck and planning, I'll continue to do well.

I also keep sliced bread in the freezer since it's nice to have around but not something I use up quickly.

Wasted food is a pet peeve of mine. I tend to cook more food than we can eat in one meal, so I package up the leftovers. Some are frozen for "tv dinners" and others are put in the fridge. We have 1-2 "leftover nights" per week, where we methodically work through the fridge to eat up all the previous meals.

Additionally, I try to find some creative ways to use the parts of foods we normally throw away. When I get beets, for example, I use the roots in 1-2 meals, the greens in another meal or two, and then the stems also get eaten (in quiche, stir fry, etc). Pumpkin, same thing - I use the innards to make pumpkin butter, seeds for roasting, peel is pureed and frozen into 1 tablespoon cubes (some recipes call for x cups plus y tablespoons pumpkin puree), I drain the puree and make a pitcher of pumpkin juice, and then of course the regular mash.

Also, I suck at composting so I have to be more creative about using up each part so nothing goes to waste.

And like Tiamat, I freeze the store-bought bread.

I recently found another blog about food waste. I like that it gives me ideas on how to be more responsible, especially with leftovers and other things within my control.

http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/

I have to say, it really bugs me that portion sizes are so big in this country. Short of ordering off menu or asking for certain items to be withheld (which as chez shoes notes, is often ignored), anyone who doesn't want to overeat and who can't take a to-go box is obligated to waste a lot of food.

Meal planning is big help to avoid wasting food. I've also stopped eating salad at home. It goes bad quicker than I can eat it.