💡 Top 6 Tips to Hack Your Fridge this School Year 🙌

School is ramping up and summer is winding down, which means that your food patterns and daily rhythms are changing. Transition times like this are perfect for starting new habits that will help everyone in the house be a little more mindful this time of year. As a bonus, when you save food and time, you often save money and fights about food. 

1. Plan Head 🤔

Tip: Create a weekly meal plan that includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This helps you buy only what you need and avoid over-purchasing.

Involve the Kids: Let your children pick out some of their favorite meals. This increases the likelihood they'll eat their packed lunches and reduces waste.

Try this: One of our favorites comes from Chef Alison at Ends and Stems– whose whole mission is to help families be smarter with their food choices. 

Get The Free Meal Plan Here

2:  Shop Smarter📝

Tip: Make a list and stick to it. We know it's hard to avoid those impulse purchases, but make an effort this week (try it!) and only get what you know the family will consume. Then try it again next week!

Buy in Bulk (wisely): For non-perishable items like cereals, rice and pasta, buying in bulk saves 💰 money and reduces packaging waste. The key? having proper storage. 

Try these: We picked a couple of our favorite bulk storage containers to share with you. What we love? Being able to see EXACTLY how much you have left at a glance. It'll help you only buy when you need it. 

A few of our favorites:
Oxo: Link here 

Budget-friendlier option: Link here

3:  Organize the Fridge 🥬

Tip:  Keep your fridge organized with older items at the front. Use clear containers to easily see what you have.

Create a Snack Station: Create a designated area for after-school snacks that are healthy and easy to grab.

Try these: We love these YouCopia roll-out fridge drawers to keep everything container and accessible

4:  Pack Lunch Wisely 🥪

Tip: Use reusable containers to pack portion-controlled lunches. Include a variety of foods to keep lunches interesting.

Leftover Love: Incorporate dinner leftovers into school lunches. For example, grilled chicken can be turned into a wrap or salad.

Need help with some ideas? 
Back to school lunch ideas from ModernHoney
https://www.modernhoney.com/back-to-school-kids-lunch-ideas/

 

Try these:  We love bento boxes for lunch planning– check out our favorite eco-friendly ones here:
For bigger kids:  Link here
For littler ones: Link here

 

5:  FIFO (First In First Out) 🔆

Tip: When unpacking groceries, place new items behind older ones. This helps ensure you use up food before it goes bad.

Tag it: Use LightTags to track how long opened foods have been in there– great for yogurts, hummus, lunch meat and leftovers. When the light turns yellow on the Tag, you know it’s in the last 24 hours.

Recipe Flexibility: Be flexible with recipes and use what you already have in your pantry and fridge. Get creative with substitutions.

6:  Involve your Kids 👧🧒👦

Tip: Involve your kids in meal prep and cooking. When kids are involved in helping make and plan food, they're more invested in what they're eating which helps ensure they'll eat what you've made.

Make It Fun: Turn food-saving activities into a game, like a “leftovers challenge” to see who can come up with the most creative meal. Teach them to “use the yellow” LightTags– so they’re using up the most important things in the fridge before they go bad.

Why it matters 

Reducing food waste not only saves money but also teaches kids valuable lessons about sustainability. At Ovie, we’re dedicated to helping you make the most of your groceries and giving you that little bit of help in the kitchen you need- ESPECIALLY at the start of a new school year when things get hectic.