Food savings

None of this is expert advice. It's what people worked out for themselves, usually the hard way — what actually helped, and what they'd tell someone standing where you are. Take what fits and leave the rest.

How this was put together

If you only read a few

  1. If available in your city, use the TooGoodToGo app to buy a surprise bag of surplus food from restaurants.

    It reduces restaurant waste.

    • Availability varies by city.

    one person who lived it

  2. Do not flush homemade wipes made from coffee filters down the toilet.

    They are rough and can cause plumbing issues.

    one person who lived it

  3. Pasteurize manure for portobello mushroom cultivation by placing it in a tied pillowcase inside a cooler filled with boiling water for two hours, then drain, cool, and inoculate.

    Portobellas eat manure, but it must be pasteurized first.

    • Oyster mushrooms don't eat manure

    one person who lived it

  4. Buy apples at deep discounts to make large batches of applesauce.

    one person who lived it

  5. Use 70% isopropyl alcohol instead of 91% for cleaning wipes.

    70% is more effective at killing germs; 91% is too hydrophobic to cross cell membranes easily.

    one person who lived it

  1. Add boiled potato water to pierogi dough if it is dry.

    The extra starch adds stickiness.

    one person who lived it

  2. Set aside the best garlic bulbs from each harvest to replant the following year.

    one person who lived it

  3. Rinse rice with water several times before cooking.

    It removes a significant fraction of arsenic.

    one person who lived it

  4. Process homemade alcohol wipes in small batches.

    Doing too many at a time wastes alcohol through evaporation.

    one person who lived it

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