your a saver, im guessing your not wasteful?

[97guns]

i hate wasting things especially food, in my eyes its throwing away dollars. am i overthinking saving?

[rennigade]

unless free food magically appeared out of thin air then yes...spending money on food that you throw away is wasting money

this has been discussed before and there are several members who have said they are making an effort not to throw as much food away as they did in the past. i think disneysteve was one of them if i remember correctly

[disneysteve]

Yep, that was me, and it's still something we struggle with. We have been better overall about using leftovers and using stuff up before it expires. Still, I know we throw away more food (i.e. dollars) than we could.

It always annoys me when I see people wasting stuff. I used to work with a woman who would toss the tissue box when it was down to the last 5 or 6 tissues or replace the toilet paper roll before it was empty. I could see putting the new box or roll there but not throwing away what remained of the old one.

[DaveInPgh]

This is a source of frustration in my household. I am typically the one that will go through the cupboard to organize it, and without fail I end up finding things that have expired. Also far too often it is requested that I buy a particular fruit or snack item that eventually gets wasted. It has been a topic here multiple times this year.

[AJ444]

Don't make a point to be wasteful but occasional have something in the fridge that expires. Doesn't hit the bottom line much but I don't like being wasteful.

[DaveInPgh]

What drives me completely insane is people (especially parents) wasting food at parties. Especially when it results in the host running out of something. Loading up a plate a food they know little Jimmy isn't going to actually eat, then tossing it in the trash like it is no big deal.

My sister like that and it infuriates me even more because we were not raised that way. Whether it made it on our plate by our choosing or not, we were expected to eat it.

#endrant

[sv2007]

i hate wasting things especially food, in my eyes its throwing away dollars. am i overthinking saving?

Food is special in that we don't ever want to waste it. I've been raised with the idea that a lot of effort has been put into the food that's on the table and the hungry people in the world. So even if the food is free, it shouldn't be wasted. I teach my kid this as well.

Which brings up some funny memories. I cook every now and then. But sometimes the food I cook don't come out as expected/imagined. One efficient way to share these interesting food is bringing them into meetings as surprise treats. It goes pretty quick with everybody eating a few bites and comments are always good too. That just goes to show you: food taste is like beauty -- in the month of the beholder. Although sometimes I had to just throw out the dishes when they come out too interesting.

[bjl584]

I try to throw away as little as possible when it comes to food. Sometimes I might keep food a little too long.

I tend to keep other items till the bitter end as well.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Really try to not waste food. I order split meals for kids when we go out and often I order something to share with my kids or nothing so I can eat their leftovers.

I don't get parents at all who order meals for their kids or make plates of food at people's houses and then throw the entire thing away. OMG it's disgraceful.

Give your kid a small portion at someone's house and if they eat then give them more. Seriously. Or take home the leftovers they haven't touched!

[sv2007]

I tend to keep other items till the bitter end as well.

That's a thing my wife do. I don't know if it can be changed.

I tried to change her by telling her to imagine that there's a storage cost associated with everything. It if doesn't get used often neough, then the storage cost will become higher than the re-purchase cost. So far, it hasn't worked; but it works for me. And maybe you.

[DaveInPgh]

Right before my original reply in this thread, I tossed something out that I was told I could not assign blame to. Although I did not eat the item because I knew my girls really liked it, it wasn't something that either of them specifically requested.

Not the case with what I tossed out last night. It was something my wife circled in a grocery ad and I purchased for her. I saw it in the fridge last night and was going to put it on top of her lunch container so she could take it to work. Expired 08/2015!