It has been reported in the news this week that Tesco ended up throwing away two thirds of their bagged salads, fresh bread and fruit, that’s 30,000 tonnes, in the first six months of the year.
68% of salads sold in bags were wasted with 35% of that waste being created by consumers.
I really don’t like seeing food go to waste, especially with the cost of living steadily rising so here are my top tips on ensuring that you have enough food for yourself or family without having to throw anything away!
Make a list: Shopping lists are a great way to plan meals and stick within a certain budget, listing what you needs prevents over-buying and being tempted by special offers on items that sometimes are not really needed and then go to waste. You can plan exactly what you want and need for the week or month ahead and you may be surprised by how much money you will save. With a list, there is also little chance of you forgetting something important!
Plan your meals: So, you’ve got a lot of vegetables that are a couple of days away from going a little bit mushy and off and you’re not quite sure what to do with them. Soups, stews and casseroles are the perfect nutritious, warming meals to make with your leftover cooked vegetables or veg and meat that are close to going off. If you’ve made too much or big batches, you can always freeze your leftovers and these will keep for a long time ready for a healthy homemade convenient meal!
Fruit and bread also came high up on the list of food waste and there are so many different meals you can create with these.
Stale bread can be blitzed into breadcrumbs and used as a topping for a delicious fish pie, the crumble in an apple or berry crumble (any leftover fruit can be used in this too) or as a crispy coating on chicken for some homemade healthy chicken nuggets.
A lot of people don’t really like eating bananas when they’re brown or speckled but these sweet and ripe bananas can be used in a bread pudding, a homemade ice-cream or as the topping to a trifle. The same can be done with berries too and even adding them to your cereal or desserts can make them a little healthier and filling. I love adding fruit to a bowl of porridge on these cold mornings.
The Love Food Hate Waste is a fabulous website which has so many ideas on ensuring that no food is thrown away and saving money too!
For more tips like these, click here.
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