War on Food Waste

Consumers in the UK throw away 7000 kg of food and drink a year. Though some food waste is inevitable, 60% of this is avoidable.

Of the wasted food, 70% heads to landfill, where it produces dangerous greenhouse gases like methane, which contribute to global warming, so those last few slices of stale bread we throw in the garbage are having a far more sinister and detrimental impact on the world than we realise.

I know most of us like to think it’s not our fault. Surely the food industry produces more waste than us Average Joes and Joannes, right? Wrong. Household waste makes up 70% of food waste produced. Manufacturing, retail, food service and hospitality make up the remaining 30%. So while big companies are contributing to this issue, every banana we deem a bit too spotty to eat is contributing to this problem.

We know we are all guilty of it. We all have a food waste sin to confess. For some of my friends, it’s the jars of pesto that end up mouldy before they have managed to use the full amount. For others it’s the bread that seems to transition from fresh to festering within a few short days. I always seem to fall victim to purchasing those bulk bags of carrots, subsequently forgetting about them, then finding them in a slimy heap at the bottom of the fridge just as I have been thinking “I really should use them up”.

Aside from the negative effects of food waste on the environment, it’s also heavily impacting on our hip pockets. On average, households with children throw away £700 worth of food a year. If you could eliminate the food waste that takes place in your household, you could save up to £60 a month!

Can you guess the most commonly wasted foodstuff in the UK? Bread. Around one third of all bread produced ends up in the bin, even though many tasty recipes specifically call for stale bread.

How is the food industry helping to combat food waste?

Thankfully there are some responsible retail and manufacturing companies who redistribute the food that would have ended up as waste to charitable organisations, who can then feed those in need. SecondBite, in Australia, is an example of an organisation that takes surplus food from major retailers and redistributes it to those in need.

According to OzHarvest, Australia’s leading food rescue charity, even if we could save just a quarter of the food currently being wasted globally, we could feed 870 million people.

Excess food can also be effectively used by turning it into animal feed.

There are global campaigns to help eliminate this food waste, such as the United Nations’ “Think.Eat.Save” campaign, which seeks to incite widespread global, local and domestic actions.

Tips for reducing household waste

While industry is starting to wake up to this issue and thinking of ways they can have a positive impact on their communities, what can we, the consumers, do to help eradicate this problem? Here are some tips for reducing food waste:

· Rather than throwing away those stale slices of bread, use them in a recipe. There are so many terrific dishes that are best made with stale bread such as crostini, eggy bread, French toast, panzanella and breadcrumbs – which of course can be used in a plethora of recipes.

· Make a fun challenge for yourself and your family to create amazing dishes with whatever food you have left in the fridge – like an extra environmentally friendly version of Ready, Steady, Cook. Share these culinary feats with your friends on social media and encouraged them to do the same.

· Many wet ingredients can be stored in ice cube trays in the freezer and broken out in small portions as needed. Instead of leaving that pasta sauce in the fridge for weeks, pour out any leftover sauce you won’t eat in the next few days into an ice cube tray and leave it covered in the freezer till you need it next.

· Freeze any fresh meat or fish portions you won’t be able to use in the next few days.

· Cooked meats can be cleverly used in leftover dishes. Search for leftover recipes on the internet so your taste buds don’t get bored in the battle to use up leftovers.

· The reason jars of sun-dried tomatoes and pesto etc. get mouldy is either because a dirty, contaminated spoon has been dipped in or because the oil level is lower than the product. Thus adding some more extra virgin olive oil on top of the product will help reduce this issue, as will keeping utensils dipped in our food hygienic and clean. (Side note: if you’re watching your waistline, it’s important to be aware that adding extra oil will increase the calorie content the next time we use the product.)

· To avoid wasting milk, buy it in smaller portions or buy UHT milk. I must confess I had a delivery of 15 litres of UHT milk in handy 1 litre containers delivered to my flat recently from the local supermarket, and have it stored in the pantry. It’s been so convenient not having to think about buying it for weeks. I never run out of milk anymore, nor does any go to waste. If you’re not a big milk drinker and find it frequently spoils before you’ve finished the pack, consider powdered milk that can be made up as needed or stirred straight into coffee or tea.

· Frozen foods, like frozen vegetables and fruits, can be just as nutritious as products that need to be refrigerated and last far longer, helping us prevent our waste. Further they can also be more convenient as they will usually be frozen in more conveniently chopped portions.

· I grew up in a household where the bread was frozen the day we bought it. As we needed the bread, we would take it out and toast it. These days, I like at least half of my bread to be in a fresh state, so I prefer to keep half of it fresh and half in the freezer. Be aware that storing bread in the fridge (not freezer) will draw the moisture out of the slices making them go stale faster.

· If you’re a tech head, download the Love Food Hate Waste App to help you reduce waste in the kitchen.

· Juice that won’t be drunk in time can be frozen into ice lollies.

· As tempted as you may be to buy food in bulk due to it being perceived as better value, it’s better to buy in smaller portions rather than fork out for portions you couldn’t possibly finish, unless you store the unused portion in the freezer.

· Freeze banana slices if you’re not going to be able to use them in time. When you want to eat them, blend them up with a small splash of milk and vanilla essence and make Nice Cream, a nutritious alternative to Ice Cream.

· Store oils out of direct sunlight in a cool, dry place to prevent them going rancid before their time.

· Plan your meals and think about the actual portion sizes of fruits and vegetables you need to use, so that bag of salad in your fridge gets eaten rather than meeting a sad demise at the bottom of the fridge.

Beyond the kitchen

Keen to make a bigger impact on reducing industry food waste?

· Become an activist for preventing food waste. Find out if your supermarket redistributes food to local charities and if they don’t, perhaps send them an email or petition them on social media to encourage them to do so.

· Share “Think.Eat.Save” posts on social media to raise awareness and encourage your friends and family to think about their food waste habits.

· Volunteer for charities, such as SecondBite, that redistribute food to those in need. I was lucky enough to carry out my community dietetic placement at SecondBite and got to see the whole process of collecting food from retailers in a van, taking it back to the warehouse to be sorted, and getting back in the van to redistribute it to people in need, such as community groups and shelters for those in need. I even got to sit down at a local church hall to a hearty lunch prepared with this rescued food, with people affected by food insecurity, who would otherwise have gone hungry for the day. The meal they were given was as so tasty and balanced and included so many nutritious foods that would have otherwise have headed to landfill. It was incredibly rewarding to see the smiles on their faces. Perhaps you could volunteer in just such a warehouse or maybe there is a community kitchen you could volunteer in?

Whether you have the time to volunteer to help in this redistribution process or just make an effort to use up that last bit of stale bread, we all have a role to play in protecting the planet and reducing food waste.

Want more information?

If you’d like to learn more about food waste, please have a look at some of these articles or websites below:

· https://lovefoodhatewaste.com/

· https://www.secondbite.org/

· http://www.thinkeatsave.org/

· http://www.foodwastenetwork.org.uk/

· If not stated in the article, the source of the facts and figures in this article is WRAP Estimates of Food Surplus and Waste Arisings in the UK, a terrific font of information: http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Estimates_%20in_the_UK_Jan17.pdf