Freeze your fresh bread and only defrost the amount that you're going to eat.

In my household we tend to buy just enough that we know we can eat it over the course of two to three days if it is perishable foods.

If the store sells smaller packs of meat and vegetables and other perishable foods, we buy those and use them in our cooking the next few days.

We don't have a lot of freezer space and we don't have a garden, so we try and avoid bulk buying unless we know we will be able to eat it all before it goes bad. It works pretty well.

Use a software/app to meal plane. (Mealie/Tandoor) You pick the recipes you fancy for the days/week/whatever period. It generates a grocery list containing exactly what is needed for the meals you chose, nothing else.

I haven't thrown away anything in a couple years now. Oh and freeze leftovers if needed.

Only buy stuff you're excited to eat

It’s called a freezer and lunches for the extra. Eat chicken? Batch cook that pallet- brine in about a couple of water, a bouillon cube, garlic and a bunch of salt, parsley, oregano, rosemary (to your taste), and a couple of the cheapest white wine at the grocery store if your feeling fancy or really like gravy. After a few hours or overnight, dry and throw in your oven at 400 for twenty minutes. When its out, let the chicken cool on a cutting board, slice some up and chop up the rest. You now have a baseline chicken that tastes as good as deli-quality that works well in everything from dinners, sandwiches and salads, and if you skip the rosemary, its a good stir fry addin.

Buy stuff you don't have to cook. It's crap nutritionally, but at least it isn't wasted!

Buy freezer or shelf-stable microwave meals? You have food that way but it shouldn't really just "go bad". At least, not quickly.

1. Get a big freezer. It's really surprising how much delicious stuff you can make just from frozen stuff that can last you forever. Frozen food is also often more fresh and with microwave and air fryer the prep of anything frozen is actually not very difficult.
2. Outsource as much as possible. Often it's really hard to outcompete efficient kitchens. I don't mean order Uber eats or something but there's likely a place in your vicinity that does food prep where you can take your food containers and stock up for 2-3 days. You can even freeze some dishes.

Wife and I really did the math because we feared of becoming lazy and it makes absolutely zero economic sense to cook everything at home right now unless you want to treat yourself or live in a very economically unusual places where #2 is not accessible.

Alternately: I can cook 4 iems at once and have a weeks worth of food!

Day 2 update: I ate it all.

Meal planning is number 1.

Being strict with what you buy then so you don't buy something you have no plan for.

Learn a couple of meals that you can throw anything into so you can use up veg that are just about to go off. Eg ratatouille, stew, curry, etc.

Buy a recipe book with easy one pot meals for inspiration. I find the Internet just has too much and you need to know what you're doing, plus there's just too much distraction. Sitting with a recipe book and a pen and paper to plan is way more relaxing, IME.

Don't mourn, organise!

Hahaha! Even tankies gotta eat! (though I'm not actually a tankie. Just happened to pick .ml when I joined Lemmy)

I'll only buy something perishable when I need it. I tend to cook for 3-4 days in one go in order to make cooking for only myself somewhat economical. I tend to visit the supermarket every other day so I don't really have to plan too much.

Why are you buying perishable food items in bulk? Are you an inarticulate fopdoodle?

Try premade meal replacements like huel lol.

Air fryer = 10 minute meals

i dont, my family always buys too much food regardkess to how many times i tell them to not

Honestly services like Blue Apron help with this. It’s more expensive than buying your own groceries, but still cheaper than eating out. It also helps you learn meal planning to eventually be able to buy the right amount of food on your own.

(It is easier to do if you have more people to feed though, like ideally at least one friend/partner/roommate to share the subscription with you. You can do a 2-3x a week meals for 2 subscription for one person, but it’s a bit much.)