Did you know that every year in the UK alone, we throw away 4.2 million tonnes of good food every year? I have to admit that we have been guilty of throwing away food especially when we were hosting a party or on the occasions that we forgot about the food in the cupboard or fridge!
Love Food Hate Waste would love to raise the awareness of the need to reduce food waste and help us take action. So they came up with these 5 golden tips to help families to waste less food which will ultimately benefit our purses and the environment too. Discover more at Love Food Hate Waste.
Here are the five tips:
- Plan meals in advance. Write out and plan what you would like to cook for the week. I always ask my children for input and try to make it a nice family meal for them. Also write your shopping list and buy what you need and not what you want. I often write a list and check through my cupboard to make sure I don’t buy extra. You can either download the shopping list and/or meal planner from Love Food Hate Waste.
- Savvy storage. Recently, I had reviewed FoodSaver which helps keep food fresh for a very long time and it can be a space saver for your fridge/freezer. It also means you cook only the portion that you need and you can also boil the bag at low temperature. I like to buy in bulk as it saves money and at the same time, I am able to divide the portions accordingly. Additionally, I always store my vegetables in the fridge to keep them fresher.
- Know your dates. Did you know that there is only 36% of us who correctly understand the term ‘use by’? Use by dates are for safety so you can eat right up to the date or freeze for another time but don’t eat past it if not freezing. Best before dates are just for quality, so you can eat these foods after this date. Just like this photo of these potatoes, they will be fine to eat after the best before. So be sensible and check the food before you cook or eat it.
- Perfect portions. Try to calculate each individual portion before you cook it. Buying the whole bag of potatoes, does not mean you need to cook it in a day. Whenever I cook, I do try to measure the amount of food I need to use.
- Use your leftovers. In our house, we hardly have any leftovers but whenever we do, we will make sure that we make good use of it the very next day. Sometimes, we will use it for our sandwiches or use it as a topping ingredient for our noodles. Alternatively we may freeze it until we need to use it.
Every day in UK homes, we throw away approximately 5.8 million whole potatoes. There are a few ways to stop wasting potatoes. Firstly, remove the potatoes from their plastic bags and wrap them in paper bags/newspaper. Then store them in a cool place and away from sunlight. I also hear that using an apple will stop the potatoes from sprouting and last longer. Lastly, never keep potatoes near onion as they will spoil easily. Do give these tips a try and see for yourself.
If you have leftover chicken, you could turn them into lovely pie, sandwich filling, topping and many more! Watch it here: https://youtu.be/1wRIbIYb6e4
Disclosure: We have received a shopping voucher to do this challenge. We are member of Markettiers4dc.
Nice post, I always make sure not to through food or make something with leftover food.
I do try to stick to these myself and we have hardly any food waste at all when I do.