I have frequently encouraged my readers to make an effort to use up food in their cabinets and freezer, but I haven't spent much time talking about strategies for doing that. Like most things, making good use of your food requires a bit of planning. Having a weekly meal plan can keep you from wasting food and money.

• When you are cooking a big batch of something, take leftovers into account. Can you eat leftovers for lunch? Freeze them? Repurpose them into something new? I try to avoid freezing my leftovers as much as possible. All that does is move clutter from the fridge to the freezer and buy me a few weeks. I tend to eat my leftovers for lunch or I will repurpose. Leftover chicken becomes wraps or chicken salad. Beans and rice become burrito fillings or soup ingredients.
• If you need a specific ingredient for one recipe, make sure your meal plan includes other dishes that will allow you to use the rest of that ingredient. Did you buy mint for a watermelon salad? You can put it in a cucumber salad or a fruit salad or iced tea or mojitos. Did you grill or boil too much corn on the cob? Cut the corn off the cob and add it to a pasta salad or use it as the base for corn chowder or a quick corn relish. You get the idea.
• Never buy a perishable ingredient that you only need for one dish unless you can buy it in a small quantity. For example, some stores will let you buy very small quantities of a spice. Or you can buy just one tomato or just a few mushrooms. Yes, the per unit cost may be higher that way, but it's still cheaper than throwing away half of what you bought at the lower price.
• Rotate the food in your cabinets, fridge, and freezer periodically. It's amazing what you forget you have when you can't see it. If something is approaching the end of its useful life, make sure you have a plan to use it in the next few days.