What A Waste!

Hello,

How are you all? Its still nice and sunny here in Melbourne! I have recently been reading about food wastage, and I was shocked  to find that that supermarkets are throwing away a large amount of food  due to customer fussiness, past sell by dates and poor storage. I read that almost 50% of the worlds food is wasted, and that preventing food waste could save the average family over $1000AUD (680GBP). I couldn't believe how much of an environmental and economical impact food wastage has, so here is some advice to help us all reduce our wastage, and our carbon footprint.

Household food waste

 Source  

Bread	32%
Vegetables	24%
Potatoes	24%
Fruit	20%
Cereal Products	17%
Desserts	14%
Meat and Fish	13%
Dairy and Eggs	8.5%
Soft Drinks	7.1%
Alcoholic Drinks	6.3%

How to prevent wastage

Planning your meals each week and sticking to a shopping list is a great way to ensure you only buy the ingredients you need, therefore you are less likely to overload your fridge with unnecessary items. It is also advised to do little shops more often rather than do a big weekly shop, as you are more likely to over buy if you are estimating a weeks worth of food. 

Dish out smaller portions, if you are still hungry then get some more from the pan, if not freeze the leftovers.  

Clean your fridge and keep it in order, the ideal fridge temperature is between 1-5 C. It is also a good idea to put your older food to the front of the fridge so you don't forget about it. 

Check your bags of potatoes, apples and onions ETC before storing them, as one bad one will ruin the lot!

What to do with leftovers

Wasting food usually comes down to convenience, it is much easier to pop to the shops, than to make a meal out of what is in your fridge. So here is a great tip, the next time you are stumped for meal ideas just put the ingredients you have into this website and you will be amazed at what you can easily cook up.

We are all guilty of throwing food away and not giving it a second thought, but instead of putting food straight into the bin, why not start a compost heap? Compost is a cheap and effective way of feeding your garden and will reduce your food waste at the same time! If you do not have a garden, make sure you have an organic waste bin, and once full take it down to your nearest    recycle center where it will be turned into compost for you .

Make sure you store your leftovers well, cover them over with cling wrap or foil and wait until they are cool before putting them in your fridge or freezer.   

Pre-cooked food can be left in the freezer for up to three months! So if you have left over lasagna you can freeze some for another time rather than having it three nights in a row. As well as this you will have a ready-made meal in the freezer when you are in a rush, or simply can’t be bothered to cook (win win situation!).

Recipe Ideas (can be found on the recipe page)  

· Old bananas can be made in to a scrummy banana cake.

· Old fruit into a healthy morning smoothie or a delicious fruit pie.

· Old vegetables into a warming soup or stew.

· Old bread can be chopped up and baked to make croutons.

 So the next time you go to put your food in the bin, think twice and recycle what you can. 

Thanks for reading, please feel free to leave a comment. 

Sarah

xxx

How do you handle your waste? Please leave a comment below.