The battle of zero waste

I absolutely refuse to have any more food thrown out in this house, I can't afford it.  I already bounce between two markets, Costco, and Aldi's(all stores are within miles from my house).  Anyway back to the no waste.

We are now making pot pies with left over meats/poultry.  Its so easy to make the pie crust(heck even buy the Pillsbury one if you want) we use our little Pyrex dishes and in goes the meat or poultry, whichever veggies are left over or are in the freezer, potato's..we are Irish there are always potatoes.  Put in the extra gravy and pastry on top and bake(just make sure not to put meat in the vegetarians).  This not only cleaned out a good amount of leftovers but they were really good!!!!  And filling.  Believe me what they call a pot pie in the market is NOT a pot pie.

We have also had pizza bagels with bagels that were on the edge of going(they were pushed to the back of the bread drawer).  Tuna salad with a big salad was another evening.  I am pretty sure you get the idea.

The fact is food is expensive and is a big part of my budget.  I stock up on sales because I have to.  If peter pan pb is on sale at Shoprite well I am buying enough to last til the next sale which I know will be in three months.  Whichever meat is on sale or I can stretch the furthest is the one going into my cart.  Lunch meat has been cut from getting a pound to getting half a pound because except for cheese it was getting slimy to fast.  We no longer buy a gallon of milk instead it is a quart of 1% at a time.

Yogurt I have no loyalty brand wise.  Except my daughter likes regular yogurt and I like Greek.  Lately though it has been cheaper to buy the larger plain containers and mixing whatever fresh fruit,frozen fruit, honey or what we have on hand into it.  

For me right now it is about adapt and change.  I make a gallon of not so sweet tea when needed.  My daughter takes her coffee or tea with her in the morning and so do I(We have way to many travel cups).  I was excited a few weeks ago to find both sleepy time tea and raspberry tea on clearance at acme.  I think they are changing the box or the amount of bags.  Personally I don't care, I was able to pick up 7 boxes of each.  This will last us awhile.  Mom is strictly a tetly tea drinker and 2 cups of coffee in the morning.  

The facts just come down to I can not waste the food.  If it is a great deal I will pick up extras, that is why I have a pantry under the steps.  Not to hoard things but to have back ups for when we run out or when money is tight.  And more and more money is getting tight everywhere.