Food waste is a major issue. We throw away 7 million tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year, the majority of which could have been eaten. It’s costing us £12.5bn a year and is bad for the environment too.
Love Food Hate Waste aims to raise awareness of the need to reduce food waste and help us take action. By doing some easy practical everyday things in the home we can all waste less food, which will ultimately benefit our purses and the environment too
Every day in UK homes we throw away, equivalent to approximately:
5.8 million whole potatoes
1.4 million whole bananas
1.5 million whole tomatoes
24 million whole slices of bread
1.5 million sausages
1.9 million slices of ham
1.1 million eggs
Here are 5 top tips to help us all to reduce our food waste. Even making one small change can help to reduce food waste and save money.
1. It pays to Plan
Planning your meals is one of the most effective ways you can cut wastage and food bills. Start by checking your fridge, freezer and store cupboard, and before you go shopping, write a list so you don’t shop for things you already have. Get the kids to help and to suggest what meals they’d like to have that week. Then you can work out a weekly meal plan.
2. Know your dates
As well as keeping up with all the social dates in your diary, don’t forget to keep an eye on the dates in your fridge too. Use up foods with the shortest dates first, and when shopping check to see if fresh foods can be frozen in case you don’t get round to eating them over the week. Best before dates are for quality, so you can eat these foods after this date, they just may no longer be at their best. Use by dates are for safety, you can eat or freeze foods right up to the use by date. Try printing our ‘at a glance’ guide to date labels and sticking it on the fridge as a handy reminder.
3. Savvy storage
Most of us think we know how to store food but this is often based on habit and not on what’s best for our food. Most foods can be frozen for another time, and you can always freeze right up to the use-by date (when you need it just defrost overnight in the fridge and use within 24 hours). Ensure your vegetables are at their best for longer by keeping them in the fridge (except potatoes and onions); most veg will stay fresher for longer stored in the fridge in the pack or bag they came in.Top storage tips for your carrots, your bread, in fact all your food can be found here.
4. Lovely Leftovers
Forgotten foods such as the wrinkly old tomato at the back of the fridge or the leftover portion of pasta which usually sits in the fridge waiting to be thrown away could be turned into a tasty supper dish or a free lunch. Try our tasty recipes for turning leftovers into great new meals.
5. Perfect Portions
Catering for family and friends, not to mention unexpected guests, often leaves us unsure of how much to cook. Our portion calculator and party portions guide, removes the guess work by suggesting how much to cook.
For more information please visit:
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