Did you know that in Australia over 5 million tonnes of food ends up as landfill, enough to fill 9,000 Olympic sized swimming pools or around one in five shopping bags. This costs the average household around $3,800 worth of groceries each year. With some simple hints and tips you could easily reduce your food wastage. What would you do with an extra $3,800 per year?
We've got our hints and tips from The European Food Information Council who are a non-profit organisation and a group of passionate scientists and communication experts. Find out what they have to say and check out their website for more useful hints and tips. Links below.
1. Only buy what you need
It’s only a bargain if we can use the food in time! ‘Buy-one-get-one-free’ and other bulk deals lead to buying more than we need, shifting the waste from the store to our home. In food waste terms, it’s wise not to buy more than needed.
Simple ‘grandma’s’ tricks can help us stay focused when shopping for food include.
Prepare a meal plan for the week.
Use a shopping list, noting the amounts required.
Factor in potential eating out occasions.
2. Understand ‘use by’ vs ‘best before’ dates
The ‘use by’ date on packaged food tells us when it is still safe to eat the product. The use-by date is usually found on perishable foods such as chilled meat, dairy, and ready-made meals. To avoid wasting food these should be purchased when, and in the amount, necessary. It’s best not to stock up.
‘Best before’ dates are more flexible than use by date. After this date, foods such as dried beans, lentils, and pasta, can be consumed safely, although their quality may have decreased (for example, changes in flavour, colour, texture). Trusting our senses should be sufficient to detect the quality of foods with these labels.
3. Use what you have
Not-wasting is not that complicated!
Check what’s in the fridge and cupboards regularly and use up foods nearing their expiry dates.
Rotate food stores when fresh groceries arrive, so that those with nearer expiry dates are closer and visible.
Combine any vegetables left into a ‘clean-out-the-fridge’ pot of pasta, soup, omelette, or stir fry. We get to enjoy a new recipe and avoid throwing out good food.
Freeze food before its date. Frozen fruits can make a nice addition to smoothies!
4. Avoid serving too much
Here are some simple practices that help:
Serve small portions and come back for seconds, rather than scraping excess food from our plates into the bin.
Use leftovers for lunch the next day.
Freeze for later. For tastiest results, frozen leftovers should be used within three months (more on how to safely handle them here).2
Not enough leftovers for a whole meal? Mix and match from different meals, add some salad or bread, and a feast appears before us!
5. Know your moulds
If mould appears, whether we can still ‘rescue’ the food depends on what it is. The following general rules can help us know what to do.
Hard foods should be safe to consume once the mouldy part is removed along with the surrounding area. This includes hard cheeses, hard cured meats (such as salami and ham) and firm fruits and vegetables (such as cabbages bell peppers, root vegetables).
Soft foods should be thrown out once they start to mould. This includes cooked leftovers, soft cheeses, yoghurts and other dairy products, bread, jams and soft fruits and veggies (such as cucumbers, peaches, tomatoes, berries and so on).3 This is because mould can spread in soft foods (and we might not even see it).
6. Share extra food with others
If the food is still safe, our nature as social beings can play a part in the solution.
Ask around, friends or colleagues could make use of what we won’t.
Check if there are food banks around that accept donations and distribute them to people in need.
Invite neighbours over for a meal, it’s not only a nice way to gain new friends.
7. Repurpose waste where possible
Try to repurpose food scraps before they make it to the compost bin. Broccoli stems can be chopped and cooked just as well as the florets, and other scraps can be transformed into homemade stock!
For what can’t be saved composting is a natural process where microorganisms biodegrade food waste, turning it into a dark, earthy, nutrient-rich material that promotes healthy soil.
Community composting and separate food waste bins are a step in the right direction. We can check with our local government, to see what kind of food waste collection is available.
Or we can feed our own garden! Compost is an affordable organic alternative to purchased fertiliser, but it’s best to stick to plant-based foods (as meat and animal products could lead to undesired odours and pest visitors).4
Check out some more hints and tips from The European Food Information Council here - www.eufic.org
Comments