PSA: I switched to a bidding system for my grocery list and reduced waste by 40 percent

Last month I was sick of throwing out half-eaten produce every week, so I made a rule: whatever I buy has to get a 'bid' from each family member within 24 hours or it's off the list. My husband had to actually commit to eating those bell peppers before I'd buy them again, and my teenager had to do the same with the yogurt tubes. After three weeks, our trash bin had maybe two rotten items instead of the usual ten. I learned that just buying stuff 'just in case' is way more wasteful than I realized. Has anyone else tried a meal commitment system like this, or do you just wing it?

3 comments

3 Comments

jenny4717d ago

My friend Karen tried something similar but way more extreme. She made her husband sign a written contract for each snack item he wanted in the house. He put his name next to a box of granola bars, so he had to eat them or else he owed her ten bucks per wasted bar. The thing is, he forgot he signed for the spicy crackers and she found them stale behind the couch three months later. She charged him forty bucks and he still complains about it to this day.

corablack17d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, that is a WHOLE new level of snack accountability right there. I did something similar with my roommate back in the day but way less strict. I put a whiteboard on the fridge and we had to mark down what we took from the shared snacks, like if you drank the last soda you had to replace it within a day or pay double for the new pack. My roommate kept "forgetting" to mark his name for the good chips and I caught him hiding empty wrappers in the trash. Charged him five bucks per bag and he got SO mad, but hey, rules are rules.

mia70017d agoMost Upvoted

Forty bucks for stale crackers seems excessive honestly.