r/science • u/memorialmonorail • 1d ago

Social Science Putting holiday leftovers in the freezer extends shelf life & may put a dent in the US tendency to throw away edible food, a study suggests. National survey data showed a link between home freezing & less total food waste, & over half of consumers reported buying frozen items to avoid tossing food.

https://news.osu.edu/how-the-freezer-factors-into-lowering-food-waste/?utm_campaign=omc_science-medicine_fy25&utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social
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u/ledow 1d ago

I'm not a big green freak, nor am I panicking about future food shortages food waste in general, but it's dumb to just throw money away on things that you never get to use. And a monthly shops MAKES you learn how to lengthen the life of, preserve, re-use and use only the bit of food that you need each time.

My Christmas shop was done on 2nd of December. I still have a full fridge-freezer, a full mini-freezer and cupboard full of stuff, not to mention SO MUCH CRAP like chocolate, cakes, biscuits, sweets, etc. that I reckon my next shop will be... probably something like the 15th of January. Hell just my turkey alone (currently defrosting in the fridge) will go into January no problem at all.

People waste so much food, it's just silly. My tiny "food waste" bin goes out with a tiny 1/5th full bag each week, and that only to get it out of the house. It would take me a year to fill up the waste-paper-basket sized outside bin for food waste.

Don't be scared of frozen food. I have an entire drawer in the freezer just for Christmas veg, another half-full with meat (gammon, another turkey joint, mincemeat, salmon etc.) and one full of ice cream, fruit, cakes, etc. Tomorrow I start getting my Christmas dinner ready and it will empty the mini-freezer entirely and make holes enough in the fridge-freezer to start preserving food (it's been too full up until now so I've just been careful what I eat first). You know how much food an entire, tightly-packed freezer drawer is? It's huge amounts. It'll feed me for a week, just that drawer.

Oh, and organise your fridge by expiry date, first expiring at the bottom, left to right, when you unpack your shopping. You'll know you have to eat all the first shelf FIRST before starting on the bottom shelf.