Did you know that the average household throws out more than 500 pounds of food annually? That’s a lot of food that just goes into waste when you don’t shop smart and come up with practical and equally clever ways to consume each and every item in your refrigerator. Ultimately, this effort to reduce food waste doesn’t just save you money, it’s also for the greater good of the environment. And really, don’t you want to do your part as a steward of the Earth?

Below, we’ve listed down some simple yet useful tips to help you reduce food waste:

1. Just buy what you need. Before you head out to do your grocery shopping, put together a list of the essential items you need for a particular period of time. When you go into a supermarket unarmed with a thoughtfully curated list, you tend to lose sight of the important things that deserve a place in your cart, get distracted by the sheer amount of products that surround you, and tend to overshop. Buying more than what you need will eventually result to an absurd amount of food waste that could’ve been easily prevented.

With Sub-Zero Refrigeration though, you wouldn’t have to worry about food’s fast spoilage due to its advanced technologies. It’s been tried and tested – lettuce can last longer in a Sub-Zero than in a typical refrigerator.

2. Don’t forget about your leftovers—better yet, avoid having leftover food. Only cook enough amount of food to serve the members in your household. If you do decide to cook in bulk, make sure you store the remaining portions properly. Also, what’s the point in saving and storing leftover food for later consumption when you’re not conscious of till when they’re still safe to consume? Related to tip number 1, remember to not order too much when you’re dining out or cook more than what’s necessary at home so as to avoid having leftovers that could likely go unnoticed in your fridge for days or even weeks.

3. Be mindful of what you put in your fridge. Come up with a systematic way of storing food, so you don’t forget about them to the point that they’re no longer good to consume. Use easily identifiable containers, apply the “first in, first out” approach, and generally, maintain a clutter-free refrigerator and freezer. Many fresh foods emit ethylene gas, a natural compound that hastens spoilage. To help keep fresh food fresher for longer, refrigeration brand Sub-Zero’s products are equipped with an anti-microbial air purification system (based on technology developed by NASA) that scrubs the air off ethylene as well as odor, viruses and bacteria, every 20 minutes. Typical refrigerators only scrub the air off odor, but what’s great about this special feature of Sub-Zero is that it gets to the bottom of the problem.

4. Only use expiration and sell-by dates as guidelines. These information are primarily placed on the products to guide the stores on when they’re supposed to pull out certain items from their shelves. Yes, it’s usually safe to eat food even when it’s a bit past its printed expiry date. When it comes to this matter, experts advise to trust your instinct—check the appearance, odor, and taste of the food and decide for yourself whether it can still be consumed or not.

5. Keep track of the items you still have in the fridge and those that you’ve already thrown away. Doing so serves as your preparation of sorts for another round of grocery shopping. This will prevent you from purchasing products that you unknowingly still have, as well as those that you tend to shop for but don’t really use up.