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6 brilliant ways to use leftover food instead of throwing it away

6 brilliant ways to use leftover food instead of throwing it away

Meg Josephson

If fruit is about to go bad, you can freeze it to save for delicious smoothies.Maria Fuchs via Getty Images

Americans throw away approximately $165 billion worth of food each year, but there are simple ways to use leftover food.
Ripe fruit can be frozen to use in smoothies, and leftover veggies can become soups.
Overripe avocados can be transformed in to delicious chocolate desserts.

Approximately 40% of food in the US goes to waste, whether it's throwing out leftovers, tossing out food that expired, or just not knowing what to do with the remaining ingredients in your fridge.

If wasted food was a country, it would be the third largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world, after the United States and China. And in terms of money, Americans throw away approximately $165 billion worth of food each year.

However, preventing food waste is simple, and you can start saving both food and money with these easy tricks.

Freeze fruit for fresh smoothies.

Smoothies. Shutterstock

So-called "ugly" fruit is just as nutritious and delicious as fresh fruit. If you don't think you'll have a reason to eat your ugly or overripe fruit, freeze it for smoothies.

Use stale bread to make French toast, bread crumbs, or croutons.

Salad with croutons. Melia Robinson/Business Insider

There are tons of recipes that call for bread that you wouldn't want to eat for a sandwich.

Use leftover veggies to make soups.

A green soup. Shutterstock

It's the end of the week, and you have a bunch of random veggies that are starting to wrinkle. Before you toss them and make another trip to the grocery store, make a vegetable medley soup.

Or, freeze it to make soup at some later point.

Freeze your herbs for later use.

Herbs in olive oil. M.Loraine/ Shutterstock

Turns out you only needed a tablespoon of cilantro instead of the whole bundle, and now the rest is starting to wilt. Next time, freeze your herbs in ice cube trays with a little bit of olive oil for single-use portions you can throw into meals later.

Use overripe avocados to make a chocolate pudding.

Chocolate pudding. Shutterstock

Use avocados that are beginning to brown (but not entirely brown yet) to make a creamy chocolate pudding. The avocados serve as a sweetener and create a smooth, silky consistency.

They are also a healthy substitute for butter.

Use overripe bananas to make banana bread.

Banana bread. Marina Meshkova/Shutterstock

This is a classic solution to overripe bananas. Plus, the browner the banana, the sweeter and easier to digest it is.