Did you know?
Every day we throw away
- 5 million potatoes
- 7 million slices of bread
- 1.3 million yoghurts and yoghurt drinks
When we waste food, we also waste the energy, water and packaging involved in producing, transporting and storing the food. What's more, food that gets sent to landfill contributes to climate change as it creates methane gas when it rots down!
The good news is that with a bit of thought we can stop most of this waste from going to landfill and save ourselves up to £50 a month by following some simple steps:
Buy It
• Write a list and stick to it
• Plan your meals for the week. This should help you avoid overbuying food that you might not use
• Check your dates and remember ‘best before’ dates are a guideline to the quality of food, ‘use by’ dates are an instruction.
• If you go for a ‘buy one, get one free’ deal, make sure that you are able to use or store both items.
• Think about packaging – do you really need it?
Store It
• Keep your fridge between 1°C and 5°C and your freezer between -18°C and -20°C
• Use airtight containers to store leftovers in your fridge or freezer
• Follow storage instructions on labels – they are there to help
• Use bag clips to seal bags of cereal and other open packets to keep them fresh.
Cook It
• Check your portions – try not to cook more than you need
• Cook once, eat twice – make a large portion and freeze half of it to use another day
• Use leftovers for lunch
• Keep staple foods such as tinned tomatoes, pulses, herbs and spices in stock
• Use over ripe fruit or vegetables to make nutritious smoothies and warming soups.
Take Action!*
Take Action by completing our 7 day food waste diary. Send it back to us with your top tip for reducing food waste and we will send you a free leftovers recipe book. You can download the diary from the ‘Read More’ section on the right side of this page, or contact the Streetcare Helpdesk on 01454 868000 to have one posted to you.