How does everyone deal with this dilemma?

I got a chest freezer for $200. I freeze everything before or on its expiration date.

Sometimes if its mushy veggies I make a stock and freeze it for the next meal. If its too far gone i have a compost jar in the kitchen and a bin outside.

I started a garden and an edible native hedge this year. I have tea herbs and squash for free now and working on a seed propagation.

I started a coop mushroom grow with my neighbors since he felled some hardwood and I had the plan. The leftover mushrooms we dont eat will be either sold at market or made into liquid cultures.

Were talking about going in on a local half cow or pig. He says if my garden keeps growing we can buy the plot behind us together and start a farm. Would cut grocery costs a lot.

My wife and I have pantry weeks where we dont go grocery shopping, we eat whats in reserve, soak dry beans, thaw last weeks on sale chicken breast and pressure Cook em, make a flatbread and have some curry.

Instant pot helps too. Thinking about getting coturnix quail to feed good scraps to and get eggs out of. I can plant cover crops for em on the last strip of lawn I have.

It doesn't have to be wasteful forever.

This happens to us - if I cook dinner for everyone, two of us eat, if I cook dinner for two of us, everyone wants to eat. If I make enough for leftovers, nobody takes them to lunch. If I don't make enough, they ask why there is not enough for lunch.

Things that help on your question though -

Canned beans, canned tomatoes, canned coconut milk, canned pumpkin, jarred spaghetti sauce, spices - a lot of our staples are not perishable.

Do you live where you can stop by the store on the way home? Then don't buy perishables for the week, buy them for the meal you are making.

Some foods and meals freeze pretty well, freeze them and keep a list of what's in the freezer so you remember to eat it.

I hate meal planning but it helps a lot. I sometimes put a note on the fridge "we have food for dal with spinach, chicken & cabbage, sheet pan gnocchi with sausage and broccoli, eggs and potatoes" or whatever we have the food to make, and cross them off as they are made.

Some foods make other foods. So if I make a hunk of pork, it's pork, rice and beans then enchiladas then burritos, and so on.

I live walking distance from 2 small super markets, I walk to those near every day and just get a few things and I also get hello fresh and I always cook those. So generally my fridge is pretty empty but I always eat well. Just in Time Home Economics you could say.

A freezer and a pantry full of canned and dried foods.

Only buy fresh meats and veggies when you are actually gonna cook.

Freeze leftovers in single portion sizes.

Eventually you’ll have a bunch of homemade frozen dinners to choose from.

It's not for everyone, or even most people probably, but I deal with it by buying virtually the same thing every week, once a week. No impulse buying. So, I eat everything I buy, every week, because I know exactly how much I eat for each meal, each week. I waste nothing. I don't need a list, I know the path through the store I will take, and I'm in and out in about 20 minutes, including checkout.

I decided to stop thinking about food as entertainment or reward, and now think of food as only nutrition (as much as I can, it's not easy, but that's the idea.)

i didn't start cooking until I got a big enough kitchen to store plates, forks, knives, spoons, glasses, cooking pans/pots&utensils, cutting boards, leftover food storage, dish towels, and food cupboards and pantry.

rentals rarely have enough for that.

but once i got enough space to have that stuff, and then saved up to buy that stuff little at a time then cooking became a lot more sensible. (middle aged bachelor)

i have recipes that i don't have to think about that create leftovers.

And that is the goal: LEFTOVERS

Leftovers are your bread and butter of saving money and not having to cook.

Meal planning is overwhelming to me, so I made a habit of rotating a selection of staple meals with fewer, more stable ingredients. PB or eggs scrambled with cheese on toast for a breakfast. A salad of chickpeas, carrot, broccoli and avocado with a whole-wheat roll, or a lentil/rice bowl, for lunch. Precook larger batches of freezer-friendly staples like chickpeas, lentils, rice, turkey burgers, meatloaf, tomato gravy - reserve 2-3 days' supply and freeze portioned batches of the rest. Allow yourself less experimental ingredient buys per grocery run - so if it turns out they don't synergize with your staples, you're not accumuating a lot of dead-end ingredients.

with pen and paper

If you don't have a good sized freezer, buy one. There are small ones that fit in any home.

Too many veggies? Chop them up and put them in quart sized containers. You can add them to any soup or stew.

I have a five quart pot; make chili/stew/soup and freeze in pint size containers.

My house has a good freezer, here's the first i searched out as an example.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Magic-Chef-3-5-cu-ft-Manual-Defrost-Chest-Freezer-in-White-HMCF35W5/313922431

I solved this by getting into a relationship with someone who genuinely loves to cook for others. I felt super guilty about it for a while but eventually got over it.

Meal prep brah, freeze that shit up

Cook in bulk for the week. Grocery shopping on Saturday, cooking on Sunday. Then all you have to do is heat things up at meal time.

*I should clarify that you only need to refrigerate, not freeze, the type of stuff I'm talking about. Works better if you're vegetarian

Buy food that you can cook in advance and reheat. Make a list of meals for the week, cook it all, then freeze it. Too tired to cook later in the week? Take it out of the freezer and reheat it.

Also, try to do recipes you can do in sequences that don't require too much dishwashing, then clean everything up at the end.

For me, I try to focus on buying stuff that will keep well, things that I can use a lot of ways, or things I have an immediate plan to use all of.

Or multiple of those things at once. Like if I get a crown of broccoli, it will only stay good in the fridge for a week or two, but I don’t need to eat it all at once, I can just take a bit at a time and add it to other things, like a soup or a pan fry, to get some green in. Frozen veggies solve the only lasting a week or two thing also.

On the other hand there’s things like canned tuna, there is only really one way I’m gonna use that, but it keeps forever in the cabinet, so no wasting fridge space, and the cans are usually small enough I can use it all at once.

Like, if it doesn’t keep well, you you wouldn't use it all at once, and you’d probably only use it for one thing, just don’t bother.

Also, like, look in to how certain things should be best stored, some things can last a lot longer if you figure that out.

Bulk make your food. I find that making cooking an "event" you do every week or so is much more manageable than trying to cook your own food each night.

I'm a big fan of soups, stews and chili. I have a large stock pot and I'll basically make one of those to where it's almost full. It can take a long time to cook that much food, but it makes tons of servings. Then I'll freeze 1/2 to 2/3 of it for future meals. I actually find these types of dishes are even better once you thaw them out. Nutrition wise it's basically a ton of veggies/beans and some meat, so fairly cheap per meal made and super nutritious.

Bodybuilder style "meal prep" is also awesome if you don't mind having the same meals multiple times a week. I like bulk making brown rice in a rice cooker along with some kind meat or fish and finally then adding in a microwave steam pack of veggies. If you have an Aldi available to you their California blend is awesome and fairly affordable for the convenience of just popping it in the microwave. Shout out to Sam's Club and Costco who both have bulk packs of frozen meat and veggies to help on cost.

It can get more complicated if you live with others who have different tastes and preferences from yourself. Another hurdle is having the ability to freeze all the excess foods. But when I was single living in my own apartment I don't think I ever ate more simply and affordably than that. Sprinkle in the occasional "treat" of some kind of takeout and you're living the good life!

E: This is obviously from a US perspective, but I'm sure my non-us counterparts can substitute in their equivalents where needed.

Freeze stuff

Walk yo and from the grocery store

Buy stuff that will last a while

Grow your own produce

Here's a tip I learned so very long ago: Never shop hungry.

That being said, I'm really careful about what I buy anyway and plan my purchases so that I end up using everything. Fresh foods can still spoil because I didn't spot a moldy spot, but that's pretty rare. Dried foods are great.

Honestly I have little good advice to give aside from awareness and planning, since I am by nature perfectionist about my food and budgeting and can't relate to the meme.

It comes down to planning meals and a certain amount of acceptance that what you've got in the house is what you eat, period, even if the specific food isn't what you're in the mood for at the moment. Fast food, doordash etc are difficult habits to break. They reward your desire to have what you want when you want it, which is a big reward, and can make living on your own food feel like a punishment by comparison. But that feeling is just part of the habit. Eventually it goes away.

Perishables take more planning. Get just enough and have a plan to use it. Use canned and frozen food to account for uncertainty. Be aware of expiration dates of your food and plan accordingly.

Start with just one recipe. When I first was getting into cooking I was buying too much making it overwhelming to open the fridge and decide what to cook. As someone else mention shoot for having leftovers. One recipe scaled for 3-4 meals that you can split into containers and throw in the microwave when you are hungry.

Stop buying so much food then.

My SO has ADHD and used to do this. I just cook for the both of us now so it's less food waste. The only issue is sometimes he doesn't like what I make :/

I found that visitng shop frequently and buying a little each time helps with this. Also, knowing what you have and planning what to cook with stock in mind. Also, one might find better to buy at small grocery stores (turkish in my area). These have ability to buy as an example 10 or less potatoes instead of fixed 2.5kg of potatoes. That way you're not bound to swiftly eat potatoes before they rot.

I buy stuff that lasts. For bread, I find that rye takes weeks longer than white or wheat to start going bad, and bagels last ages too. I make smoothies with mostly frozen fruit. For dinner stuff, if I'm not feeling like cooking I either buy things I'm going to eat in the next few days or I get these sealed precooked things from Aldi that are great and keep well. Coconut milk also tends to keep better than cow milk and lately I've realized I greatly prefer it.

About the only things that are super perishable that I keep around are bananas and avocados, and I just tend to eat these a lot. I also keep spinach or kale around for my smoothies, but I rebag them into separate smaller bags as soon as I get them. If my bananas are getting overripe, they get frozen for smoothies.

I also tend to buy canned soups, which last ages.

When I was cooking regularly I'd make a lot of chilis and pasta sauces. They're good to freeze and they keep well on their own. Chili is arguably better after freezing and having more time to develop.

You can definitely eat pretty healthy and keep plenty of food in the house without constantly chasing waste.

Buy empty deli containers and food prep at least half the meals for the week.

Clean up fridge on day off, note overstock and old stock

Plan meals for the week using the over/old stock.

Use the pickup service at the market instead of shopping so you don't buy stupid things.

When you buy raw meat, cook it within two days, even if you're just going put it back into containers, it'll last far longer.

This is probably intended to be tongue-in-cheek, but meal planning is the answer. Block off some time (Sunday evenings are popular), to figure out all your meals for the week, make a list of everything you need to make all the dishes on the menu, go to the store and buy all that stuff and nothing else, make ahead and freeze any meals that you can and do any prep work ahead of time that you can.

Viola: intentional eating, less waste, and always something on hand to eat.

It changed my life in a lot of positive ways.

A slow cooker helps. You can use random ingredients before they go bad easily enough, and you will have left overs so cooking one time results in not having to cook for multiple meals.

This is actually a real issue for a lot of people. The solution that I found is that you should sit down and write out a meal plan for the upcoming week. Like actually sit down and plan out your every meal and include snacks as well. Then write down the things you need to buy for those meals and snacks. Make sure you only put down things that you actually like eating.

When you go shopping take that list with you, and only buy the things you wrote on there and only buy amounts for the meals you're planning for. If by the end of the week, you bought too much, then that means there are meals in your planner that you don't really like. From there, you can refine your list and make improvements every week.

Planning.

We waste less by often making small trips to a local market to get just what we intend to cook for one day or evening. That may not work for everyone, but it works for us.

Easy solution. Frozen veggies + rice + meat

Meat is the only perishable so I can manage my meals around it. It helps that im happy to eat the same meal everyday with only minor variation.

Freeze your fresh bread and only defrost the amount that you're going to eat.

1. Get a big freezer. It's really surprising how much delicious stuff you can make just from frozen stuff that can last you forever. Frozen food is also often more fresh and with microwave and air fryer the prep of anything frozen is actually not very difficult.
2. Outsource as much as possible. Often it's really hard to outcompete efficient kitchens. I don't mean order Uber eats or something but there's likely a place in your vicinity that does food prep where you can take your food containers and stock up for 2-3 days. You can even freeze some dishes.

Wife and I really did the math because we feared of becoming lazy and it makes absolutely zero economic sense to cook everything at home right now unless you want to treat yourself or live in a very economically unusual places where #2 is not accessible.

Buy exactly what you need for the next N meals, easy

No. I wait until the fridge is absolutely fucking empty and I eat every goddamn thing. You ain't gonna find no expired food in my household. And I don't buy things for the hell of it, and I don't buy shit in boxes. Cook in a pan. Buy whole food. Prioritize which expires or rots the quickest. I used a cast iron that I found in the trash. I don't understand how or why people have this issue. But I guess I've been poor for all of my adult life, so. If they drafted me, I'd say take me to prison bitch, because I ain't gonna fucking die for this place. I kinda wish I was never born. People throwing away food. Gawd I hate this country.

Buy stuff you don't have to cook. It's crap nutritionally, but at least it isn't wasted!

i dont, my family always buys too much food regardkess to how many times i tell them to not

I'll only buy something perishable when I need it. I tend to cook for 3-4 days in one go in order to make cooking for only myself somewhat economical. I tend to visit the supermarket every other day so I don't really have to plan too much.

I had this issue with produce. I stopped buying it because it would just go bad before I used it.

Buy more fruit in summer and cereals in winter.

Buy freezer or shelf-stable microwave meals? You have food that way but it shouldn't really just "go bad". At least, not quickly.

Use a software/app to meal plane. (Mealie/Tandoor) You pick the recipes you fancy for the days/week/whatever period. It generates a grocery list containing exactly what is needed for the meals you chose, nothing else.

I haven't thrown away anything in a couple years now. Oh and freeze leftovers if needed.

Meal planning is number 1.

Being strict with what you buy then so you don't buy something you have no plan for.

Learn a couple of meals that you can throw anything into so you can use up veg that are just about to go off. Eg ratatouille, stew, curry, etc.

Buy a recipe book with easy one pot meals for inspiration. I find the Internet just has too much and you need to know what you're doing, plus there's just too much distraction. Sitting with a recipe book and a pen and paper to plan is way more relaxing, IME.

Alternately: I can cook 4 iems at once and have a weeks worth of food!

Day 2 update: I ate it all.

Clean-up is what stops many people. Get a good titanium no-stick pan - I like "Our Place" pans. Get individual portion meats or frozen meats or buy bulk and freeze in portions. Do the same with vegetables. Heat your seasoned pan up then put some oil in just before you put meat in. Cook meat until almost done, then add vegetables to same pan - heat them up. Serve. Let pan cool while you eat. Refrigerate left-overs. Rinse and wipe pan down. Wash dish. DONE.

Don't mourn, organise!

Hahaha! Even tankies gotta eat! (though I'm not actually a tankie. Just happened to pick .ml when I joined Lemmy)

Air fryer = 10 minute meals

I plan on escaping the cycle by ceasing existence tbh

Try premade meal replacements like huel lol.

i did not expect 9 o'clock

Due to a health diet issue I've only been buying food I can freeze. Nothing goes bad.

I suppose, if you're looking to make it more convenient, you could cook things in bulk and then freeze portions of it for later consumption.

In my household we tend to buy just enough that we know we can eat it over the course of two to three days if it is perishable foods.

If the store sells smaller packs of meat and vegetables and other perishable foods, we buy those and use them in our cooking the next few days.

We don't have a lot of freezer space and we don't have a garden, so we try and avoid bulk buying unless we know we will be able to eat it all before it goes bad. It works pretty well.

only buy stuff for what you want to eat? like if you plan on making burgers, buy the stuff. you don't need to plan for every day, because you're going to have left overs for the last two or so days.

Sell your wardrobe fridge and replace it with a small one.
If the stuff does not fit in your fridge, don't buy it.

And what @technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com said. Over here, milk comes in 1L packets with a 2 day expiry. I only buy for 2-3 days at a time and every time I go out to buy milk, I also refill groceries.

Stuff over here is not more than 10km away, so I can use a bicycle.

It’s called a freezer and lunches for the extra. Eat chicken? Batch cook that pallet- brine in about a couple of water, a bouillon cube, garlic and a bunch of salt, parsley, oregano, rosemary (to your taste), and a couple of the cheapest white wine at the grocery store if your feeling fancy or really like gravy. After a few hours or overnight, dry and throw in your oven at 400 for twenty minutes. When its out, let the chicken cool on a cutting board, slice some up and chop up the rest. You now have a baseline chicken that tastes as good as deli-quality that works well in everything from dinners, sandwiches and salads, and if you skip the rosemary, its a good stir fry addin.