I like to cook, but I can’t say that cooking for one - for dinner particularly - costs me more than going out. I can get a good meal with meat, fresh vegetables, starch & soup or salad at a local diner for about $15. But the portions are such that it almost always serves me for two to three more meals as well (doggie bag). That comes to $5 or less per meal, and no initial use of my gas or electricity. That’s not even counting the utility energy in cleanup of the means of production and serving of the meal.
Most home dinner meals I cook (other than pork chops) are batches - chili, soups, casseroles, spaghetti sauce and the like - where I get one meal initially and then the rest goes in pints or quarts into the freezer for future use. Pork chops are frozen in single zip lock bags and taken out and thawed as needed - usually one at a time. Chicken is similarly frozen immediately, or cooked immediately, Either way, when cooked there are leftovers I must religiously consume on a timely basis.
My biggest food losses are with fresh fruits and vegetables - salad greens most of all. My consumption rate never seems to match what is needed for the quantity bought before part of the purchase spoils - most of the time something spoils before I use it.
But if I am purchasing things things in a dining out fashion, I eat what I bought and nothing is leftover or thrown away.
If I were a household of 3-4 persons, I think cooking at home more often for dinner would be more efficient. In my single case I think it sometimes is not.
Do you go to the diners in the mornings for breakfast?
My biggest food losses are with fresh fruits and vegetables - salad greens most of all. My consumption rate never seems to match what is needed for the quantity bought before part of the purchase spoils - most of the time something spoils before I use it.
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There are just 2 of us. I had the same problem.
I started using the Green Bags. I have some that are a few years old (rinse and dry after each use). I never wash produce until we are going to eat it. Everything either gets wrapped in a paper towel or I place a crumpled towel into the bag of carrots/grapes, whatever. Peppers and cukes get wrapped individually. I no longer ever buy bagged slaw or salad greens. They rot too quickly. I can keep most produce for 5 weeks or more.
I cut or break off what I’m using (lettuce leaves, a portion of sweet pepper, individual mini-cukes, a bunch of grapes, part of an apple. I wash what I’m using. I re-wrap the remainder to go back in the bag (replace towel if it is soaked. Air dry towels and use for cleanup). Next time, if there is a layer of oxidation, I trim that (apples/cabbage)before wash & use. All wrapped and bagged dry produce is stored in the crisper, set for moderate air flow. The quantity of Green Bags in each drawer increases longevity.
I have rarely tossed out produce except for those I have somehow forgotten to use in a timely manner. We have side salad almost daily, but some things, like celery and grapes seem to be used less frequently. Still, I don’t have rotten messes and things last a reasonable amount of time.
I have kept individual lettuce leaves successfully by wrapping in a towel and placing in a ziplock. Keeping the moisture down is the key, but the Green Bags add longevity. If something is limp, but not rotted, it just goes in the boiling bag in the freezer to eventually become soup.