With grocery prices up 10 % in the past year and much more than that on some grocery items, no one wants to waste food.
But a new report finds that many of us are doing just that every week.
Almost half of the food in your grocery store’s produce section gets thrown away: as much as 100 billion pounds of it every year in the US, according to the USDA.
Now a new survey by meal kit company Hello Fresh finds the foods thrown away most.
- Carrots, often linger in the fridge for months.
- Milk, which we don’t drink as much as we used to.
- Eggs, despite egg-inflation, with 4-dollar cartons.
- Deli meat, because we buy too much and don’t eat it.
- Bread, which goes stale in a few weeks.
- Apples, because they sit in the fridge for months.
- Bananas, because no one wants brown ones.
And finally, lettuce, which wilts in a few days.
Finally, one of the most expensive items we throw away: Beef. At $15 a pound for most steak, Hello Fresh says it’s still one of the most wasted items. That’s because steak lasts just 3 to 5 days in the fridge before going bad.
Chefs suggest you buy beef just one day before you plan to cook it up, Not with your weekly grocery trip.
Otherwise, by the time you fire up that grill, it may be brown and inedible. That way you don’t waste your money.
