I love leftovers, but sometimes it’s hard to eat them all. You run out of time before you can finish all of it. As a matter of fact, according to a new study, the food I eat the most is the food that is hardest to use up.
That’s according to a study that was commissioned by Hello Fresh. The survey shows that about one-third of us don’t eat leftovers mainly because we forget about them. The uneaten foods find their way to some out-of-view location in the refrigerator in some unmarked and unidentified container only to be discovered long after it’s too late.
The waste isn’t limited to leftovers. Condiments don’t last forever, but they do last a long time. However, there are certain condiments and ingredients that we use so infrequently that there’s no way we could ever use them up before we deem them unacceptable for human consumption.
The study found that “23% of people who go grocery shopping wind up purchasing at least five food items a week that they wish they could get in smaller quantities, like bunches of grapes or strands of herbs.” Sadly, “a fifth of respondents shared that they often overestimate how much food they’ll use when grocery shopping.”
Then there are the perishable foods that we could finish, but we almost never do. The survey found that these are the top six foods that are the “hardest ingredients/foods to use up.”
This seems totally accurate, as I mentioned, the number one item is the one food that I eat the most, but still seem to waste a lot of it.
6. Avocados
My daughter loves avocado on toast, so I usually buy these in a six-pack. We usually wasted one of two every week, but it’s better than not having enough. That fits right in with the fact that 17% of all avocados are wasted.
Avocados at a H-Mart grocery store. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
5. Bread
Sometimes it’s hard to finish all the bread before it gets moldy. It depends on how many sandwiches the make a week. If the kids have a few days off of school it throws off the whole bread slice weekly estimate.
An exhibitor shows different types of bread during the Bakery Showcase 2023 held at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on May 14, 2023. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua via Getty Images)
4. Apples
These are really hard to predict each week. Fortunately, apples can be used in several different ways. In a salad, by itself, in a pie, and even in cereal.
Apples for sale at a local market in Taranto, Italy. Photographer: Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg via Getty Images
3. Milk
OMG, milk! It’s the worst when you drink mild by accident that’s gone bad. If you don’t check the date or give it a smell it can ruin a bowl of cereal or a cup of coffee. There’s also the mistake of buying milk when you already have lots of it. Then you’re looking for ways to drink it up before it gets sour.
Four cartons of various types of milk (Photo by Nate Parsons/The The Washington Post via Getty Images)
2. Bananas
Our family eats a lot of bananas, but we always seem to throw a few out every week. It’s almost the perfect snack! It’s cheap, prewrapped, and lets you know in an obvious way that it’s gone bad.
Bunches of Dole bananas at an H-Mart grocery store. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
1. Lettuce
I eat a lot of salad, and I love the salad kits or premade bags of salad. One of the things I appreciate is that the expiration date on those bags is usually spot on. Leftover lettuce from a sliced up head of lettuce is the food that gets wasted the most.
Lettuce grows under artificial lights on an automated growing rack at a Bowery farm in Maryland. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
