5 ms·

I’ve been thinking this for a while, but always thought the problem wasn’t overestimation of food needs, but rather aversion to making more frequent grocery tri

• tonyedgecombe 7y ago
  I suspect it's mostly about planning, if you walk in the supermarket without knowing what you need then you will probably come out with too much.
  • benj111 7y ago
    It's quite a hard problem when you think about it. You're keeping track of potentially 100+ items, all need storing differently, all go off at different speeds, and you need to predict when you'll need more. You're basically running a shop in your head. Seen in that light, just as it's not advisable to try and run a business in your head, it shouldn't be advisable to try and run your kitchen the same way.
    • rdtwo 7y ago
      To solve the problem you would essentially need to keep a list of when things were put in and when they will spoil. But then you have the secondary problem of figuring out how to combine existing near spoiled ingredients into meals.
      • benj111 7y ago
        "combine existing near spoiled ingredients into meals." How do you think the Hawaiian pizza was invented? Edit: More seriously, a meal plan can help. Check the fridge to see what needs using, write a meal plan based on that, write a shopping list based on the plan. Not onerous when you get used to it.
  • MichaelApproved 7y ago
    Exactly this. Most people have enough of a routine that they can predict what they'll be eating for the week. Plan the meals for the week before you go shopping then make a list of what you'll need for those meals. Buy only from that list.
    • war1025 7y ago
      We don't even have a list. We just always take the same path through the store and know what we need to pick up at each spot along the way. The only thing that really throws us off is if we end up eating out with friends once or twice and then our "snacking" food runs out faster than our "meal" food. Usually we base our grocery trips on when we run out of milk though, which happens pretty predictably.
• zip1234 7y ago
  Living in the suburbs means people often aren't super close to grocery stores.
  • war1025 7y ago
    Must be different sorts of suburbs than the ones I'm familiar with. Most of the bedroom communities around here have grocery stores, restaurants, etc. since that is where people are when they aren't at work. I always heard it was the inner city people and the rural people that didn't have grocery stores easy to get to.
    • JoeAltmaier 7y ago
      Its half an hour for met to get the a grocery on the edge of the next town. But really, it is any easier to get across midtown for a city dweller? Congestions drops geometrically with distance from the city center, at least in Midwestern towns. So I barely see a car until I'm almost to the store.
      • adrianN 7y ago
        In all cities where I have lived there were several supermarkets within walking distance.
    • Loughla 7y ago
      Rural living here: I always find the conversations around 'meal planning' or just trip planning in general fascinating. We're 30-45 minutes away from the nearest store, let alone grocery store or supermarket. We make 1 trip every 2 weeks to stock up on groceries, and often plan the entire month in advance. We grow and can our own vegetables, because fresh vegetables are too far away and don't store as well long-term. The push for meal planning, I'm now realizing, is weird to me because we've always done that. That it is a function of the physical space I occupy has never occurred to me.
      • novaRom 7y ago
        Where do you live? 45 minutes is like 50-100 km up to a nearest store?
• jbattle 7y ago
  We have three kids and the amount each of them eat varies wildly from day to day. Sometimes they are fighting over who gets the swipe the last sauce out of the pot, other days they are "not hungry" and hardly eat anything. So some days we have a lot of leftover. I suppose if we had like 100 kids then the variances would probably average out and we'd waste far less leftovers. I'll bring that idea up with the spouse.
  • roland35 7y ago
    Kid Feeding as a Service! KFaaS
  • astura 7y ago
    I mean... I don't blame them, I'm an adult and the amount I eat varies a lot from day-to-day depending on how fast I fill up.
  • reubenswartz 7y ago
    "Dad, we need way more X!" "Are you sure? That seems like a lot..." "Yes-- we ate all of it in 2 days last week." "Well, OK." ... A week later, 90% of X is still sitting there. I try not to get too upset, because I remember doing the same thing when I was a kid. I'm better at predicting what I will actually eat these days.
• nkozyra 7y ago
  Stocking up is generally a smarter choice economically and I'm not sure more frequent trips helps reduce waste. In a place like NYC it's a little better because you're limited by how much you can carry. A daily trip to the grocery store/bodega is physically limited and I'd very often get just what my family of three needed. The right balance is making a very specific meal/snack plan and going once a week (or less frequently if possible) and not going back throughout.
• hirundo 7y ago
  It's the opposite for me. I grocery shop once a week and seldom eat away from home. It helps that the nearest supermarket is almost a two hour round trip. As a result I eat what I buy each week or have to eat canned or dried foods, which I don't much like. So I waste little of the food in the fridge. Most of my food waste is avocados, which seem to be ripe for about 5 minutes before spoiling.
  • moate 7y ago
    I've found that putting them in the fridge JUST before they're ripe and pulling them out a few hours before you need them is the best way to go. That, or mashing them up ahead of time and freezing. Avocados freeze very well due to their specific make up.
• nradov 7y ago
  Well grocery store trips are a time consuming hassle (and I have a decent grocery store within walking distance). So it makes sense to save time by stocking up, even if that results in a little food waste.