I’m not wasting food… so why do my groceries disappear so fast?

I’ve been working on a small side project around groceries, and I realized I was thinking about the problem completely wrong.

At first I thought it was about planning better or saving money.

But after talking to people (and honestly looking at my own habits), it didn’t really feel like that.

Most people aren’t throwing away tons of food.

They’re not buying anything crazy either.

But it still feels like groceries just… disappear.

Stuff you meant to use

Things you only partially used

Random items you forgot about

“Try something new” buys that never happen again

Nothing big on its own, just small things that add up.

So instead of building another meal planner or budgeting tool, I’m shifting to something simpler:

→ what actually gets used

→ what keeps getting forgotten

→ what you keep buying but don’t really consume

Basically trying to make that gap visible for the first time.

Curious if anyone else has noticed this, or if I’ve just been overthinking my grocery habits this whole time.