Fighting Food Waste
The impact of food waste
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7.1m tonnes of food and drink is wasted from UK households each year
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Each day, the UK throws away 24m slices of bread and 4.4m potatoes
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If food waste were a county, it would have the third biggest carbon footprint after the USA and China
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Wasted food accounts for more than 30% of Worcestershire’s black bin waste
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By reducing food waste, the average household could save over £700 a year.
Planning
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Make a list on paper or your phone
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Check cupboards, fridge and freezer before shopping. Take a “shelfie” to
help you remember
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Cook double and keep half for later in the week – freeze to keep for longer
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Don’t buy for every day – allow for a “leftovers night” or if your plans change
TOP TIP: the free app and website ‘Yummly’ searches thousands of recipes from across the internet and creates an automatic shopping list, which allows
you to tick off items you have before going shopping
Shop sharp
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Just buy for a couple of days at a time to reduce waste
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Stick to your list while shopping and avoid offers unless you’ll definitely
use them
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Buy loose fruit and veg where you can
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Buying wonky veg reduces food waste and can be cheaper in some supermarkets
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Consider buying veg boxes from “Odd Box” which uses up fruit and veg rejected by supermarkets
TOP TIP: grab free food from shops and cafes with the OLIO app or cut price food from restaurants and shops via ‘Too Good to Go’
Know your dates
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“Sell by” and “Display until” are only labels for retailers, so ignore them!
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“Best before” just means it might taste dry or have less flavour after this date
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“Use by” indicates food safety, so it is not advisable to eat it after this date, especially meat, fish and dairy
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Check dates and eat food with the shortest dates first – freeze if you won’t use in time
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Food can be frozen right up to the “Use by” date
For more information on reducing your
waste please visit www.letswasteless.com
Perfect portions
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Weigh or measure your food – work out the right amount for you
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Encourage people to serve themselves from dishes at the table
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A mug, tablespoon, spaghetti/rice measurer and simple scales are all
you need
TOP TIP: Use the Love Food Hate Waste portion calculator if you’re not sure how much to cook or are cooking for more people than usual (especially at Christmas) www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
Love your leftovers
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Check cupboards/freezer before meal planning to use up what you have
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Freeze leftovers in portion sizes meals
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Have a good store of canned, dried and frozen foods to use with leftover food
TOP TIP: Forget searching through cookbooks for recipes, type your leftover ingredients into the search bar of the
‘BBC Good Food’ or ‘Yummly’ websites
to find recipes
Savvy storage
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Keep out air and moisture by keeping food in bags or boxes
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Don’t keep milk in the door as it’s the warmest part of the fridge
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Keep the cold in by closing the fridge door quickly and not putting warm
food in
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Remember to label and date food before freezing to avoid any “UFO’s” (Unidentified Frozen Objects)
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Freeze food in 1 or 2 portion sizes
– it will freeze faster and defrost quicker (empty plastic takeaway tubs are great as usually one portion size)
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All foods can be frozen, even bananas
TOP TIP: Fridges work better at 0-5°C, yet a recent study showed the average one was running at 7°C
Share
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£500m worth of food is thrown
away in the UK each year when we
go on holiday
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Share unwanted food through the OLIO app or the growing number of community fridges (visit www.hubbub.org for their locations)
TOP TIP: Start a food sharing network in your street, village or town by getting more people to use the OLIO app. Just snap a photo, post and share!
Recycle
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Recycle your food waste by turning it into nutrient rich compost for your garden, window boxes or pots. Standard “Dalek” bins. Bokashi, wormery, HotBin or Green Cone – there’s a home composting solution for everyone!
For more information on reducing your
waste please visit www.letswasteless.com