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Dear Helena,
Every week or two my roommate goes to the grocery store, buoyed by good intentions, and comes back with a bunch of kale, broccoli, and other "superfoods." But then he often ends up forgetting about them. Even when he does work up the energy to cook a healthy recipe, he then ignores the leftovers and lets them grow fur in the back of the fridge. What is up with this behavior, and what is a polite way for me to stop this food waste?
—Squishy Veggies in the Crisper Drawer
Dear Squishy Veggies,
Unfortunately, the situation you describe is all too common. My informal survey asking people what food they had tossed recently generated all sorts of confessions, from "lamb chops—because they smelled funny and were turning blue" to "mango chutney that had crystallized" to "water crackers that expired in 2008." According to Jonathan Bloom, author of American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It), we're casual about tossing food because it's cheap. Bloom says: "[Currently] food represents 10 percent of our household spending. No other nation spends as little on food."
Still, the cost of all those discarded lamb chops, crackers, and jars of chutney adds up. Bloom says that every year the average four-person U.S. household wastes between $1,300 and $2,200 worth of food.
Why do we let perfectly good ingredients go bad? One problem is that many people suffer from the "recipe mentality" and think they have to get every item on an ingredient list. They then don't know how to improvise when confronted with what's leftover—whether that's half an onion, some wilting cilantro, or a partially finished tub of crème fraîche. Another problem is that when we shop a week or more in advance, we're not necessarily that good at predicting what we'll feel like eating. Psychological studies have proved as much. In one study, students were asked to pick a snack to consume in three consecutive class sessions. The first group was asked to pick all the snacks in advance. The second group chose the snacks right before they were consumed. The first group chose a much greater variety of snacks, while students in the second group were more likely to choose their favorite snack each time. The latter group enjoyed their snacks a lot more. So when you go to the store, you shouldn't delude yourself that you'll be making kale and wheat-berry soup next week. You should think about what you feel like eating for dinner tonight, and then buy a lot of it.
So what to do about the sorry state of your crisper? Don't treat your roommate to a barrage of stats on food waste. As this column has shown in the past, a boring lecture is never an effective way to change someone's behavior. But you could bring up the snack study as an interesting conversational tidbit, and nudge your roommate to draw the obvious conclusion about grocery shopping.
You could also suggest a weekly "Crisper Challenge," in which you make a clean sweep of the assorted produce in the fridge. For tips on using up wilted lettuce, for example, check out this video. You could even make it into a fun game: Who can make the better "refrigerator risotto" or soup or pasta? (The penalty for the loser might be taking out the garbage for a week.) This may help liberate your roommate from recipes.
Here's how to stop the leftovers from going moldy: Label them. It's easy for Tupperware containing something murky to be ignored at the back of the fridge. But if it's labeled "Lentil Soup with Chard and Chorizo," then it seems like a nice lunch. Also, transfer leftovers from large cooking pots and dishes into smaller and more attractive storage containers. However delicious that "refrigerator lasagne" was, the last portion is never very appealing when it's left to sit in the crusty cooking dish under an ill-fitting foil lid.
One part of the problem is the appliance industry in the US. Our fridges are way too big and especially way too deep. Finding ingredients in some fridges can be like a hunting expedition.
Joining a CSA is a good way to learn the habit of using up your ingredients. Since you don't choose your shipments it gets you thinking in lines of "What can I cook with the ingredients that I have."
I've heard this referred to as 'find dining'. i.e. making something awesome out of whatever you find in your fridge.
I use an 3-tier plate rack/hordeurve server on my kitchen prep table to display all perishables that do not absolutely require refrigeration. That way when i walk in the kitchen i get a daily reminder of what fruits and vegetables i need to incorporate into each meal that day. Other than lettuce, spinach and tomatoes things dont go bad anymore because i dont have a chance to forget about them in...+READ
I use an 3-tier plate rack/hordeurve server on my kitchen prep table to display all perishables that do not absolutely require refrigeration. That way when i walk in the kitchen i get a daily reminder of what fruits and vegetables i need to incorporate into each meal that day. Other than lettuce, spinach and tomatoes things dont go bad anymore because i dont have a chance to forget about them in the crisper-COLLAPSE
I just throw out my roommates food without asking. If it's moldy, it doesn't belong in the fridge. I'd love to NOT have to clean the fridge, but it's a behavior that's hard to change. No one has complained so far. Probably because they don't even remember they had what I threw out.
On a totally different tack, one could quiz the offender on what he wanted to do with the stuff while it was still usable, and incorporate it into ones own recipes if he had no further use for the stuff. Stretch one's own food dollars and prevent waste in one action.
When I go to the farmer's market, I make a list of all the perishables I bought and stick it on the fridge. Much easier to remember what you bought and enjoy it so you don't find those gorgeous french breakfast radishes 3 weeks later hiding under a bag of lemons. When they aren't so gorgeous anymore.
I've always liked shopping for just a couple of days worth of food. Now that I'm having to take the bus to go grocery shopping, it's made the process that much more concise, because I'm learning how much I can carry. We get the idea that it will be cheaper to buy in bulk, but my food tastes vary so much, there's not much besides pasta that I can see eating over and over again.
I like the idea of...+READ
I've always liked shopping for just a couple of days worth of food. Now that I'm having to take the bus to go grocery shopping, it's made the process that much more concise, because I'm learning how much I can carry. We get the idea that it will be cheaper to buy in bulk, but my food tastes vary so much, there's not much besides pasta that I can see eating over and over again.
I like the idea of the food challenge weekly purge. Use your talents and take advantage of your roomie's food budget. Two birds, one stone.-COLLAPSE
Sharing a fridge is always hard. A weekly purge is a great idea and combining it with a food challenge could make it less of a battle. I guess it depends on the roommates. I've lived with some people that I cooked with and for all the time and others that lived separate lives. Both have advantages. Food waste is a complicated issue. It's embarrassing for people to see their healthy goals...+READ
Sharing a fridge is always hard. A weekly purge is a great idea and combining it with a food challenge could make it less of a battle. I guess it depends on the roommates. I've lived with some people that I cooked with and for all the time and others that lived separate lives. Both have advantages. Food waste is a complicated issue. It's embarrassing for people to see their healthy goals mouldering in the crisper. Same with those great recipes that just didn't hit the spot. I think less said is better and to try to come up with household solutions that don't point fingers.-COLLAPSE
Why not ask Helena?
The secret to using up leftovers is skipping them for one night then devouring them the next. It's boring to have the same meal two nights in a row.
Why does there have to be a roundabout way to tell your roommate to clean the fridge?
Maybe instead of buying separate groceries you should pool your funds. Less food in the fridge overall and everyone having equal dibs on the items makes it more likely to actually get eaten.