Food waste is a huge problem in Canada with a report from the United Nations suggesting that the average Canadian wastes 79 kilograms of food at home per year. Finding ways to reduce your home’s food waste is something we all need to work on. See below for seven easy ways to reduce your home’s food waste.

1. Create and stick to a shopping list. Plan your meals and food needs before you go to the grocery store. This helps avoid over-buying.
2. Utilize the freezer. Freeze goods whenever possible to ensure they last as long as possible.
3. Don’t throw away leftovers. Store in the fridge and eat later or consider creating new meals with those leftovers.
4. Keep your fridge neat. Avoid over-filling your fridge and try to make it easy to see what you have.
5. Ideally, you shouldn’t be forced to push food around too much in order to see what you have.
6. Keep an eye on expiration dates. Note dates down or store food by expiration date (i.e. soon-to-expire foods in the front of your pantry).
7. Store your food properly. Do the research and store foods in order to ensure freshness and longevity.
8. Support local. Buy from local producers whenever possible.