One of my passions is reducing waste; food waste in particular. I think I have inherited something from my Grandmother who never wasted a scrap of anything! I thought she was stingy at the time. A bit mean maybe but now I realise the wisdom of what she did and I find myself naturally following in her footsteps more and more.
In the UK, we throw away one third of the food we buy which amounts to a staggering 6.7 million tonnes of food every year. Imagine how much money, emissions and packaging we could save if we wasted less food! Put it into your mouth, not into the landfill I say!
Many people think it’s ok to throw food in the landfill; they know it’s biodegradable so it should break down easily, just like a compost bin. The trouble is, the bottom of a landfill site is a pretty airless place and in the absence of oxygen, biodegradable materials such as food decompose and produce methane gas. Methane contributes to global warming and is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
The main reasons we waste food are:
1- Cooking too much then throwing away the extras – Christmas anyone?
2- Buying 3 for 2 offers and not using things before they go off – not such a good deal after all …
3- Impulse buys – supermarkets love us for this
4- Poor portion control – make kitchen scales your new best friend!
If you are throwing away too much food every week here are my tips to make a positive change:
Take an inventory.
It’s time for a reality check. Most people say they don’t throw food away, but when they start making notes, they learn they’re throwing out more than they realise!
For one week write down everything you throw away. Look for patterns and see where you can reduce food waste. What is your culprit? The main ones are bread, yogurt and old fruit and vegetables.
Menu plan
Think about the meals your family enjoys most, make a menu plan for the week and write a list of the ingredients you need.
Use up your leftovers.
From now on change the word ‘leftovers’ to ‘ingredients’! We’re creatures of habit, so base your meals around the things you already have at home instead of going into auto pilot and buying the same things every week. Soft vegetables can be made into soup or pasta sauces. Over ripe fruits can be made into pies or blended to make smoothies. Half a tin of tuna could be tonight’s pasta bake. There are some fantastic recipes on the Abel & Cole site: http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/recipes
Don’t shop when hungry.
Hands up who has shopped when hungry and bought much more than they need!? We’ve all done it, so let’s learn from it. Eat a snack before you start shopping and you won’t be tempted to buy all sorts of excessive and delicious things.
Rotate foods
Put new foods at the BACK of the fridge and cupboards and bring last week’s items to the front so things get used before they go off. See, I learned a lot when I used to work at Sainsbury’s …
Check your fridge.
Check the seals are good and the temperature is set between 1 and 5 degrees. This ensures your fridge will keep your food fresh for as long as possible.
Start a compost heap
If you regularly throw out gone off fruit and vegetables (not from your Abel & Cole box I hope!), turn them into something useful by starting a compost bin.
Portion control.
Instead of scraping food off plates into the bin, encourage your family to take a small portion with the knowledge that they can come back for more. Any leftovers can be covered and stored in the ‘fridge and used the following day. Everyone knows that many foods taste much better a day later anyway.
Got any burning questions about food waste? Ask away and I’ll try and help you. Alternatively take a look at our website, which focuses on helping householders reduce their waste. Each Friday I host a ‘Food Waste Friday’ where I publicly declare all our food waste for the week. Making ourselves accountable has definitely helped! Come and join in at http://myzerowaste.com
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
15 May 2010 at 16:29
Agree, completely, and we take leftovers in for lunch, make soup, add anything and everything to curries, stirfrys, etc. and throw out next to nothing. I see a lot of campaigning re retailers; I wonder also what cafeterias and food service organisations in companies, schools, airlines, etc. can do. My company (2500+ people, in the city, with a large cafeteria and client catering), for example, is generally very receptive to suggestions of how to be more environmentally-friendly, and I’m keen to encourage them use food efficiently, but not sure of the best sources of information and/or organisations to direct them to. Similarly, I’ve spoken with cabin crew on various big airlines, all of whom are keen to do better but who are without the info to help their companies minimise waste. I expect there are health and safety issues but that can’t mean it’s not worth trying. Thanks!
16 May 2010 at 14:54
I laughed at this but it is so well meant.This must be aimed at the 20′s and 30′s. I grew up in the 50′s and what you describe was a normal way of life then. If you grow up like that you continue like that.
Nothing was wasted. It is a shame that supermarkets have led people to buy far more than they need and because there is so much food around and people are better off, they don’t value it at all. This is the result of an affluent society where children have grown up with too much choice and too much on offer
including my own!!.
17 May 2010 at 11:24
Hey jen107
Great point about large retailers and corporations. I know some supermarkets are now working with fareshare http://www.fareshare.org.uk/ to distribute unwanted food to the homeless.
Other companies and schools divert food waste to make energy – not sure how I feel about this as I’m unsure of some of the technology used and I really feel that food should go into hungry stomachs, not power our homes!
There is also a database of places to eat that are ‘eco eaters’ http://www.eco-eating.co.uk/ which again, still means food waste is produced, but at least it’s diverted from landfill.
I think restaurants could benefit from smaller portions a lot of the time with the knowledge people can go back for more if they are hungry – simple but effective, but very hard to implement in a ‘more is more’ consumerist society.
And maybe airlines should look at the quality of food they serve to make it more appetising
Hi grumpy at 61
I agree with you completely – I’m in my late 30s, but was bought up with the idea that’s it’s ok to waste things – I don’t blame my parents for that, it’s just what we did as a sign of ‘affluence’ I suppose. There is now an easy come, easy go attitude towards many thing and I really do value the wisdom and waste-free values of, how do I say this in a PC way – my elders
I don’t pretend that any of what I share is ‘new’; I wouldn’t be that arrogant.
I think it’s crazy that I have to tell people these things; to me it’s common sense, but I think people have given away their power. We are encouraged to be wasteful, we hang on to ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates like gospel instead of using our noses, eyes and sense of taste and we are encouraged to buy more and more.
People I have spoken to are fearful! They are scared of using something up the following day incase they get sick, so if I can help assuage that fear and empower them to save money and food I’ll keep spreading the message.
When you consider that basic home keeping skills are no longer seen as important in schools, we’re not teaching out kids to cook in school or at home much and food is so cheap it’s become a disposable commodity I guess we can understand why we need to share these ‘common sense’ tips again and again.
If I’ve missed anything from the list I would welcome your input as I value what experiences you have to share
17 May 2010 at 18:39
I would add that it saves you money! I have a budget for my Abel & Cole order and stick to it strictly, it involves menu planning (and that doesn’t have to be detailed, either, mine can only vaguely be called a ‘plan’), and sometimes cutting out the odd semi-luxury item to keep to the budget, but I spend a lot less that way compared to going shopping in a supermarket where your impulse is to grab impulsively.
19 May 2010 at 00:28
I live in Bradford and I did hear that it was the worst offender in the country for food wastage.
Well I am not one of them and my dogs will second that.
21 May 2010 at 19:32
Hi Lizzie, you are so right! If the average person really does throw away one third of the food they buy, then it doesn’t take much to work out the huge financial savings from not wasting food. It sounds like your menu ‘plan’ works out brilliantly!
Hi Louise, well done on not following the crowd in your area then! I never knew that about Bradford …
26 May 2010 at 19:53
what I find incredible is the need that the supermarkets have drummed into us about sell by and use by dates – when I was young we never had them and relied on how things looked and smelt to determine that they needed throwing out – so many times my children have tried to throw out things that are a ‘day out of date’ and although I accept we do need to take care in not making ourselves ill many people have completely lost thier connection to food and rely on these dates and throw out perfectly edible food, that said I admit I do waste food and have taken heart from your blogs so thanks..
27 May 2010 at 16:02
Hi Donna, thanks for sharing your thoughts. This is one of my bug bears too! In fact last night my darling husband was eating something with a use by date of 2 weeks ago. he is very much alive and well today
You’re right – we no longer rely on our senses (or indeed or common sense), but on a little date stamped on a packet. We’ve given up our responsibility for many things in our lives …
03 Jun 2010 at 15:06
I used to cook for a small convent of older nuns, they throw nothing away. Any leftovers – even one roast potato is properly wrapped and put in the fridge, someone will eat it as a snack, or the cook will pop it into a meal later in the week. They stored fruit and veg properly, rotated stocks properly, ie bottles of milk kept in order in the fridge, and it was a joy to work with people who have always lived in this traditional manner.
16 Jun 2010 at 08:39
One more thing to add, that really saved lots of food going to waste in my kitchen was to buy a small freezer. Any bread that may not be used up in time, fruit or herbs that may not last the week, even bones for cooking soup – in they go and we use them up within the month. It also meant we could start batch cooking for two people- cook a large pot full, eat lots, feed your neighbours and friends and freeze the rest. You could argue that a freezer swallows engergy, in our case it meant zero waste, (virtually) zero takeaways, no ready-meals and lots of food where we knew no nasties had been added. I would recommend a really small freezer (ours is 50cm squared), otherwise there is the tempation to start hoarding and those ice lollies at the back may see the next century!
21 Jul 2010 at 16:33
Have just been reading this –
Our £17bn waste mountain: Annual bill for throwaway Britain – http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/our-16317bn-waste-mountain-annual-bill-for-throwaway-britain-1935490.html
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