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Now, let’s take a look at our plan for grocery shopping. Save money, time, and food by sticking to the plan you make and being intentional about the foods you buy (or don't buy).
Make your grocery list
Make sure your grocery list is ready before you visit the store or fill up your online cart. Write a list when you create your meal plan, add any go-to staples for snacks, and include the quantity of ingredients you need.
Do you need one lime or five? Will you use a whole carton of milk when the recipe only calls for a cup? Be thoughtful about the amount you need to reduce waste in the week to come.
Shop your cupboards, fridge, and freezer first to be sure you won’t be buying something you already have. Help yourself by grouping items on your list where they are in the store.
Get tips and a template for your grocery list from the EPA, or check out reviews of the 10 best grocery shopping list apps.
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Grocery stores benefit by getting you to buy more, but coming home with food you don't have a plan to use can lead to both wasted food and money.
Take a few simple steps to counteract the smart marketing techniques:
- Eat a snack or meal before shopping to reduce impulse buying.
- Once you get to the store, choose a basket or a small cart to reduce the space for extra items.
- Keep checking your grocery list to remind you of what you intended to buy and don’t stray from it. Remember, a buy-one-get-one sale isn’t a good deal if half of what you bought ends up in the compost bin!
- Check to see if the sale requires you to buy multiple items. If it doesn’t say, for example “when you buy three,” you can buy one item and still get the deal.
- Produce sold by weight means you can take more or less, so break up that bunch of bananas or get that cabbage cut in half at the deli counter.
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To stay on task at the grocery store, choose these actions in the shopping category:
- Stick to your grocery list
- Scrutinize deals
Stop Food Waste Challenge partners are hosting several events throughout the challenge. Find a full list of events here.
Stop food waste with your freezer
Wednesday, August 16 from 6 to 7 p.m.
Mississippi Market Co-op, 1500 West 7th Street, Saint Paul
Join Madeline Summers for a demonstration on freezing different fruits, veggies, grains, and whole meals. You will learn how to use the freezer to stop food waste, save money, and set yourself up for easy, tasty meals.
Sample three recipes and walk away with how-to guides to use the information you learn at home! This class has a $5 fee (participants will receive a $5 off $25 coupon at the class!).
Register for the in-person demonstration.
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Stop food waste with your pressure cooker
Monday, August 21 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Hosted by Mississippi Market Co-op virtually on Zoom
Join Kirsten Madaus to learn tips and tricks for using your pressure cooker to reduce waste in your home and provide tasty meals for yourself and others. Explore how we can use leftovers in the fridge and a pressure cooker to make grain bowls. This recipe is flexible and highly customizable to use up the seasonal bounty. This class is free.
Register for the webinar.
Stop Food Waste Challenge tips
When you’re on your dashboard, remember to check out the impacts page to see the effect of our actions. So far during this challenge, our 572 participants have completed 1,619 actions that have resulted in:
- Over 740 pounds of food waste prevented
- Nearly 1,500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions avoided
- 414 zero-waste meals consumed
- 940 minutes spend learning
Keep it up! The impacts will continue to grow as everyone completes more actions.
Lakewinds Food Co-op
Here’s what Stop Food Waste Challenge partner Lakewinds Food Co-op had to say about why they care about preventing food waste:
"Food waste and food miles are major concerns for community-owned grocery stores like ours. Food waste contributes to increased methane gasses in landfills, increased greenhouse gasses, and inequity in the food system. Together we can have a meaningful, positive impact on the communities we call home by reducing food waste."
Mississippi Market Co-op
Here’s what Stop Food Waste Challenge partner Mississippi Market Co-op had to say about why they care about preventing food waste:
"Mississippi Market's mission is to empower our diverse communities to be healthy, make choices that help sustain our planet, and create a more just local economy. We believe that preventing food waste can help to fulfill all three of those goals. Our commitment to food rescue helps us as a business to prevent a significant amount of healthy organic food from entering the waste stream, and we are committed to creating opportunities to learn together about how we can individually and communally stop food waste."
Wednesday, August 2: Get to know what you throw
Friday, August 4: Meal planning to waste less and save more
Monday, August 7: Keeping track of the food you buy
Wednesday, August 9: Lower your "foodprint"
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