TIPS & tricks
Get ready for Zero Waste Week, plus discover top ideas for the kitchen
HOW TO... cut down your kitchen waste
Food waste is bad for the environment and for your pocket. Here are five easy ways to use up scraps and reduce how much food you throw away…
• Make a shopping list and stick to it. Plan your meals ahead of time, checking your cupboards, fridge and freezer first to make use of food you already have and avoid doubling up. Some supermarkets have a handy mealplanning tool where you can source recipes, tailor a weekly plan to your family’s tastes and dietary requirements, then shop online for the ingredients.
• Freeze any food that’s about to go over. Stale bread can be blitzed up, stored in a freezer bag and used for breadcrumbs on pasta bakes and gratins. Frozen veg scraps are ideal for making stocks for soups and stews, while fruit can be blended into a delicious smoothie. If you’re prone to over-catering, freeze those leftovers too, and eat them up for lunch or dinner when time is short.
• Consider shopping more regularly, and in smaller amounts. Doing a large weekly shop saves time, but can lead to overspending and buying excess food that ends up lingering in the fridge without a purpose. With two or three smaller shopping trips across the week, you’re more likely to eat everything before it goes off.
• Be savvy when it comes to use-by dates and best-before dates. A use-by date is related to food safety and it’s important to adhere to these, but don’t automatically discard items with an overdue best-before date. These are designed only to give you an idea of how long foods will last before they lose quality. Always judge the food on its texture, flavour and smell before throwing it in your compost bin.
• Check the temperature of your fridge and make sure your foods are on the correct shelf to keep them at the optimum temperature. Cooked and prepared foods, deli meats and leftovers should go on the top shelf where the temperature should be between 5°C and 8°C. Put dairy products on the middle shelf, where the temperature should be about 5°C. And store raw meat and fish on the lower shelf where the temperature should be closer to zero.