13 Habits Food-Waste Experts Practice in Their Own Kitchens

—Esin Deniz—Getty Images At the grocery store, you’re a person who roasts squash.

You make salads.

You have exciting plans for fresh herbs.

A week later, you’re a person throwing away unused squash, salad, and wilted herbs.

Even food-waste experts know the gap between the meals we imagine and the food we actually eat.

Shelie Miller, who studies sustainability at the University of Michigan, understands how an acorn squash can end up in your cart without a plan.

“It’s fall.

I’m feeling the fall vibes,” she says, describing the temptation.

That’s why she and her husband try to stick to a shared grocery list—and know what they’ll do with what they buy.

We asked experts what else they do to keep good intentions out of the trash.

Read more: How to Stop Wasting So Much Food in Your Kid’s Lunchbox Make a kitchen-sink potato Once a week, Miller bakes a potato and gives the odds and ends in her refrigerator somewhere to go.

Leftover fajita vegetables? On the potato.

Little extras from other meals? Those go on, too.

“I always call it a garbage potato, or maybe it’s better to call it a kitchen-sink potato,” she says.