Use-By Dates for Homemade Foods

We're all trying to avoid food waste these days. Well, many of us have been trying to avoid food waste for decades. It's just that right now, it's more expensive than ever to waste food that we've purchased. I wanted to show you something I do that helps in the war on food waste.

Commercial products have use-by dates printed on the container or package. Home-packaged foods, whether they be leftovers or a food you've made, lack these motivating labels. A while ago I began putting use-by dates on our refrigerated homemade foods, such as homemade soy milk, stock and yogurt, or containers with leftover cooked rice or oatmeal, or a quarter of a green pepper that may or may not get used before rotting, or the remains from an open can of veggies, or half a beaten egg, or reconstituted powdered milk . . . you get the picture. 

As I'm packaging a food for the fridge, I use a sharpie to mark a use-by date onto the containers themselves or onto a "label" I make out of a small piece of duct tape. I estimate use-by dates, erring on the side of caution. Mostly, these dates serve as reminders to use up the food soon. They also take the guess work out of remembering when a food was refrigerated, such as cooked rice or oatmeal. With a use-by label, I know when I need to use my home-prepared and packaged foods. 

As a bonus, Sharpie markings can be cleaned off of glass jars or wiped off of duct tape. I reuse the same piece of duct tape many, many times, that is until it loses its stickiness.

I was originally motived to do this when I found mold on the inside of a jar of homemade soy milk that had been sitting in the fridge too long. It pained me to have to throw that away. Unfortunately, I didn't learn my lesson. A few weeks later, I found some strained yogurt (to use as cream cheese) in a container  that had molded. You'd think I'd have done something at this point. But no. I'm a slow learner, I guess. Shortly after the yogurt molding, I found a jar of homemade pancake syrup that had spots of mold colonizing the surface of the sugary solution. I knew I needed to change something if I wanted to see less waste. That's when I began use-by dating foods that went into the fridge.

And it worked. We're seeing less food waste since implementing this small trick. Which reminds me, I need to use up a few foods soon. Time to make some soy milk-rice-oatmeal pudding with a side of olives and cooked beans.

My Trip to Costco

On Monday, my daughter-in-law took me along with her on her shopping at Costco. This was the first time in over 2 decades since I'd be in a Costco, so I was very curious about what I'd find there. I had a budget of $30 cash that I could spend. With the super large packages at Costco, I knew $30 would not go far. Here's what I bought and some price comparisons with my regular stores.

Brussel sprouts -- 32 oz bag, Costco $4.99 or $2.49/lb. This week at Fred Meyer -- $3.69 for 24-oz bag or $2.46/lb.

2.5 lb bag pitted dates, Costco $7.99 or $3.20/lb. I'm not certain on WinCo's price for pitted dates in bulk, but somewhere around Costco's. WinCo's bulk section is where I buy pitted dates.

brown mushrooms -- 1.5 lb container whole Baby Bella mushrooms, Costco $5.99 or $3.99/lb. Fred Meyer has fresh, whole Baby Bella mushrooms in 16-oz containers for $5.69.

40-oz uncured turkey bacon -- Costco price $10.59 or $4.24/lb. Fred Meyer has cured turkey bacon for $2.79/12-oz package or $3.72/lb.

So, some products were more expensive at Costco and some were less expensive. The bacon wasn't really an apples to apples comparison, as the uncured bacon is considered to be a premium product compared to cured bacon. Mushrooms were absolutely a better deal at Costco, over $1 in savings. I lost a few pennies on the Brussel sprouts and probably came out even on the pitted dates. (I'll be going by WinCo later this week and for my own curiosity, I'll be checking their price on pitted dates in the bulk bins.)

My thoughts on shopping at Costco

You have to know your prices and package sizes for calculations. For example, turkey bacon at Fred Meyer comes in 12-oz packages, while the turkey bacon at Costco was sold in a bundle of 4 10-oz packages. So, to simply find the price per package for comparison wouldn't work. Costco does provide unit pricing, but sometimes the units are less helpful, such as price per ounce when I'm recalling price per pound from other stores on most food items. I would still need to multiply by 16 to get the per pound price for making comparisons. The inconsistent unit pricing is not just a Costco thing. I see this often in Walmart.

I was surprised at the limited selection within each category. At a traditional grocery store, I might have  a dozen or more choices in a category. Whereas at Costco, there may be 1 to 3 choices in a similar category. I'll use fresh mushrooms as an example. This week at Fred Meyer, there are 23 different kinds and sizes of packaging choices for fresh mushrooms (sliced, whole, brown Baby Bella, brown crimini, whole/sliced white, portobello, organic, shitake, mixed gourmet, 4-oz, 8-oz, 16-oz, 24-oz, or bulk). At Costco, (if I remember correctly) I had my choice of 3 types of mushrooms (white whole, Baby Bella whole, Shitake, whole) each in 1 size. With pitted dates, at Fred Meyer, they carry 5 choices in brands/sizes of whole pitted dates. At Costco, I found 1 choice for whole pitted dates. This limited selection reminded me somewhat of the selection at our restaurant supply, but is very different from traditional supermarkets.

My daughter-in-law tells me that Costco stores in different regions carry different selections. Some items in my area stores may not be available in other locations across the country and vice versa. I was surprised to find so much organic and natural/specialty foods. For example, Costco carries a ghee (clarified butter) baking spray. I've never seen this product before. They also carry Waygu beef, both the Japanese version ($99/lb -- yep, you read that right, almost $100 for a pound) and American Waygu beef (much, much less, but I'm not sure I read the package correctly, it may have been under $20/lb). My Fred Meyer doesn't carry Waygu beef products at all. Costco also had a large selection of packaged products that were made with alternative ingredients for specific dietary needs, such as gluten-free and keto friendly. 

Would I want a membership? For me, I would have too much envy of others who buy the items I would like to have, but are out of my budget. And I'm talking beyond the foods. I would love to have a good single-cup coffee maker, like a Keurig. However, even if I received a Keurig as a gift, the k-cups are pricey and out of my grocery budget. Even with a refillable k-cup, I wouldn't be satisfied, as the time-savings of having a Keurig would be minimized if I had to spend time filling and emptying the little plastic cups. I also saw a computer monitor that I thought was beautiful, as those items go. Every time I passed that section, I know I'd have a feeling of longing for that item, even though the computer I have is a laptop and having a separate monitor would negate the primary benefit of a laptop -- high portability. 

The shopping carts are huge. What makes a trip to Costco so expensive are the large packages of everything. I bought 4 items and spent $30. These were treat purchases. I wouldn't normally buy 1.5 pounds of mushrooms at a time. I would buy an 8-ounce package of mushrooms for less out of pocket, and we would eat lesser expensive foods when the mushrooms ran out. Ditto on the pitted dates. I'm guessing we'll go through those dates fairly quickly. If I were buying dates at WinCo, I'd buy a small baggie of dates. When we ate them all, we'd switch over to fresh oranges (which are inexpensive right now) or home-dried or frozen, home-grown fruit (which is basically free to us).

I enjoyed the time with my daughter-in-law and getting a peek inside a Costco. I'd love to go with her again in a few months, perhaps just before my husband's birthday. I did see some special food items that would make a great dinner at home for him, perhaps not the $99/lb Japanese Waygu steaks, though. 

I'm glad I got this chance. I now know what I'm missing and what I am not.