Plan your Meals Before Shopping
It sounds simple, but before doing your weekly shop, plan out the week's meals beforehand and write a list of the ingredients. That way you buy what you are going to need rather than making it up when you get there and buying food that gets thrown away. This also prevents revisits later in the week when you pop in for some pasta and walk out £25 lighter from buying more un-needed crap.
Make sure to buy your fresh milk/bread at a cornershop to avoid this same problem.(N.B. this does not help to avoid buying alcohol)
( Ulic hissing slightly, Wed 16 Nov 2011, 13:43, 4 replies)

My dad could do with this advice.
He's lived on his own for twenty years now but if you looked in his fridge you'd still think he buys for a family of four. The wastage is mind-boggling.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 16 Nov 2011, 13:46, closed)

What, his waist or the the food in the fridge?

( fluffybunnykiller Is feasting on the clitoris of life, Wed 16 Nov 2011, 14:10, closed)

His waist's deflated a lot recently now that he's started eating properly.
He still buys shedloads of grub, though, for no particular reason that I can fathom.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 16 Nov 2011, 14:13, closed)

In a similar vein
I saved myself pots of money and four inches on my waistline by getting my milk delivered. The milk itself costs more, but I don't end up spunking £25 on Muller Rice, Nuts magazine and other fripperies just because I've run out of milk and nipped to the local supermarket or (worse, price-wise) corner shop.

Plus, the big four supermarkets have not yet worked out how to get their paws on the cash, so you're sticking it to The Man also.
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Wed 16 Nov 2011, 14:47, closed)