Up to 30% of food we buy is wasted, at an estimated national cost of $5 billion-plus a year. However, there are many ways that you can reduce your food waste, by simply being conscious of your actions within the kitchen and when shopping for food. Behaviour change can happen by putting a conscious effort into everyday actions to live a more sustainable life. Here are some tips on how to reduce your food waste and save money while doing it 1. Buy less By only purchasing food that you know you will eat you can reduce your food waste. When you are in the supermarket make sure every item you buy you know you will cook. Make sure you know what your family likes to eat, and don’t be too risky all the time and buy new types of food. Plan ahead and don't over-cater. 2. Plan your meals By planning your meals weekly you will know exactly what to buy and how much. This will reduce your food waste because you will be buying food you know you will eat. Menu planning means fewer trips to the supermarket and less impulse spending. 3. Know your dates Cut down on waste by not letting food go out of date. Always be conscious that ‘Use-by’ is a food safety guide and literally means don’t eat after the end of the ‘use-by date’, but ‘best before’ is a quality guide and you may still it after the ‘best before date’ (as long as the item id not damaged, deteriorated or perished). 4. Use Worm farms, Bokashi buckets or composters Put veggie scraps in worm farms, Bokashi buckets or composters. This will reduce your food waste by reusing it for another purpose. You can use the juice from the worm farms as soil conditioner for your garden. Bokashi buckets or composting are great ways to turn waste into fertiliser. 5. Write a list Before you go shopping always write a list of what you need to buy. This will help reduce impulse buying in the supermarket. It will remind you what you need and how much. 6. Purposeful repurposing Plan to repurpose leftovers for other meals. If you know you are using chicken for a meal one night, be mindful of a meal you can plan for the next night to reuse the leftover chicken. This works if you know you are going to have leftovers, otherwise always be prepared with easy recipes that can use a range of ingredients for any unexpected leftovers. 7. Freeze leftover single ingredients Freeze leftover foods that you know will last. For example, Egg whites keep well frozen for up to 12 months. Or you could collect leftover bread and freeze in order to eventually make breadcrumbs when you need them! 8. Store leftovers safely Make sure you store your leftovers correctly and safely to make sure they don’t go off. If you put your foods in correct containers, or cover correctly it will minimise food waste. Always ask yourself “Is this stored correctly?" If you haven’t already joined 365 Ways in 365 Days join up now i n order to get daily tips similar to these. Changing the way we act in our daily lives can make a huge impact on helping the fight against climate change. No action is too small, everything counts.
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