The last Wednesday in April is ‘Stop Food Waste Day‘; an annual day of action to inspire and educate in the fight against global food waste. We’ve put together some tips to help you reduce your household food waste every day.
When managing waste of any kind, we can apply the three R’s of sustainability – reduce, reuse and recycle.
Reduce
The first step to reducing your household food waste is knowing what you are wasting. Track what is getting thrown away – make a note each time something you intended to eat ends up in your food caddy, bin or compost. Can you spot any patterns?
- Always throwing away sprouting potatoes? Cut them off and eat them anyway or trying buying loose and get only what you need.
- Slimy salad bags getting thrown out every week? Whole vegetables like lettuce and carrots will stay fresh longer than pre-prepared bags (and it’s cheaper). Try growing your own salad leaves in large pots – cut and come again varieties are perfect to ensure a regular supply of fresh leafy greens.
Avoid over buying by doing a stock check before you go shopping – then only buy what you need. Planning your meals for the week to include what you already have in the fridge and cupboards can significantly reduce your food waste. Don’t forget to include a ‘leftover night’ and a ‘bottom of the fridge’ meal before your next shop.
Become a ‘compleater’, eating as much as possible of all foods. I used to top and tail carrots, but now I just eat all of them and consider it extra fibre. Same for apples – only the pips and stalk are left for the compost.
- Save the tops of strawberries (yes, including the green part), freeze and add to smoothies
- Freeze the ends of cheese or parmesan rinds and add to sauces or soups
- Blitz broccoli and cauliflower stems in the food processor or grate them and add to pasta sauce
- Leave the peel on veggies as much as possible or use them to make veg broth – do the same with meat or fish skin and bones for stock
Take a look at our blog for more ideas on eating from root to fruit.
Reuse
Reusing when it comes to food waste means getting creative with leftovers or preserving food that you aren’t going to eat in time. Freezing, pickling, jamming, fermenting and drying are excellent ways to extend the shelf-life of your food. Having an ‘eat first’ shelf or area of the fridge can be helpful, especially if you have a busy household.
If you love trying new recipes, don’t go out and buy all of the specific ingredients each time – instead try searching for substitutes that you do have – the internet is your friend here. Alternatively, reach for the Good Food Oxfordshire Cooking Toolkit for tips on cooking without a recipe. Soups and omlettes or ‘allettes’ are excellent ways to use whatever is left in the fridge at the end of the week.
Another way to reuse is to offer your excess to friends or neighbours, online via platforms like Freegle and Olio, or to your local community foodbank. You could also feed your chickens or other animals, but remember that feeding them with food meant for you is generally more expensive and shouldn’t be your go to solution.
Recycle
Composting and anaerobic digestion are great ways to generate useful products from inedible food waste like egg shells and tea leaves, but recycling should be the absolute last resort for food you intended to eat. It still wastes money and resources (water, energy, time etc.) used to grow and transport the food.
We need to value our food and not think of recycling as a ‘guilt’ or ‘waste’ free solution. Save your grocery receipts and work out the actual cost of the food you are wasting over a week – multiply this up to a month or a year and you might be surprised. Go a step further and convert the cost to the hours you worked to earn that money!
Food waste of any kind should not be put in your general waste bin. Most general waste in Oxfordshire is burned to produce electricity – food waste has a high water content and so makes the process much less efficient. Request a free food waste caddy from Oxford City Council if you don’t already have one, but take the ‘inedible only’ challenge when using it.
For more tips and recipes to reduce your food waste,
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