How to Cut Down on Food Waste
Food waste has always been a hot topic, but it’s even more important now. No one likes the idea of wasting food. Not only does it make you think about what others may not have, but it’s also simply a waste of money. Thankfully there are lots of ways to cut down on your food waste and a lot of these tips aren’t that hard.
To Use Or Not To Use
That is the question. This is my top tip for how to cut down on your food waste. A lot of people don’t know the difference between use by dates and best before dates. But they are simple. Fresh food is most likely to have a use by date. You shouldn’t eat meat, dairy etc that is past its use by date. It can, in fact, make you quite ill if you do. But a lot of items have a best before date, particularly dried or canned goods but often food that you think will have a use by date actually has a best before date.
If it does have a best before date, that’s exactly what it means. That item will be best before that date. It doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be eaten after that date. So the best way to find out is to try and use the item. If it looks okay and smells okay, it probably is okay. But use your common sense, if something had mould growing on it or smells a bit funky, don’t eat it.
Often with fresh items, you can buy them and actually freeze them, so you can defrost and use them past the use by date. It will depend on your freezer and the item in question, but short-term freezing is usually fine. Just make sure you are defrosting thoroughly in the fridge prior to cooking – unless the packet says otherwise. Most items will have freezing and defrosting guidance on the pack, so simply just follow those.
There are lots of great ways to use up leftovers, including this leftover roast beef stroganoff recipe.
Write a Menu
Another tip to help cut down on your food waste is to write up in advance what you are planning on cooking or eating each day. You can then make your shopping list based on the ingredients you need, rather than just buying willy nilly. That way you eliminate buying fresh foods you don’t need and won’t use. I also find it takes the stress out of planning the evening meals, as I sit down once a week and write a week’s worth of menus and I can simply come in from work, look at the list and just cook what I’ve planned. No having to think about what I can rustle up, no having to stop on the way home as we haven’t got X or Y. Often if my husband finishes before I do, he will look at the list and make a start on dinner for when I get in. It’s a time, money and stress saver. Who doesn’t love one of them when it comes to cutting down your food waste?
Think Differently
We’ve already mentioned about using the freezer to store fresh items that are going past their use by date, but did you know you can buy a lot of items already frozen? This is perfect if you are just using small amounts of an item. I’m not talking about frozen chips and ready meals, I’m talking about frozen veg, frozen meat and even frozen herbs. There’s a lot more to the freezer section than there ever was. The beauty of a lot of freezer items is that they can be cooked straight from frozen and they won’t go off in a matter of days. Think about stir fry veg, doesn’t it always go off within a day or two. Not the freezer stuff. You can pop that in a wok days after you have bought it. I find frozen fruit so useful for making smoothies. Strawberries seem to go off so quickly, so I now buy frozen one and combine with a banana and milk and it makes a delicious (and chilled) smoothie without any fuss or waste. It’s also tons cheaper and more convenient than buying fresh strawberries, especially in the winter.
You can also look at tinned or dried alternatives. Why not rehydrate chillies as you need them? How about corn from a tin? There are lots of options. When you are throwing away fresh food which has gone out of date or is mouldy, have a think about how you could have bought it or stored it next time so that you didn’t end up wasting it.
What other ways do you use? I’d love to hear what your top tips are on how to cut down on food waste. Are you a freezer fiend or do you find half of your weekly shop goes in the bin?
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