As you may know, statistics about how much food we bin show that our efforts to save food are pretty, well, rubbish. With over a third of the food we produce going to waste globally, and the UK consumer wasting an astounding 19% of the food they buy, it’s clear that this is something needs to be addressed.
A lot of the food waste starts at home. According to Love Food Hate Waste, the average British household will throw away around £60 worth of food a month.
Shop Smart
1 – Buy exactly what you need
– Over a third of us go shopping without a list, meaning we are far more likely to pick up things that we don’t actually need and end up wasting food. If you have time, try planning your meals and going into the supermarket with at least a vague idea of what you need, which will also save you money!
– If you are cooking from a recipe, try and purchase exact amounts of, e.g fruit and veg, by buying loose at the supermarket rather than packaged together in a big bag. Likewise, try buying grains, nuts and spices from bulk bins if you can, so you can
2 – At Home
– FIFO (First in, First Out) is a great method for organising your fridge/ freezer /cupboard. When you unpack your shopping, move your older food to the top shelf or to a more prominent place. This way, food won’t be lurking in the back of the fridge until it’s too late!
– Make a list of what is in the freezer and the date it was frozen and stick it on the freezer door for easy reference.
3 – Resurrection Meals
– Design one meal a week where you use up all your leftover food. You can either have a hotch-potch sort of dinner to save you cooking one night a week, or you can get creative and turn the leftovers into a pie, soup or omelette.
– Or make lots of small plates from your leftovers.. leftover tapas!
4 – Check your fridge temperature
– According to one statistic, 70% of us set our fridges at too high a temperature, meaning our food can go bad faster. Keeping your fridge between 1-5 degrees celsius keeps your food at its best for as long as possible. Most modern fridges have a temperature gauge, but if not you can invest in a fridge thermometer.
5- Step away from the bin
– There is no need to treat expiration dates as sacred. ‘Use-by’ dates are often more of an indication from the manufacturer of when food reaches its peak quality. If you store food properly, most of it will still be edible after the use-by date. Obviously, it requires a bit of common sense and products like meat and dairy differ from fruit and veg., but if it looks, smells and tastes OK, it’s probably fine!
– If you find you are throwing away lots of crackers, biscuits or cereals, store them in an airtight container so they don’t go off so quickly. While you are at it, check that the seals on all the containers and food bags in the fridge are still airtight.
