According to a paper by Value Chain Management Centers, about $27 billion in food ends up in Canadian landfill and composts. It’s an important issue because a lot of resources are invested into producing food. If instead, some money was spent preventing food waste, the entire system could be more efficient and perhaps spend less money and resources.
Brian and I try to use up all the food that we buy. Very rarely do we ever throw something out uneaten because it’s gone bad. That’s the only way to make a $200 grocery budget work! But you do need to have a general sense of how long foods last.
Here’s a quick list of How long to keep things for (ish):
One to two months:
- packaged cookies (yikes.. better start chowing down)
- bacon and sausage
Less than a year:
- baking powder, brown sugar, and oils
- condensed and evaporated milk
- hot cereal, frozen soups and stews
- dried fruit, crackers
- ground meat (in the freezer)
One year:
- ketchup
- canned food
- dried products: rice, beans
- whole, uncooked meats (in the freezer)
More than one year:
- loose tea
- granulated sugar, chocolate syrup
- pasta, unpopped popcorn
- spices, vineagar
- coffee in a can
Anything I missed?
