Free Food Waste Calculator: What Thrown-Out Food Costs a Year
Half a bag of salad or the last of the leftovers doesn't feel like much when it goes in the trash. Add up a normal week of it and multiply by 52, and it can be a real line in your budget. Enter up to five things you threw out in a typical week, what you paid for each and roughly how much of it was thrown out.
It runs in your browser. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere. The numbers filled in below are a made-up example; change them to yours. The amount thrown out is your own estimate.
| Item (optional name) | What you paid, $ | How much was thrown out, % |
|---|---|---|
How the math works
- Wasted per item = what you paid × the percent thrown out.
- Yearly cost = the weekly total × 52. Monthly = the yearly cost ÷ 12.
- Share of budget = the weekly total ÷ your weekly grocery budget.
Example (made up): half of a $3.50 salad ($1.75), a quarter of a $3.00 loaf of bread ($0.75) and half of $8.00 of leftover chili ($4.00) is $6.50 a week. Over 52 weeks that's $338 a year, about $28.17 a month, or about 4.3% of a $150 weekly grocery budget.
One week can be unusual, so it's worth noting what you throw out for two or three weeks and using a typical one. This only counts the food you enter, not the time or gas spent buying it. It's an estimate for planning, not advice.
Buy what your meals actually need
The Meal Plan + Grocery Budget ($5) is a spreadsheet with a 4-week meal plan, a grocery list by store section with estimated prices, a spending log and a budget tab that shows what's left each week, so you shop for planned meals instead of guessing. Prices are your own estimates. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.
Get the spreadsheet on Gumroad – $5
This template is also in the Complete Household Money Bundle (what's inside): all 13 home money spreadsheets for $29 (about $69 if bought one by one).
We make this template, so take that into account. The calculator above is free to use either way.
Related free guides
- How to Meal Plan on a Grocery Budget
- How to Make a Go-To Meals List for Easier Meal Planning
- How to Batch Cook on a Budget (Example Week)
- How to Make a Grocery List That Stays on Budget
More free tools: all calculators.
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