10 ways to cut your food waste

We throw away 7 million tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year, much of which could have been eaten. It’s costing us PS12.5bn a year and is bad for the environment too. Here are our top tips for reducing food waste.

1. Check your fridge temperature

It should be between 0 and 5c. Food, especially milk, will go off much quicker if it’s warmer.

2. Use your fridge wisely

Some foods keep better outside the fridge. These include bread (keep it in a cool, dark place like a bread bin or cupboard), bananas, pineapples, potatoes, and onions.

3. Love your list

Make a shopping list (the easiest way is to keep it in the kitchen and add to it as you think of things) and stick to it when you go shopping. Plan and shop with specific meals in mind.

4. Water your veg

To keep the stems of vegetables such as broccoli, celery, and asparagus fresh and crisp, keep them in water.

5. Freeze your 5-a-day…

Do you have fresh fruit and vegetables that you can’t use in time? Why not freeze them? Some fruit and veg will lose their texture when frozen – you can deal with this by freezing them pureed or stewed. This applies to tomatoes (use the puree for pasta dishes or pizza), strawberries (use the puree in smoothies or as a sauce for other fresh fruit) and apples (use stewed apple on your porridge or muesli or as the base for a fruit crumble).

6. …and freeze leftovers

Many leftovers and chilled convenience meals freeze well, too. However, if you’ve made something like pasta or rice with a sauce, freezing the sauce separately will work better.

7. Measure your portions

Reduce waste by cooking only the amount you need. Measuring takes away the guesswork and makes it more likely you’ll get the right amount.

Get a handy guide to measuring portions from Love Food Hate Waste.

8. Sauces and dips

Lots of leftovers can be made into sauces or dips. If you’ve got leftover beans or pulses (either that you’ve cooked yourself or from a tin), mash or blend with garlic, lemon juice, and herbs for a hummus-style dip (don’t try this with baked beans unless you rinse them thoroughly first). Slightly overripe avocados are great for guacamole, and tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers that need using can go into homemade salsa.

9. Freeze dairy products

Semi-skimmed and skimmed milk freeze better than whole milk. If it separates once defrosted, just give it a good shake. Hard cheese also freezes well—cut it into smaller portions or grate some ready to use later.

10. Revive past-it bread

Bread rolls past their best? Please put them in the oven for a few minutes to crisp up again. You can also make stale bread into breadcrumbs – either mix them with herbs and onions as a stuffing for chicken or to top baked fish or freeze the breadcrumbs for later use. Loaves of bread freeze well, too. If you’re freezing a loaf or rolls from an in-store bakery, transfer them into a freezer bag for better results rather than just freezing them in the packaging they come in.