At the moment, the issue of food waste has taken the limelight in the hospitality and catering world; hardly surprising considering that over one third of all produce around the world is wasted. In the UK alone, 7.2 million tonnes of food and drink is thrown away on an annual basis. As caterers, we constantly manage our food waste in an attempt to reduce it as much as possible. Although all catering companies should endeavour to minimalise their waste, everyone at home can also make a difference. Small changes to food buying and storing habits would have a considerable impact. Not only would this be beneficial to the environment but it could greatly benefit your pocket – food waste costs every UK household approximately £60 per month!
To make things a little easier for you we have put together a few ideas to help you on your way to feeling a little bit better about yourself:
- Plan
Use the weekend to plan the following week’s meals so that you don’t buy an unrealistic amount as well as ensuring that you don’t spend the whole week eating the same thing! Consider what meals can be frozen, or tweaked and made into a new dish on another day.
- Save leftovers
Instead of throwing leftover food away, portion it into an airtight container and then either keep in the fridge or freezer. Odds and ends can be used to create another meal and complete dishes can be stored for another time.
- Store food properly
Keeping food at the right temperature can help keep it fresher for longer. The fridge has uneven temperatures so don’t just make space for food, carefully consider where produce should go.
- Avoid clutter
‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is so often the case. Don’t buy large amounts of fresh produce as they can easily be overlooked at a later date and therefore they are luckily to pass their use-by dates. Just remember, buy first: use first.
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