War on waste

Food Waste: Reduce food waste and your carbon footprint

A third of the food we buy goes into the bin. Marissa-Catherine Carrarini gives her top tips for avoiding leftovers

Every year, UK households waste 6.7 million tonnes of mostly edible food – that’s the equivalent of binning a third of all the food we buy. Not only is this money down the drain – £420 for the average UK household – it is also bad for the planet.

Most binned food ends up in landfill, where it rots and releases harmful methane gas. That’s a big problem, says Liz Goodwin, chief executive of The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP). “If we could halt the amount of food being wasted, it would be the same as taking one in five cars off UK roads.”

When we discard fresh food, we are also wasting the energy and water used in its production, storage, transportation and packaging. This embedded energy produces the equivalent of at least 15 million tonnes of CO2 every year.

Top tips

There are lots of easy ways to reduce the amount of food we waste:

  • Plan your week’s meals and always shop with a list - that way you won’t buy more than you need.
  • If possible, avoid big weekly shops - bread, veg, fruit and dairy often don’t last the week. Try shopping twice or do one big shop with a few midweek shops for fresh items. And instead of ordering one family sized organic box, try ordering two smaller ones that arrive at different times of the week.
  • Avoid big supermarket packs and just buy what you need at local greengrocers and shops.
  • Don’t be fooled by supermarket promotions - how many times have you brought two for the price of one and ended up binning the freebie? If the offer is a real bargain try freezing the other pack or portion as soon as you get home. Or make a double sized meal and freeze the other half.
  • To keep food fresher for longer, keep your fridge between 1 and 5ºC and invest in some cotton preserving bags.
  • Learn the art of portion control - measure out all pasta and grains before you cook. As a rule of thumb: five level tablespoons (or 75ml) of uncooked rice will happily feed one adult – halve this amount for kids.
  • Citrus pressers, juicers and blenders are brilliant for making highly nutritious, smoothies or juices from whatever’s left at the back of the fridge.
  • Invest in some Tupperware and freezer bags - these make it easier to quickly freeze leftovers. They are also great for packed lunches and storage - foods like cheese tend to go off faster when left in unsealed packets.
  • The art of leftovers – cooking leftovers is one of the earliest forms of recycling and dishes like bolognese sauce, curry, moussaka and stews are easy to freeze. With a little know-how leftovers can be transformed into delicious lunches. Pasta and rice all make great salads by adding chopped vegetables, nuts, lemon juice, olive oil and perhaps some sustainable tuna or mackerel. And anything roasted from beef to potatoes and vegetables topped with a little chutney make fantastic sandwich fillings.
  • Use up fridge remains wisely. Homemade soups and stews are all great for using up overripe vegetables and they are easily frozen for another day. Salads and stir fries are another great way of turning rapidly ripening fresh food into a tasty, varied meal. Another leftover trick is omelettes - from cheese and ham to mushrooms and even leftover pasta, many things taste delicious surrounded by a perfectly fried omelette.