5 Ways To Waste Less Food At Home.

Here at nuddy, we know that it’s never been more important to protect our lovely planet. We all know that flying, fast fashion, and red meat have a big environmental impact, but what about wasting food?

According to Love Food Hate Waste, 70% of the food wasted in the UK comes from our homes, totalling 4.5 million tonnes of edible food thrown in the bin every year. It takes a lot of water, soil, energy, and land to produce food, so wasting food also means wasting all those resources as well. In fact, wasting food creates six times more greenhouse gas emissions than global aviation!

But changing this is super simple. This week is Food Waste Action Week, so we have rounded up five key things we can all do to waste as little food as possible… saving the planet and a bit of money at the same time.

1. Eat every bit.

Ever binned your bread crusts? Always peeling carrots before you roast them? Small things like this add up to a lot of wasted food! Next time you cook, think about how you can use every edible bit.

• Make mash with the skin left on – trust us, it’s a game changer.
• Broccoli stalks are just as yummy as the florets, and contain more calcium, iron, and Vitamin C than the floret. Slice them up for your next stir-fry!
• Bread crusts make the best soldiers, or can be chopped up and fried in oil to make croutons.

2. Stay cool.

Hands up who has checked their fridge temperature recently? It’s not something we often think about, but if your fridge is too warm, it could be making your food go ‘off’ too fast. Dial down to 0–5⁰C to keep your food fresh for longer.

Pro tip: if you’ve got hot leftovers you want to keep for tomorrow, let them cool down to room temperature before they go in the fridge. This will stop everything else in your fridge getting hot, hot, hot.

3. Freezey does it.

Almost all foods can be frozen, so if the temptation for a takeaway is too strong (no judgement here), you can pop your fresh food in the freezer for another time. Bread’s a great example – freeze slices and grab a couple at a time whenever you fancy toast.

Did you know that you can also freeze cheese? 3.1 million slices worth of cheese end up in the bin every day in UK homes (say what?!), but freezing is a super quick way to stop this happening. Grate it and freeze in an airtight container, then grab a handful whenever you need some for pasta, toast, mash… or just to nibble on its own!

4. Ice and easy.

Ice cube trays are the absolute MVP when it comes to wasting less food. Too much milk? Pour some into an ice cube tray and freeze – this gives you the perfect amount for your morning brew! You can do the same with fresh herbs: add chopped herbs to your ice cube tray and top up with some oil, and next time you cook you can chuck one of these in the pan.

Try this with any leftover sauces. From Bolognese sauce to stock and gravy, this is a great and simple way to save food from the bin.

5. It’s a date!

Date labels can help you enjoy your food at its best. 

• ‘Use by’ is about safety. Your food might smell okay after this, but it won’t be safe to eat. Remember – you can freeze food right up to this date!
• ‘Best before’ is about quality. You’ll probably enjoy your food more before this date, but it will still be safe to eat afterwards.

Wasting food means wasting your money, the time it took to grow it, and all those precious resources. Taking action to waste less is something all of us can do, whatever diet we keep – all these small changes add up to a big difference for our environment. 

If you would like to find about more about Food Waste Action Week, check out the work of the amazing Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) here.

 Image from WRAP- Food Waste Action Week.