5 Tips to Make Your Food Last

A guide by the World Resources Institute providing five practical tips for households to reduce food waste, which helps lower costs and mitigate climate change.

• To minimize bacteria and maximize the lifespan of perishable items, refrigerators should be set at or below 40 degrees F (4 degrees C), with the freezer set at 0 degrees F (-18 degrees C). The guide notes that the back of the refrigerator is colder than the door, making it the ideal location for items like milk.
• There is a distinction between date labels: "best before" dates indicate peak freshness and food is often still edible after this date if it looks, smells, and tastes okay, whereas "use by" dates on perishables like meat, fish, and dairy are for safety and should be followed.
• Foods that are no longer fresh can be repurposed into new dishes or frozen. Examples include using brown bananas for banana bread, soft strawberries for jam or smoothies, and overripe courgette for vegetable soup or bread.
• Using substitutes can prevent waste; for instance, apple or white grape juice can replace white wine in recipes, and old lemons can be mixed with milk to create buttermilk for pancakes.
• Food scraps can be utilized to create vegetable stock for dishes like risotto and soups, or used to grow indoor gardens from items such as celery bits, green onion ends, and avocado pits.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). 5 Tips to Make Your Food Last. https://www.wri.org/food/5-tips-make-your-food-last

Chicago

World Resources Institute. 5 Tips to Make Your Food Last. n.d. https://www.wri.org/food/5-tips-make-your-food-last.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=5 Tips to Make Your Food Last |url=https://www.wri.org/food/5-tips-make-your-food-last |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendtips, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{5 Tips to Make Your Food Last}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/food/5-tips-make-your-food-last}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }