Stop food waste

As a nation, we love food. We eat a lot, whether dining out or at home. We can be quite fussy about where we eat and where we shop, yet in U.K. households we waste approx. 6.5 million tons of food every year, 4.5 million of which is edible (that’s enough to fill 38 million wheelie bins). Crazy isn’t it!

At least one third of all edible food produced across the world is never eaten, that’s enough to feed 2 billion people - just over a quarter of the world’s population! Global food waste generates 22 million tons of greenhouse gases - that’s four times more than all aeroplanes put together!

We all have a responsibility to reduce food waste benefiting the environment and saving ourselves money at the same time. On average, a family of four could save around £60 a month by reducing their food waste. So, what can we do?

Love your food

• By using up every edible bit of your food, you’re doing your bit to look after the environment.
• Wake up your wilted veg in a bowl of cold water, after half an hour they’ll be good as new!
• Most of the nutritional value of potatoes and apples is in the skin itself. There’s no need to peel these, they add great flavour and there’s no unnecessary waste!
• Not keen on the end slices of bread? They make perfect mini pizza bases.
• Not sure how to store leftovers? Here is an easy to read storage directory - LoveFoodHateWaste

Buy what you need

• Make sure you’re checking what you’ve already got before shopping to save “an extra just in case”; we all buy too much food at times.
• Plan your portions, prepare the right amount every time. Here is a handy portion calculator you can use at home - PortionPlanner

Get freezer friendly!

• It’s safe to freeze food right up to the use-by date and then defrost in the fridge when you want it.
• 81.25% of the fruit we waste is wasted because we haven’t used it in time; freeze your fruit to stop this happening. Use frozen fruits in desserts or smoothies.
• We waste around 4.4 million potatoes everyday in U.K homes. Much of this wastage is because we cook, prepare or serve too much. Just freeze the leftovers for another day’s mash, roasties or chips.
• Freeze milk as soon as possible after buying, just shake well before using again.
• Approx. 20 million slices of bread go to waste every day in the U.K. You can toast bread straight from the freezer and tastes just as great!

Just put a little more thought into what you do with your food and you could make a huge impact.

Source: https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/why-save-food

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