Photo: Melissa

Have you ever considered what that rotten food in your refrigerator costs? The average American family of four throws out an estimated $130-175 per month in spoiled and discarded food. That's real money going straight into the garbage or compost bin instead of paying off your credit card bills.

Don't get me wrong -- I love compost. It's just not the best use of the staggering amount of resources that are needed to grow all the food that never even gets eaten, including the money you spent to buy it. If you don't eat half of that $10 fish, that's $5 you're throwing away.

Collectively, we consumers are responsible for more wasted food than farmers, grocery stores, or any other part of the food supply chain. We're also wasting far more food than ever before, as the average American today wastes 50 percent more food than 40 years ago. The truth is the implications of our wasteful habits with food are just not on most of our radars.

Photo: Patrick Gage KelleyAs if turkey pot pie and turkey a la king aren't enticing enough on their own, here's another reason to eat leftovers this holiday season: About 1 million tons of CO2, 95 billion gallons of water, and $275 million will be thrown away this Thanksgiving in the form of leftover turkey. The USDA reports that 35 percent of perfectly good turkey meat in the U.S. does not get eaten after it is purchased by consumers (and that's not including bones). This compares with only 15 percent for chicken. Why is so much more turkey wasted than chicken? "Possibly because …

Photo: Frank FarmHere's a superbly kept secret: You know all those dates you see on food products that say "sell by," "use by," and "best before"? Those dates do not indicate the safety of your food, and generally speaking, they're not regulated. I couldn't believe it either, but a quick look at USDA's food labeling site confirms that the only product for which "use-by" dates are federally regulated is infant formula. Beyond that, some states regulate dates for some products, but generally "use-by" and "best-by" dates are manufacturer suggestions for peak quality. Suggestions. For peak quality. That's all. If this …