Short answer
Yes, deliberately wasting good food is a sin: it is israf (extravagance), which the Quran forbids. The Sunnah teaches picking up a dropped morsel, finishing your plate and wiping the bowl, because you do not know where the blessing lies. Throwing away food that has gone bad is not waste.
Throwing away edible food that could be eaten or given away is israf and is sinful. Discarding spoiled or unsafe food is not.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
The Quran says: eat and drink, but do not be excessive, for Allah does not love those who commit excess. It calls those who waste brothers of the devils. Food is a blessing from Allah, and throwing it away out of carelessness is ingratitude.
The Prophet ﷺ taught that if a morsel falls, you should remove any dirt from it and eat it, and not leave it for Shaytan. He told people to lick their fingers and clean the plate, because you do not know which part of your food holds the blessing. He also said that food for two is enough for three.
Practical ways to follow this:
- cook and serve what will be eaten, and add more later rather than piling plates;
- at buffets, weddings and iftars, take small amounts and go back if you need to;
- keep and reuse leftovers, or give them to neighbours or a food bank;
- take restaurant leftovers home;
- give scraps to animals or compost them rather than binning them.
Eating past fullness just to avoid waste is not the answer: overeating has its own ruling (see is overeating haram). The four schools agree that wasting food is blameworthy. On wealth more widely see is it haram to waste money.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-A'raaf 7:31
۞ يَٰبَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ خُذُوا۟ زِينَتَكُمْ عِندَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍۢ وَكُلُوا۟ وَٱشْرَبُوا۟ وَلَا تُسْرِفُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُسْرِفِينَ ﴿٣١﴾
O children of Adam, take your adornment at every masjid, and eat and drink, but be not excessive. Indeed, He likes not those who commit excess.
Excess in food and drink is forbidden.
Quran, Surah Al-Israa 17:27
إِنَّ ٱلْمُبَذِّرِينَ كَانُوٓا۟ إِخْوَٰنَ ٱلشَّيَٰطِينِ ۖ وَكَانَ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنُ لِرَبِّهِۦ كَفُورًۭا ﴿٢٧﴾
Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils, and ever has Satan been to his Lord ungrateful.
Wastefulness is condemned.
Sahih Muslim 2033
Sahih... فليمط ما كان بها من أذى وليأكلها ولا يدعها للشيطان ...
"Let him remove any dirt from it and eat it, and not leave it for Shaytan."
Even a dropped morsel should not be wasted.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5392
Sahih... طعام الاثنين كافي الثلاثة ...
"Food for two is enough for three."
Sharing food rather than wasting it.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, Kitab al-Karahiyya, chapter on eating and drinking. Picking up fallen crumbs and avoiding israf in food are part of the manners of eating.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.