You can save time, food, and money with this super simple organization method, and all you'll need is a whiteboard.
A Redditor dedicated to a r/ZeroWaste lifestyle shared their way of staying organized, calling it the "best thing I ever did to reduce food waste."
They bought a magnetic whiteboard to put on their fridge to track the food they have that is ready to eat. They explained: "This helps us keep track of what we have finished easily, we can also add a cooking date so we know what to eat sooner … It felt silly and wasteful to buy this extra item but we have reduced our food waste by probably around 80%."
All you need is a magnetic whiteboard, but you can also use blue masking tape and Sharpie, as some chefs recommend. Write down ingredients, meals, and expiration dates, so you can easily know what to cook and when to cook it. You'll cut down on food waste and save money by doing so.
Food waste is a huge problem.
Globally, we waste "about 2.5 billion tons of food every year," according to Recycle Track Systems (RTS). The United States is the biggest offender, discarding "more food than any other country in the world: nearly 60 million tons — 120 billion pounds — every year. That's estimated to be almost 40 percent of the entire U.S. food supply," per RTS.
Looking for other ways to cut down on food waste? Do more with your leftovers, freeze your extra food, and compost your food scraps.
Other social media users have shared hacks for reducing food waste, including using ice trays to properly portion food and using fruit cups to freeze onions.
Commenters loved how simple, cheap, and helpful this idea was.
"That's a great idea," one user said. "I use a shopping/pantry app for this, the thing reminds me that things are going to expire, and I can see at a glance what is in the pantries/fridge/freezers."
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Bought more than I could eat 🛒 "I do this too! I have a freezer and a fresh column so we don't overbuy and use up what we have," another commenter shared.
"Great idea! I bought some dry-erase contact paper and put it on my deep freezer and garage fridge to keep track of what I have out there," a third Redditor wrote.
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