Stephanie McDonald

I posted a cheat sheet on the inside of the cupboard door for different kinds of foods/labels verbiage. But in general I don't keep a lot of food around and the items with a shorter shelf life are at the front and I use first in/first out methodology. 

Similar to the plastic waste conversations, some folks think it's OK because they've been convinced by advertising that when we're done with something we just throw it away and it just disappears. "Someone" takes care of it and the general consumer doesn't have to worry. They don't know who "someone" is, exactly, nor do they know what that job description does, or how they "take care of it", just that the consumer has other things to worry about.  Also, bulk bins are scary now because of COVID-19, not that they personally would wear a mask or gloves or pay attention to a sneeze guard.  Some are worried about the amount of food that's wasted but that's how the stores package it and they don't want to hurt the managers' feelings by asking for something different. Taking waste to the organics recycling is too hard, takes too much time, is too far, too much bother, the center isn't open on Monday. Many have been programmed that only perfect food is safe to eat, all apples and cucumbers are shiny (stores can stop shining them in my world view, anyway), and in fact at the checkout they will tell you if there's a bruise or the cauliflower has a brown spot, etc. and call produce to get you a perfect whatever, so even store employees are programmed for this. A couple only wanted perfect food because using a paring knife on it took too much prep time (?) Grocers say they are doing what the people want, but I think the people want what they've been programmed to expect.  Interesting that one person won't eat an apple a bird has pecked because it's not clean, but refuses to wear a mask during COVID. On the other hand, some folks wanted links to the resources for storage or more education.  People who grow they own tomatoes or other garden veggies or have their own apple trees aren't so afraid of bruises and peck holes, but get rather grossed out at the shined up produce in the supermarkets because someone has had their hands all over the item.

Cooking greens, apples, cucumbers, leafy greens.  I spent some money and bought different containers for some of them.  There are some differences of opinion on how to store some items, so I'm doing a little experimenting to see what works for me.

Grocery shopping requires planning, which includes timing.

For me, the biggest "problem" is when the store gets a special shipment or there's a new item I'd like to try. Somewhere along the line I got it into my head that I should get 2 of the new or special shipment fruits or veggies. Generally this means something else will go to waste, so I have to decide if I'm going to alter my list for the week (delete something or buy fewer) or decide if I can freeze the item or just plain not buy the 2nd item.  Bottom line, I can't just throw things mindlessly into the cart because it's on my list and still buy something special. Shopping requires some thought.

Since not everything comes in bulk, but the store decides in what unit I can purchase, I end up freezing some items  (spinich, kale, melon/cubed, cauliflower, berries).  This is a better alternative than buying something that the store has cut up for convenience because then I have plastic waste. Other items I go to the store more often (generally twice a week) so I'm buying when I need it. This works because I'm close to a grocery store, And I can sometimes combine trips, like stopping at the store on my way home from the gym. This might not work for folks who do not have a car. If I had to take a bus 1} the bus doesn't go there from here and 2) being in the burbs, the bus only runs at rush hour and one run around noon.  Hennepin county might care to think about that. 

I find that I wasted a lot of cucumbers, kale, and spinich. Partly it's because I needed better, more visible storage options. Partly it's because I was buying "for the week", I might not need it until the end of the week, and however it was packaged in the store I had too many, some of which went south before I got to them. I'm close to a grocery store, so I can go twice a week so I'm buying closer to when I really need the item. Not sure how that would work for everybody else. Not all people are able to do that. Depending on the item, I know I'll have too much because of store packaging, so I freeze some. The little {mini} cucumbers are likely to go south because the store packaged them, I can't freeze them, so I buy a big regular cuke and figured out how to best store the thing, even partly used,  A family might be OK, but singles I think, will have a hard time. Stores package for their convenience, not mine.