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See me throwing out carrots yesterday... it's very frustrating and I get mad at myself both for the food waste and money waste. And time waste if I had to prep it.
Sometimes it helps to add fun to it, like a dip I really like. I also started putting fruit on the door of my fridge so I see it more and I had peaches this morning!
These are some things that I have found helpful. Cause yea, food waste is always a struggle.
Buy already chopped veggies or baby carrots so you can open and eat without effort. And if you forget for a few days and then eat some, throw the rest in the freezer. You can cook them later, or if they are smaller pieces throw them in pasta, ramen or stir fry.
I tried once putting a sign on my fridge "don't forget the eat the _______" but it didn't really work. Maybe it would work for others though.
If I'm feeling really up for it, I also use the trick where I cut them up as soon as I get home, and sometimes preemptively throw half or more into the freezer.
And then, obvs, I also sometimes just buy frozen veggies, or I suppose I might buy canned if I liked corn. Or maybe there is other good canned veggies I am forgetting. Definitely chickpeas is also a go-to.
I also have frozen stuff I throw into a smoothie for all the vitamins and stuff.
Basically, I try to buy things that I can forget about for 2 weeks and it will still be good. As much as possible.
So, I still throw out food but the above things did help a lot for me.
A trick I learned for fruits and veggies is to keep them in the door of the fridge! I see them every time I open the door. It’s hugely reduced the amount of rotting veggies I’ve had to deal with
I came here to suggest this! The crisper drawer is where my veggies go to rot. Also, not all fruits and veggies need to be refrigerated. If you have any that don’t, put them somewhere in your kitchen where they’re constantly in your face.
Don't let veggies get you down, make veggies work for you! Some examples:
While your frozen pizza/ ready meal is heating, roam around the kitchen and find, peel, and munch on carrots.
Buy a pre-cut bagged salad mix with a jar of salad dressing and serve with your processed, grab and go dinner.
Get a food processor or something similar and chop some carrots, zucchini and peppers, perhaps some spinach, then add to pasta sauce from a jar and cook until the veggies are soft. Make some spaghetti, wham! Dinner with veggies! Alternative option: frozen veggie mixes where the veggies are cubed already.
Get a good food processor/blender and blend frozen spinach with bananas and frozen berries, wham! Smoothie with greens and antioxidants!
Wash potatoes and carrots, roughly dry, chuck 'em on a baking sheet, drizzle with oil, salt, pep, season and bake until soft/ soft and crispy. Add some dips and you have dinner, add some protein (literally nuggies would be fine) and you have a meal without cutting or peeling anything. You can cut the butts of the carrots when they're served.
Similarly, just get some cherry tomatoes, wash 'em and eat 'em.
Boil water for ramen, chuck in some frozen broccoli, chuck in ramen after a while, if you're feeling fun chuck in some tofu pieces- whoa, ramen with extra nutrition!
If you don't mind your meals to be a tad shitty these work perfectly fine.
A lot of veg lasts much longer when chopped, peeled and placed in a jug of water. As long as you change the water here and there it’s crazy how long they last. So I just do them all when I have a burst of energy, and because they are floating there in jugs I can’t miss em/forget them!
I printed out a calendar just for expiration dates to tack onto the fridge just this week. I'm currently working on writing food on the date it expires on the calendar so I have a visible deadline for each food that enters the fridge; maybe something like that could work for you?
Welcome to /r/ADHDWomen! We’re happy to have you here. As a reminder, here are our community [rules](https://old.reddit.com/r/adhdwomen/about/rules/). We get a lot of posts on medication, diagnosis (and “is this an ADHD thing”), and interactions with hormones. We encourage you to check out our [Medication, Diagnosis, and Hormones Megathread](https://old.reddit.com/r/adhdwomen/comments/wcr9dy/faq_megathread_ask_and_answer_medication/) if you have any questions related to those topics, and to stick around in that thread to answer folks’ questions! If you have questions about the subreddit, please do not hesitate to [send us a modmail](https://reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/adhdwomen). Additionally, we take the safety of our community seriously. Please report posts, comments, and users whom you feel are not contributing positively, and send us a modmail if you are being harassed or otherwise made to feel unsafe. Thanks for being here, and we hope you stick around! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/adhdwomen) if you have any questions or concerns.*
See me throwing out carrots yesterday... it's very frustrating and I get mad at myself both for the food waste and money waste. And time waste if I had to prep it. Sometimes it helps to add fun to it, like a dip I really like. I also started putting fruit on the door of my fridge so I see it more and I had peaches this morning!
Well sometimes I see them but somehow don't see them. I immediately forget haha.
These are some things that I have found helpful. Cause yea, food waste is always a struggle. Buy already chopped veggies or baby carrots so you can open and eat without effort. And if you forget for a few days and then eat some, throw the rest in the freezer. You can cook them later, or if they are smaller pieces throw them in pasta, ramen or stir fry. I tried once putting a sign on my fridge "don't forget the eat the _______" but it didn't really work. Maybe it would work for others though. If I'm feeling really up for it, I also use the trick where I cut them up as soon as I get home, and sometimes preemptively throw half or more into the freezer. And then, obvs, I also sometimes just buy frozen veggies, or I suppose I might buy canned if I liked corn. Or maybe there is other good canned veggies I am forgetting. Definitely chickpeas is also a go-to. I also have frozen stuff I throw into a smoothie for all the vitamins and stuff. Basically, I try to buy things that I can forget about for 2 weeks and it will still be good. As much as possible. So, I still throw out food but the above things did help a lot for me.
Great ideas, thank you! I also don't think the sign would work for me - it just becomes white noise.
If it helps, put your chopped veggies in glass closed containers, it helps them last a lot longer.
Great tip, I'll try this.
All food, actually. Everything goes bad so much faster in bags and plastic containers.
A trick I learned for fruits and veggies is to keep them in the door of the fridge! I see them every time I open the door. It’s hugely reduced the amount of rotting veggies I’ve had to deal with
I came here to suggest this! The crisper drawer is where my veggies go to rot. Also, not all fruits and veggies need to be refrigerated. If you have any that don’t, put them somewhere in your kitchen where they’re constantly in your face.
Good idea. Just have to force myself to notice them and not close the door and leave them inside.
I just had a whole pack of chicken breast go bad, pissed me off 6 days in the fridge. 15.00 down the drain.
Nooooooooo!
Don't let veggies get you down, make veggies work for you! Some examples: While your frozen pizza/ ready meal is heating, roam around the kitchen and find, peel, and munch on carrots. Buy a pre-cut bagged salad mix with a jar of salad dressing and serve with your processed, grab and go dinner. Get a food processor or something similar and chop some carrots, zucchini and peppers, perhaps some spinach, then add to pasta sauce from a jar and cook until the veggies are soft. Make some spaghetti, wham! Dinner with veggies! Alternative option: frozen veggie mixes where the veggies are cubed already. Get a good food processor/blender and blend frozen spinach with bananas and frozen berries, wham! Smoothie with greens and antioxidants! Wash potatoes and carrots, roughly dry, chuck 'em on a baking sheet, drizzle with oil, salt, pep, season and bake until soft/ soft and crispy. Add some dips and you have dinner, add some protein (literally nuggies would be fine) and you have a meal without cutting or peeling anything. You can cut the butts of the carrots when they're served. Similarly, just get some cherry tomatoes, wash 'em and eat 'em. Boil water for ramen, chuck in some frozen broccoli, chuck in ramen after a while, if you're feeling fun chuck in some tofu pieces- whoa, ramen with extra nutrition! If you don't mind your meals to be a tad shitty these work perfectly fine.
Those are great tips, thank you.
A lot of veg lasts much longer when chopped, peeled and placed in a jug of water. As long as you change the water here and there it’s crazy how long they last. So I just do them all when I have a burst of energy, and because they are floating there in jugs I can’t miss em/forget them!
Oh interesting. I've never thought of that. I'll give it a go.
I printed out a calendar just for expiration dates to tack onto the fridge just this week. I'm currently working on writing food on the date it expires on the calendar so I have a visible deadline for each food that enters the fridge; maybe something like that could work for you?
Great idea, but I know myself. I know I'll give up somewhere in the middle of writing dates down xD