With the 2025 ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit and Fourth of July in the rearview, it’s hard to believe that we are about halfway through summer. But there’s still a lot of time left for grilling, chilling, and gathering with family and friends. And to help you make sure your summer plans are as low food waste as possible, we surveyed the ReFED staff for their advice on how to enjoy yourself while minimizing wasted food. Here are nine tips:

• Make a refreshing fruit salad with any of your favorite seasonal fruit and a little mint. Over the next few days, you can blend the leftovers with ice and make a yummy summer slushie.

• Here are a couple of ideas for overripe fruit: Make “breakfast ice cream” (aka thick smoothies) all summer with aging produce. Or, puree overripe fruit and eat with ice cream (or make popsicles!).

• It’s important to stay hydrated in the summer. To make your hydration more interesting, use fruit and veggie scraps to make fun ice cubes that add a little flavor to your water.

• When you’re uncertain about how much food to make for a barbecue, making skewers is a great solution. Leftovers are awesome in so many ways: Use vegetables in a grilled vegetable panzanella salad; whip up a vegetable casserole with melted butter in the bottom, garlic, your leftovers, and some cheese on top—bake for 30 minutes; or use the proteins for summer salad toppers.

• Corn on the cob is a summertime staple, and you don’t have to waste the cob! Take corn cobs and boil them together with milk or cream when making custard for homemade ice cream. Homemade sweet corn ice cream is the very best taste of summer. (You can also try this recipe for corn cob lemonade from Chef Adam Kaye.)

• If you find yourself with a lot of bones or seafood shells after a gathering, you can use them to make a stock that you can freeze for future use.

• Don’t forget the simple things, like temperature control. Make sure food doesn’t get left out in the heat where it might become unsafe to eat.

• For those adults who enjoy a refreshing summer drink, combine that bottle of wine from the back of the fridge with the few lime wedges leftover from street tacos and the core of your pineapple to make a summer sangria.

• Of course, even your best efforts may still result in scraps and inedible food. Summer is the perfect time to start a compost pile—the heat helps things break down faster, and you can have compost for your fall garden!

Check out additional tips from ReFED staff for reducing food waste around the holidays. And don’t forget to sign up for our mailing list so you’re the first to know about the latest and greatest ReFED and food waste news.