Food waste is a worldwide epidemic, as is the waste that comes with food – the packaging. More than one-third of all food produced globally is wasted or spoiled. And this organic matter in landfills provides 20% of all methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes considerably to climate change.
We are a nation of throw-awayers. Once something is opened for a couple of days, or closer to its best-before date, we throw it away. Without a though for whether it’s still okay to use or how much we are wasting.
And I must admit, I have been guilty of this in the past. My husband wont eat anything that is on its last day and will throw vegetables out if they come with a date – even when I tell him those dates don’t matter. You can eat veg until you can literally see it go bad.
Some weeks, I will literally throw unopened produce away as it hasn’t been used, and it did get me thinking about how much money I was wasting every time I threw something in the bin. And that’s when I decided to change.
Each week I now meal plan for the week ahead. This not only means that I can get everything I need upfront, but it also means that I can use various components for different meals, making sure to get all the produce used before their use-by dates.
I have started working our meals to fit everyone. On the day that I make pizza wraps for the boys, I make fresh chicken wraps for us adults. This way the wraps are being used in one day for the two meals and both the kids and adults get the meals they want with no waste.
When shopping, I have also stopped getting unnecessary packaging. Ready meals sometimes come with not one, but two packages around them – a plastic pot and a cardboard box. And even fresh fruit comes in wrappers and packaging that aren’t needed.
The amount of food waste produced globally each year is more than enough to feed the nearly 1 billion hungry people in the world. And BPI Consumer Packaging have looked at ways in which we can minimise food waste within the home. Check out their Infographic for more information…
Im pretty good at THE NO WASTE week – tend to plan cooking and batch bake – biggest waste is the packaging ! Hopefully supermarkets will stop the throw away culture too
I was brought up not to waste food and it stuck plus I passed it on to my children. I recycle everything even remembering to cut the plastic ring thats held around lager cans but there really is way too much packaging on a lot of things. I'm tempted to build my own can drum to burn alot of it myself.
Like the idea of reducing all waste so have asked for a compost bin for mothers day which am looking forward too, loved the blog too
Always have left overs for lunch and make fresh dinner unless there is not left over. Buying fresh for me and on demande is the key for me.
I always try to use left over food, as I hate waste. I only throw away what I have too