• Food Food

Kitchen wizard shares genius hack for solving common leftovers mishap: 'Am I doing something wrong?'

"Here I was thinking I was the only one who knew this hack."

Freezing food

Photo Credit: iStock

In a post shared on Reddit, a user asks the community for a better way to label containers in the freezer.

"We use containers to store meals," writes the Redditor. "Once they freeze, it's difficult to tell what's inside."

🗣️ What's your biggest motivation in trying to reduce your personal food waste?

🔘 Saving money 💰

🔘 Helping the planet 🌎

🔘 Not being a wasteful person 😇

🔘 I don't think about reducing food waste 🤷

🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind

The Redditor says they were using a label machine to print labels and stick them on the containers. 

"But, those are single-use plastic waste strips," they write." Is there a marker that doesn't wipe off until I want it to? Or some better way?"

Freezing food is a cost-effective way to cut down on food bills. It can also be a great way to enjoy out-of-season fruits and vegetables — nothing beats warming up a bowl of tomato soup in the winter made from your own summer garden tomatoes!

Freezing food can also help you keep your leftovers from going to waste. According to the USDA, 30% to 40% of food in the U.S. goes uneaten every year. That amounts to approximately 133 billion pounds of uneaten food and $161 billion in wasted money each year. 

Wasted food that winds up in landfills contributes to the global pollution problem by producing heat-trapping gases including methane. According to the World Wildlife Fund, between 6 and 8% of all human-caused planet-warming gases could be reduced by fixing our food waste problem.

Redditors shared a few tips for marking frozen food. One user suggests that using a wax pencil "works wonderfully," while another seemingly struggled with the solution.

"I have no godd*** idea why but I can't get mine to work," they state. "Am I doing something wrong? I've tried writing on glass and plastic Tupperware to no avail."

"Here I was thinking I was the only one that knew this hack," writes another user. "But it is true. I got a box of China markers. They write perfectly on glass and plastic under the right circumstances. For example, after cooking and while everything is still warm, I store the food in containers and the heat makes the pencil so buttery and smooth." 

Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more, waste less, and help yourself while helping the planet.

Cool Divider