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Always tossing your leftovers? How to use up everything in your fridge

Three quick tips for using the food you have instead of throwing it in the trash.

MINNEAPOLIS — The holidays often leave us with a heap of leftovers. The best part, right? Not if they end up in the trash a week later. 

According to the USDA, 30 to 40% of the country's food supply is wasted. And when that food is in landfills, it produces a large amount of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. 

Oh, and throwing all that food into the garbage is also a huge waste of money.

Here are three quick tips for helping eat all the food you buy:

1. Glass containers. This might seem minor, but there's truth to "out of sight, out of mind." If you can see what you have left to eat, you're more likely to remember to eat it.

2. Get leftover help. There are tons of apps and websites which can help you turn what's in your refrigerator into a brand new meal. For example, SuperCook, lets you select or input all the ingredients you have, then generates a list of recipe ideas for you. 

3. Know your stuff about food storage. You might be throwing out perfectly good food. Or storing your food in a way in which it goes bad more quickly. We found this interactive storage guide on SaveTheFood.com. Choose any food and find out how long it generally stays good for and how to store it to keep it fresh the longest.

RELATED: How reducing food waste can impact the environment, your wallet

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