7 ways to reduce food waste at home

 Hey readers, 

Did you know that Brits throw out a whopping £19 billion of food every year. This equates to 9.5 tones and 22% of the food we purchase ends up in the bin. We need to do something to reduce this and we can all do our bit so check out my 8 tips below on how to reduce food waste at home.

 

1. Avoid buying too much.

One of the simplest ways to avoid food waste as a consumer is to buy less.

A packed fridge may look appealing, but it may lead to food waste if the household cannot eat all of the food.

Taking a couple of shorter trips to the grocery store each week rather than one longer trip may prevent people from buying too much food and help cut back on waste.

2. Pick ugly fruit and vegetables.

Don’t judge food by its appearance! Oddly-shaped or bruised fruits and vegetables are often thrown away because they don’t meet arbitrary cosmetic standards. Don’t worry - they taste the same! Use mature fruit for smoothies, juices and desserts.

3. Love your list.

Make a shopping list (the easiest way is to keep it in the kitchen and add to it as you think of things) and stick to it when you go shopping. Plan ahead and shop with specific meals in mind.

4. Make a weekly menu.

Making a meal menu for the week may help some people organize their food usage and cut back on waste.

Using online tools or cookbooks to help plan out meals for the week can a person compile an accurate shopping list.

It may take a few weeks for each household to get the menu right, but having a set weekly menu might help some people reduce the guesswork around meals and avoid wasting food.

5. Know the foods that go off first. 

Keep an eye on the perishable items (such as meats, fish and salads), because that's the stuff that will go off more quickly. Your non-perishable items don't need as much attention.

This will take away the stress of using all of your ingredients and draw attention to the fresh items which will end up in the bin faster than, say, a bag of rice.

Remember:

'Best before' refers to quality, so after that date, it'll be safe but might not be at its best.

'Use by' refers to safety so after this date you mustn't eat it, even if it looks and smells OK.

4. Don't shop on an empty stomach. 

If you are hungry you're more likely to impulse-buy treats that you don't need (and that could end up in the bin). 

5. Buy foods that are in season.

Foods that are in season are more likely to taste better, which means you’re more likely to eat them! As well, food that is in the season hasn’t spent as much time in transport from the farm to your plate, so it has had less time to potentially spoil and become waste.

6. Need vs Deal.

Buy 1 get 1 free deals can be so tempting. It’s easy to get lost in the feeling of victory when you spot a good bargain. Remember - a smart shopper takes advantage of deals, don’t let the deals take advantage of you! 

7. Try not to cook too many food items that can’t be reused. 

I would always try and create ‘table abundance’ by cooking foods that can be easily reused, so keep away from things like dressed salads and stick to cooking root vegetables, which easily turned into a soup or broth the next day.

8. Bring lunch from home.

Packing a lunch from home can reduce food waste majorly. Whether it’s last night’s leftovers, a fresh, or even some fruit, packing food for the day means you don’t need to buy any unnecessary, single-use plastic and you have a set portion size. Plus, it decreases home leftovers and waste!

Have I missed any tips on how to reduce food waste at home? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section down below. 

 

Cheers for reading X