Steps To Cook Smarter

When you're busy, hungry and in a rush, a trip to the grocery store can quickly turn into a series of impulse buys, leaving you with unhealthy junk food or too many perishable items that might wind up in the garbage. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency, American consumers toss 21% of the food they buy, on average, and food waste makes up the largest percentage of garbage in landfills. Want to keep those impulses — and your weight — under control? Try this five-step program.

1. Set your budget. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans on average spend 9.6 percent of their income on food, and that includes both groceries (5.5 percent) and eating out (about 4 percent). Check how much you spend on groceries and restaurants and use those numbers as a starting point to shift more of your spending to healthier home-cooked meals.

If you find yourself succumbing to unhealthy temptations when you go grocery shopping, plan to pay for your purchases in cash. A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that people were more likely to buy healthier food if they paid with cash rather than a credit card.

2. Plan a menu. This not only answers that stressful question, what's for dinner?, but menu planning also allows you to use up what's already in your fridge and gives you a good outline of what you need to buy for the week. You'll be less prone to impulse purchases — which makes it easier to stick to a budget. Be sure to include a leftovers night in your meal planning to eat up odds and ends of previous meals. Waste-free Wednesday or free-for-all Friday, anyone?

3. Prep for the week. Spending an hour or two each weekend on meal preparation makes it much easier to create healthy meals on busy weekdays. Slice carrot and celery sticks, or bake a batch of whole-wheat mini muffins for snacks. Wash and chop salad greens for quick sides or lunches. Cook time-consuming foods, such as dried beans (which are cheaper and allow you to limit sodium from canned beans) and brown rice.

Grocery store bulk bins offer a variety of foods that let you buy as much, or as little, as you need, providing a good opportunity to experiment with foods you've never had and aren't sure you'd like. Some stores also sell loose spices in their bulk sections, so you can buy just the amount you need instead of an entire jar you may never finish.

4. Be a frugal chef. Not every meal needs to be a five-course affair. You can make a quick dinner by mixing precooked grains with roasted vegetables and a lean protein, or by making an omelet with your prepped veggies. You can also jump on the "sheet pan dinner" trend: Toss some fresh veggies and a lean protein with your favorite spice blend, place on a cookie sheet, and roast until your protein is thoroughly cooked, generally about 20 to 40 minutes.

5. Freeze! If, despite your careful planning, you end the week with extra ingredients that may go bad, freeze them. Berries, mashed avocados and bananas, chopped and blanched fresh vegetables, and even baked sweet potatoes can go in the freezer (in airtight containers) for easy meals at a later date, according to the National Center for Food Preservation. Freeze them in portions needed for meals, and label each storage bag or container with the food's name and the date you froze it to avoid mysteries.

Contrary to popular belief, "best by," "sell by" and "use by" dates on food packages don't have anything to do with food safety. Food producers set these dates to indicate when a food is of the best quality, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not that a food is unsafe to eat after that date. Only infant formula is required by law to have a "use by" date, and in that case, it's meant to ensure nutrient levels remain as advertised.

Foods can spoil long before — or remain edible for days to weeks after — a "best by" date. You can use these dates as a general guideline to measure how good a food will taste. However, to save money and reduce waste, the USDA advises using your senses to determine if something is safe to eat: If food, particularly meat, has a bad odor or feels sticky or slimy, toss it. If a food has simply changed color, it's likely still safe. Oxidation can cause color changes during storage, and it doesn't necessarily indicate spoilage.

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