Trim the Waste

Through poor portion control or buying too much fresh food that goes off before we use it we create a lot of waste. Follow these tips to help you reduce food waste, save money and protect the environment.

Think about what your household likes the most and menu plan your meals for week. Check the ingredients in your fridge and cupboards, then write a shopping list for just the extras you need. Don't go grocery hungry and value are in the store stick to your list. Don't be tempted by items you don't normally buy or that will spoil before you can use them. To get the most essential and healthy food try to mostly shop around the outskirts of the store. Also start to keep track of what you throw away and what goes to waste. When you return from the store, bring all the older items in your cupboards and fridge to the front. Put the new food towards the back and you run less risk of finding something moldy at the back of your food stores. It is also a good idea to have a garden if he can to produce some of your own healthy food. Some nonperishable foods that you enjoy could be purchased wholesale if you have the space. Try and keep your storecupboard and freezer well-stocked with essentials and a variety of canned, dried and frozen goods that you know your family love to eat. Tinned beans, frozen vegetables, meat and fish and dried fruit, nuts, pasta & noodles, rice & grains, are all essentials with a long shelf life - meaning you will always have the ingredients standing by to pull together a delicious meal or to jazz up your leftovers. The trick is to replace items once you have used them up. It helps to keep in place to keep track on the inside of the cupboard door.

Serve small portions of food with the understanding that everybody can come back for more once they've cleared their plate. This is especially helpful for children, who rarely are predictable with how much they can or will eat. Instead of scraping leftovers into the bin, keep them to reheat or use them for tomorrow's ingredients. Any leftovers need to be cooled, stored in the fridge in airtight containers. A bit of tuna or some sausages could be added to pasta and made into a pasta bake. Some bacon and leftover onion and vegetables could be put in an omelette. A tablespoon of cooked vegetables can be the base for a crock pot meal. Vegetables that are starting to wilt can be made into soup Fruit that is just going soft can be made into smoothies or fruit pies. Understand how long you can safely keep different leftovers.

Understand the facts behind the date labels from. Always follow on pack storage guidance and instructions such as "eat within three days of opening".
'DISPLAY UNTIL' You can ignore these dates as they are for shop staff not shoppers.
'BEST BEFORE' These dates refer to quality rather than food safety. When the date is passed, the food won’t be unsafe but might begin to lose its flavour and texture. One exception is eggs – never eat eggs after the ‘best before’ date.
'USE BY' Food can be eaten up to the end of the ‘use by’ date, but not after even if it looks and smells fine.

If stuff is going to waste you can buy less of it or freeze some of it. If you only eat a small amount of something, then freeze most of it into smaller portions and take out a couple of hours before needed. Likewise, batch cook foods so that you have meals ready and freeze those even. Buy what you need such as buying loose fruits and vegetables instead of prepacked, then you can buy exactly the amount you need. Choose meats and cheese from a deli so that you can buy what you want. Check that the seals on your fridge are good and check the fridge temperature too. Food needs to be stored at the correct temperature is for maximum freshness and longevity. It is essential to learn how to properly store everything and in least to extend food's life span. Muscle have Learning how to cook can also reduce waste of terrible tasting or otherwise inedible dishes. It will also help you to not overcook stuff and to be more creative with what you can make. It will also give you valuable nutritional information so you can start to cook healthier.

It is also important to become educated as to where food comes from and how it is produced. It will give you a green respect for food and make you more thankful for your food. It will also make you not want to waste it

Some food waste is unavoidable, so you should set up a compost bin. In a few months you will end up with rich, valuable compost for your plants. If you have cooked food waste, then a kitchen composter (bokashi bin) will do the trick. Just feed it with your scraps (you can even put fish and meat in it), sprinkle over a layer of special microbes and leave to ferment. The resulting product can be used on houseplants and in the garden. If you don't have much space you could try a wormery. Composting is easier to manage than you might think.