Average U.S. Family Throws Away 20 Pounds of Food a Month

What an alarming statistic, 20 pounds of food in the garbage for a family of four, in hindsight I shutter at how much my family tosses each month.

According to a new study, we Americans are very wasteful, which for a family of four adds up to about $2,000 a year. We are a family of five and we have had many nights where one or more of the kids turns their nose up at what is for dinner. Or we find half eaten pieces of food all over the house.

With the price of food nowadays nobody wants to waste all that money, and we have gone as far as planning out a weekly menu with input from the kids to try and prepare something we can all agree upon. It makes us way more efficient when we go shopping because we have a list and stick to it.

Of course we drift off into the ice cream or chip aisle, but we know that stuff will not go to waste. My biggest problem is left overs, our whole family is super picky about eating re-heated food, but I will make an exception for some dishes.

Our dogs love some of the table scraps, but we are very careful about what they get given the fact that they are both small breed dogs. We also try to instill in the kids that they can always get more, like milk instead of getting a huge glass and wasting half of it.

Maybe this summer I will finally bust out my tomato Topsy Turvy Planter and grow some tomatoes this summer, it would be an easy and inexpensive way to stretch our food budget every month. So next time you plan a meal or prepare something be aware how much is wasted.