I scrub potato skins before baking or microwaving.  We eat the skins along with the potato.  One reasonable sized potato is usually enough for my husband and me so that is all I cook for one meal. 

'waste' is built in to reality itself

that no matter how efficient something is, always at least some of the energy used in that something (whether it be heating up a cup of coffee, driving a car, bouncing a ball...) is 'wasted' as 'heat' (in this case is energy that can't be used for anything...hey, reality IS protestant ;3)

carry on, citizens...

Ypou're quite right, Whimsey, but when half the food grown ends up in landfill, you might say there's room for improvement/

kaythecurler,

one of the things i used to do to cut down waste was to be a 5-person household -- my carbon footprint was really small then

other ways:

walking and taking public transit

keeping my kraft dinner boxes for various things like coasters & floor protectors

keeping newspapers for window cleaning

being in the dark at home

turning off furnace in the summer

i haven't done this yet but i know that if i ever need aa batteries the cheaper way is to get a large 9 volt battery and open them to get at the many aa batteries within

to clean off cd scratches just use toothpaste, peanut butter & some pop...

generally stay away from women's clothing (pretty, but built to break down fast)

don't  buy food from the freezer section (waaay overpackaged and expen$ive)

Sometimes I have bought large packages/containers of items because it appeared to be cheaper than buying a smaller quantity.  In fact there are times when I've found that I didn't use all of the large container, eventually throwing it out and wasting it when the smaller container would have done better in the first place.

I just sorted through my freezer.  It's a small upright that we bought a few years ago to replace the big chest that could have held a moose. 

Even in the small freezer, things get pushed to the back, buried, or forgotten. 

I found lots of chicken.  My Co op store has a bin for fresh meat products that were packaged a day or two earlier - marked down to half price.  I tend to pick up legs or drums whenever I see them.  $18 marked down to $9.  But it's time to stop buying until I've caught up in my eating.  So it will be chicken cooked in various dishes two, three or more times a week for the next month, until I have room for Christmas baking. 

I usually cook up a whole family sized package and Seelerman and I eat it for several days before I have to cook meat again.   Chickens legs with yams and cauliflower; chicken legs with baked potatoes and salad; meat cut off chicken legs for a stir fry with rice and Chinese vegetables.

Your post about the chicken made me chuckle seeler - we've been eating chicken and chicken leftovers for 3 days now . . . and I'm "chickened" out. 

I don't have a freezer except for the small freezer on top of my fridge.  I'm usually able to go to the grocery store often enough to get what I need.  With the grocery stores staying open late and not closed on Sundays one can generally shop whenever.

I find even with my little freezer there are foods I am not using but I am trying to get better at that and plan better.

oh, and another way of dealing with waste...

whenever i'm on one of my walkaboots and see one of those people older than 20 but younger than 30 who are deep in cynicism, pouting at the world, ranting at illogic or irrationality, i have various 'methods' available to get rid of that waste of a human being...

they usually are better off for it after :3

also, for Christmas and other type days:  making up of gifts, like promises for help with housework, fixing things up, groceries, IOU hug n kiss coupons etc etc etc