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Ten tips: Eat your veggies, cut back on waste

By LAURA T. COFFEY
Published April 30, 2006

Be honest about this one: How often do you end up throwing away vegetables, fruits or other food that went bad before you ate them? It's a crying shame, but these tips can help you avoid letting your money and nutritious foods go to waste.

1. BUY VEGGIES WITH STAYING POWER. If you're prone to this little problem, make a conscious decision to stock up on vegetables and fruits that last a long time before going bad, such as cabbage, carrots, squashes, beans and dried fruits.

2. EMBRACE TRANSPARENCY. Are you bad about opening that crisper drawer in your refrigerator to remind yourself of what's lurking inside? If so, start storing perishable foods in clear plastic bags or containers and placing them on shelves where you can see them.

3. SAVE THE EXTRA. Have you ever chopped up part of an onion or a pepper for a recipe, then allowed the rest of that onion or pepper to decay slowly in your fridge? Instead, chop the whole thing and freeze the part you don't use. The next time you make that meal, you'll be all set and won't have to chop anything.

4. SAY YES TO FROZEN VEGETABLES. They're good for you, they don't go bad and they're easy to prepare. For instance, you can throw frozen vegetables you enjoy into a pot of cooking pasta two minutes before the pasta is ready. Drain the veggies with the pasta, and voila! Your dinner just got that much healthier.

5. FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FOR BREAKFAST. This isn't that hard to do, even if you're insanely busy. You can mix a variety of different fruits into a quick bowl of cereal or container of yogurt. When making a more leisurely breakfast, remember to throw tomatoes and other vegetables into scrambled eggs or omelets.

6. SET YOURSELF UP TO SNACK. Drop a bunch of baby carrots, celery sticks or grape tomatoes in a plastic bag, then snack on the bag's contents throughout the day. You also can chop up fresh vegetables and fruits as healthy snacks for your kids. (They may whine, but the items likely will get eaten.)

7. KNOW YOURSELF. If a too-busy schedule truly is at the root of the problem, then prepackaged, ready-to-eat, cut vegetables and fruits may be right for you, even though they cost more. This route might make you less reluctant to prepare and eat a salad if you don't even have to pull out the cutting board.

8. BUY FRESH PRODUCE IN SEASON. Find out when fruits and vegetables are in season and buy them then. Not only will you spend less money and get fresher produce, you'll be more apt to eat it because you'll likely be in the mood for it at that time of year.

9. FIND CHEAPER FORMS OF PROTEIN. Another cost-saving move: Buy less meat and use more beans or vegetable protein substitutes such as tofu. You'll save money and work your way through your veggie stash - in this case, your bean stash - more quickly.

10. GROW YOUR OWN. It doesn't take too much effort to grow the herbs sold at the store. You'll have access to herbs at a relatively low cost, and your home or yard will look more attractive. That sure beats having a bundle of herbs slowly rot in your fridge.

Sources: Consumer Reports (www.consumerreports.org) University of Illinois Extension (www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/thriftyliving/tl-savefood.html) "The Complete Tightwad Gazette: Promoting Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle," by Amy Dacyczyn.

[Last modified April 28, 2006, 19:34:28]