[loeg]

Composting is just one (preferred) way to throw away food.

Saving for the next day and especially donating isn't practical in the small amounts we're talking about.

Personal home cooking is very different from large scale professional kitchens / dining.

[sixstringtheory]

Both professional and personal cooking vary widely depending on who’s doing the work. I’ve seen careful and careless practices in both.

You might be surprised though how leftovers are recombined to form new dishes, even in large scale operations. Working with what you got can be just as important as food safety, foundational knowledge or technique.

It helps to have a few go-to recipes that can accept a wide variety of ingredients in small portions. For me, I usually go to either omelettes, veggie burgers or fried rice / stir fry.

Donating is the hardest one for sure due to laws and logistics. I’ve taken to giving out my extra sourdough bread or cinnamon rolls to friends and neighbors, or have my wife take them to the office; there’s always one or two that we know we won’t get to before they go bad (if we want to maintain our physiques anyways).