When moving away from home for the first time you might be taking on more responsibility for picking and preparing your food that you’ve had previously. So, how can you help and do your bit to avoid food waste, and save yourself from wasting money at the same time? We’ve put together some simple tips and tricks to help.
According to the Biffa website in 2019 the UK was producing the highest amount of food waste in Europe, with an estimated 14 million tonnes each year. The website goes on to say that 13% of edible food and drinks purchased by households are wasted, and in 2015 the amount of edible food wasted was valued at £13.5 billion, an average of £540 per household.
When moving away from home for the first time you might be taking on more responsibility for picking and preparing your food that you’ve had previously. So, how can you help and do your bit to avoid food waste, and save yourself from wasting money at the same time? We’ve put together some simple tips and tricks to help.
- Know the difference between use-by dates and best before dates - A use-by date on food is about safety. The best before date is about quality, try freezing it to keep it for longer.
- Plan your meals – think about what dinners you are going to make for the week and make a shopping list so that you only buy what is needed for those meals.
- Buy wonky – misshapen fruit and veg often gets left behind in the supermarket but it tastes the same and some places even sell it cheaper.
- Consider buying short shelf-life food – supermarkets often reduce food getting close to its use-by date so if you know you can use it before then then grab yourself a bargain.
- Utilise food waste prevention apps – apps like Too Good To Go and OLIO have discounted food, or people listing food they don’t want or can’t use before the use-by date.
- Store your food correctly – it sounds obvious but correctly storing food will help prolong its life, so keep bread in a cool, dark place; wrap and chill cheese; keep gaseous products (such as bananas and avocados) away from other fruit and veg as they will make them turn bad quicker.
- Freeze & batch cooking – for those days when you’re really not in the mood having something you’ve already cooked can be a life saver, so consider doing some batch cooking and freezing the portions.
- Composting – where possible put your fruit and veg scraps into a compost bin.
Have we missed anything? If you have any other tips or tricks that we haven’t covered then we’d love to hear from you by commenting below.