8 Easy Ways to Reduce Food Waste and Save Money

Meal planning isn’t just for busy families or health goals—it’s one of the easiest ways to cut down on food waste and stick to your grocery budget. When you plan your meals for the week, you can:

• Buy only what you need

• Avoid purchasing duplicate ingredients

• Use perishable items before they spoil

Start small by planning dinners for three to five days at a time. Doing so will make the process less overwhelming and will make it easier for you to focus on using up the food you already have at home. When planning your grocery purchases, apps like Instacart can help you check out prices at different retailers, streamline your grocery list, and avoid impulse purchases. 

How many times have you found forgotten produce or leftovers shoved in the back of your fridge? Designating an "Eat Me First" section is a simple, visual way to prevent good food from going to waste.

Put soon-to-expire items, opened packages, and leftovers in a clearly marked spot. This keeps them top of mind for snacks, lunches, or quick dinners. Get the whole family involved so everyone knows to check that space before reaching for new food.

Many people toss perfectly good food because of confusing expiration labels. It’s easy to see why consumers do this, but terms like “sell by,” “best by,” and “use by” are not regulated for safety on most foods. These labels are more about quality than actual spoilage, according to the USDA (source).

Here’s what they really mean:

• Sell By: Date for stores to display product—food is still safe after this

• Best By/Before: Suggests peak quality, not safety cutoff

• Use By: Often a freshness guideline, except on infant formula

Trust your senses. If it looks, smells, and tastes normal, it’s often still safe to eat. This simple awareness of how expiration labels work can prevent unnecessary waste.

Instead of tossing food scraps or small portions of leftovers, repurpose them into new meals. Even simple tricks can stretch your food and budget:

• Turn leftover veggies into soups, stir-fries, or omelets

• Use stale bread for croutons, breadcrumbs, or French toast

• Save bones, veggie peels, and herb stems for homemade broth

If you’re short on ideas, apps like SuperCook let you enter ingredients you have at home and suggest recipes to use them up.

Proper food storage can significantly extend the life of your groceries. If you’re looking to make your food last longer, these are some quick, easy adjustments to make:

• Keep herbs fresh by storing them upright in water (like flowers)

• Wrap leafy greens in paper towels to absorb moisture

• Don’t store potatoes and onions together—they spoil faster

• Freeze items like bread, cheese, or leftovers before they go bad and to preserve freshness

It’s tempting to buy in bulk or stock up during sales, but that can lead to more waste if food spoils before you use it. Be intentional when grocery shopping:

• Only bulk-buy shelf-stable or freezable items
  Avoid perishable bulk items unless you know you’ll use them in time

• Shop more frequently for fresh produce if possible

Don’t forget to use your government benefits while shopping. If you qualify for programs like SNAP or WIC, use those benefits strategically. Remember, these programs are your right—money you’ve earned—and reducing waste helps stretch those dollars even further. Each year, more than $1 billion in WIC benefits go unused because many eligible individuals don’t claim them. Plus, families often use less than 70% of their allotted food packages, overwhelmed by the program’s complexity. Lulo simplifies this process by helping you easily find WIC-approved foods, avoid checkout problems, and tap into extra savings like free diapers and cribs—all available in both English and Spanish.

Don’t wait until food is borderline spoiled to freeze it. Freezing preserves freshness, prevents waste, and ensures you always have ingredients on hand.

Freeze items like:

• Bread, tortillas, and bagels

• Cooked rice, beans, or pasta

• Meat, poultry, or fish you can’t use in time

• Chopped veggies for soups or stir-fries

• Fresh herbs in olive oil or butter cubes

Label everything you stash in the freezer with the date so you can use older items first. Regularly rotating freezer contents helps prevent forgotten food from going to waste.

Cutting down on food waste takes time—it’s a journey, not an instant fix. Begin by focusing on one or two habits, like planning your meals ahead or freezing leftovers, and gradually add more strategies as you go.

Using apps like Propel can make managing your grocery budget and SNAP benefits (SNAP users could save an average of $199 or more per month) easier, helping you keep track of your spending and savings. Watching your savings grow over time is a powerful reminder that even small changes make a big difference.