If you're not the world's most meticulous planner, chances are you occasionally let some food go bad before you get a chance to use it. But instead of beating yourself up about it, why not take some advice from a TikToker with helpful tips about how you can maximize your refrigerator's capabilities to keep everything fresh?
The scoop
TikToker shelbizleee shared this tip with her roughly 270,000 followers. If you are fortunate enough to have one of those fridges with sliders on the drawers that control the humidity, make use of them!
"Stop wasting money by using these drawers in your fridge all wrong," the TikToker explains. "These little slides can help reduce waste and save money. Keeping the slides open allows humidity to escape. This is where you keep things that rot easily. Closing the slide, on the other hand, keeps humidity in, which is good for things that wilt."
@shelbizleee how do you prevent food waste in your fridge?? #foodwaste #stopfoodwaste #lovefoodhatewaste #zerowaste #howtostorefood #savemoney #preventfoodwaste ♬ Good Vibes (Instrumental) - Ellen Once Again
How it's helping
By taking this tip and using the fridge drawers to keep produce fresh longer, you can certainly save money in the long run. (Throwing out half the greens you buy definitely adds up.)
And, even better, you can also help the planet. Food waste is a big environmental problem: Every year, 119 billion pounds of food, or around 40% of our country's total food supply, is thrown away. That comes out to $408 billion worth of food, and about 39% of that total (42 billion pounds) comes from people throwing away food in their homes.
Once that food is thrown away, it ends up going to a landfill, where it releases significant amounts of planet-warming gases as it slowly breaks down.
That's why using up all the produce you buy is good for both your wallet and the planet.
What everyone's saying
While many of the commenters bemoaned the fact that their refrigerators do not have drawer sliders, others were shocked to discover that those sliders are actually useful.
"I thought they were labels," wrote one commenter.
"Why aren't we taught things like this?" asked another.
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