Love food, hate waste
Did you know that every month UK households each throw away an average £50 worth of food that could have been eaten?
But by making a few changes we could all feel the benefit in our pockets.
Plan ahead
Save time and money by checking what's already in the cupboard, fridge and freezer before you go shopping.
Checkout the lovefoodhatewaste.com website for recipe ideas using the food you already have − look under 'recipes' and 'what food needs using up'.
Know your dates
Food can be eaten right up to the end of the use-by date.
Best before dates are for quality so you can still eat them after this date.
Eggs are the exception − don't eat them after the date.
Savvy storage
Most of your fruit and veg will keep fresher for longer stored in a fridge between one and five degrees.
Leftovers, wrapped or put in air-tight containers, can be kept in the fridge for two days.
Milk, yogurt, cheese and bread can all be frozen.
Onions and potatoes kept in a dark, dry environment will keep longer. Storage bags can be bought.
Perfect portions
Guessing the amount when it comes to things like rice, pasta and porridge oats almost always leads to cooking too much, eating too much and spending too much.
Ditch the guesswork − buy a spaghetti measurer, use the kitchen scales and remember that a mug of dried rice will do for four adults once cooked − it swells to three times its size.
Love your leftovers
Being creative with leftovers leads to lovely new meals.
The lovefoodhatewaste.com website has a tool that helps you find recipes for your leftovers. Sunday roast leftovers can be used in many dishes − like sandwich fillings, bubble and squeak, curries, risottos, soups and stews.
Fruit that's past its best is great for cooking.
Try making berry compote (to go with ice cream), apple sauce, banana bread or orange cake.
Be green
Food waste is not only damaging to your pocket. It's a terrible waste that has serious environmental consequences.
Just think about all the energy, water and packaging used in food production, refrigeration, transport and storage. This all goes to waste when we throw away perfectly good food.
Wasted food will most likely end up in a landfill site, where, rather than harmlessly decomposing as many people think, it rots and releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
If we stopped wasting food which could have been eaten, it would have the same impact on carbon emissions as taking one in four cars off UK roads.
Related documents
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