Food Waste is a HUGE issue. How huge? Well, 1/3 of all edible food produced is wasted. That’s about 1.3 billion tonnes globally.
1Thankfully fighting food waste is EASY. In fact, it’s easy as. That means on a scale of easiness, it’s easier than finding matching socks, balancing on one leg, or folding a fitted sheet!
2So easy in fact, that a few simple changes can help you greatly reduce the $3800 wasted by the average Aussie household every year. That’s a lot of dollarydoos.
3
Believe it or not, cutting down on food waste starts before you even buy food. Checking what you already have in your kitchen is a great way to get the ball rolling.
Before you shop, try and plan your meals around the things you already have. When you shop, write a list. This will stop you from buying things you don’t need.
Storing food correctly is another easy way to cut down on waste. This means things like using airtight containers, keeping your fridge below five degrees and freezing foods before their use-by dates.
Don’t forget about the freezer. Try cooking from the freezer once a week.
It pays to know the difference between ‘best before’ and ‘use-by’. Food past its best before date is still good to go. Food past its use-by date may be unsafe to consume.
However, it’s always worth consulting your senses for a second opinion. If it smells bad, it’s probably bad (unless it’s something like a durian – which smells like a fart but tastes like heaven).
Getting creative in the kitchen is a fun way to reduce your food waste. Start treating your pantry and fridge like a mystery bag, asking yourself what you can create with what you already have. Try listening to the Ready, Steady, Cook theme to get your creative juices flowing.
Don’t be scared of sad looking produce. There are plenty of recipes that can take your old, bruised, wilting and wrinkled food and transform them into something beautiful. Throw your mushy tomatoes into a rich pasta sauce, your wilting greens into a frittata and your wise, old cauli into a soup.
Don’t neglect your leftovers. They have feelings too. And if they could talk, they would tell you to turn them into something else. There’s no reason to throw out perfectly good food – why waste the time, effort and money?
Use leftover roast chicken for soup, roast veggies in a couscous salad, and rice to make arancini. And remember, if you’re stuck for ideas, there’s always the humble toasted sandwich.
It’s never been more important to join the fight. It’s easy as.
Check out our partners for more recipes and tips on how you can cut down on your food waste and what to do with unavoidable food waste.
Fighting food waste also reduces your environmental footprint, with wasted food generating nearly 20 million tonnes of C02 every year in Australia.
If food waste was a country, it would be the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gas (and last on our travel bucket list).
