How to reduce food waste at home

1. Shop from what you have

EPA's first tip is to look in your refrigerator, freezer and pantry before you shop, so you don't buy what you already have. Then plan the week's meals and put quantities on the list: not “chicken” but “chicken thighs, 2 meals.” FDA adds a warning about bulk deals on food with a short shelf life: a second bag of spinach is only a bargain if you'll eat it.

Write down what's already open or close to its date as you check. Those items go into the first meals of the week.

2. Store it at the right temperature

A fridge thermometer is the cheapest waste-cutting tool you can buy, because the dial on many fridges isn't in degrees. Beyond the temperature, EPA suggests putting meat, poultry and fish on the lower shelves, which are the coldest; leafy greens and other produce that wilts in the high-humidity drawer; and most fruit, plus vegetables that tend to rot like mushrooms and peppers, in the low-humidity drawer. FDA says to keep eggs in their carton on a shelf, not in the door, where it's warmer.

3. First expiring, first out (FEFO), not first in, first out (FIFO)

Stores and restaurants rotate stock first in, first out: new deliveries go to the back, older stock moves forward. That works when everything on a shelf has the same shelf life. A home fridge is the opposite: a pack of chicken bought today can run out of time before a yogurt bought last week. So order by date, not by arrival. That's first expiring, first out.

Here's a real-looking fridge on a Sunday evening after the weekly shop:

FIFO says eat the cheddar first, because it's been there longest. It's the one thing in the fridge that can wait. FEFO puts the leftovers and the chicken at the top, which is what actually saves them. Plan Monday's dinner around the chili, Tuesday's around the chicken (or freeze it tonight), and use the spinach midweek.

FreshScan's home screen is built around the same idea. It sorts everything you've scanned into Use today, Next 3 days and Later, so the top of the list is always the FEFO answer. On that Sunday, the chili, the chicken and the spinach would all sit under Next 3 days, with the yogurt, milk and cheddar under Later.

Let the dates do the sorting. Scan each package as you put it away; FreshScan reads the printed date and lists everything by what's due first. Leftovers without a label can be added with a date by hand.

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4. Give “use first” food its own shelf

FDA's tip is to “create a designated space in your fridge for foods that you think will be going bad within a few days.” A shallow bin at eye level works well. Every time you open the fridge you see what needs eating, and when you're deciding what to cook, you start there. Keep raw meat out of it; that stays on the bottom shelf. Once a week, while you check what you have before shopping, move anything with two or three days left into the bin.

5. Freeze before the date, not after

EPA's advice is to “befriend your freezer and visit it often.” Bread, sliced fruit, meat and leftovers you won't eat in time all freeze well. FDA notes that food kept at 0°F is safe indefinitely and that freezer times are for quality only, so the freezer buys you weeks or months. Do it while the food is still good: on or before a freeze-by date, or within the fridge time for fresh meat. Label containers with what's inside and the date you froze it; EPA recommends clear containers so you can see what you have.

6. Know what the date on the package means

Many people throw food out on the printed date when it's still fine. USDA describes best-by as a quality date, sell-by as a date for the store, and use-by as the last date for peak quality (a safety date only on infant formula). None of those mean the food turns bad the next morning if it's been stored properly. But the date isn't a promise either: food that smells, looks or feels off should go, whatever the label says. When in doubt, throw it out. The date labels guide covers each phrase, and the shelf life chart covers how long foods keep after opening.

Track what you throw away

For one week, write down everything you throw out and roughly what it cost. Patterns show up fast: the same bag of salad every week, or bread that goes stale before it's finished. EPA's 2025 data says meat is the most expensive category of household food waste, at about $133 per person per year, so a single forgotten pack of steaks can outweigh a lot of wilted herbs.

Put your week's total into the food waste cost calculator to see it as a yearly figure, and compare it with the national averages. In FreshScan, marking items Used it or Threw it away keeps the same tally for you.

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