Some Tips on How to Reduce Household Food Waste
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Food waste is a major problem in Australia.
According to a feasibility study produced by Food Innovation Australia Limited, it was reported that food waste costs the country’s economy a whopping $36.6 billion each year.
Australians were also recorded to waste around 7.6 million tonnes of food, which equals about 312 kilograms per person every year. This amount is equivalent to around one in five bags of groceries, which is around $3,800 worth of food for each household.
Just imagine the amount of edible food that is wasted!
Mind you, money is not the only thing we’re losing to food waste – we are also hurting our environment.
Food waste depletes natural resources, causes deforestation and biodiversity loss, and uses energy and water to produce, transport, store and dispose of food that is wasted. Also when food waste is sent to landfills, it rots and releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more harmful than carbon dioxide.
That is why the Australian government and thousands of environmental advocates are putting emphasis on properly managing every household’s food waste.
Here are some tips to follow!
The key reasons Australians waste food is predominantly due to food going off before it can be consumed. Credit: Ja Ma / Unsplash.
Planning ahead is part of being prepared.
Before you go to your local supermarket, make it a habit to write a shopping list and a rough plan of what dishes and ingredients you will need for the week. Stick to the list and don’t get tempted to buy any unnecessary things, even if they are on offer.
Also, try to avoid doing a “big shop”.
Always remember – if it’s not on the list, you don’t need it!
Store food properly
Even the simple act of storing your food properly can make a big difference. By prolonging the lifespan of your fresh produce, you can reduce unnecessarily throwing out spoilt items.
Always remember to store veggies and fruits in different containers. Some fruits like avocados, apples and kiwifruit produce natural ethylene gas that can quickly ripen other fruits and may make your veggies go bad quickly.
You can also invest in airtight boxes that can shield your produce from insects and moisture. Plus, they keep your greens crisp!
Another way of storing food for later consumption is by freezing them.
By freezing fruits and vegetables, as well as meal preps and leftovers, you can simply take them out of the freezer whenever you need them.
Ice cube trays are also convenient – use them to freeze fresh herbs by adding chopped herbs to the tray and covering them with olive oil.
Truly understand food expiration dates
Whenever you see a food item that is past its ‘best before’ date label, do you quickly chuck it out? Turns out, you don’t need to!
According to Food Standards Australia, only food items with a ‘use by’ date must be eaten before a certain time for health or safety reasons.
Meaning, you can still safely consume products that are past their ‘best before’ dates. Though they may have lost some quality, they should be safe to eat.
Just make sure to cook them properly if you ever do eat them!
Recycle and compost
Composting your own food scraps through a compost system or worm farm helps reduce food waste that is sent to landfills.
Once you have the right ingredients, composting is simply a matter of knowing how to get started. Here’s a video to help you get started!
Credit: The DoSomething Foundation.
However, if you don’t have your own compost bin or worm farm at home, you can always wrap your food scraps in newspaper and place them directly into your green bin instead.
Do you have more tips on how to reduce food waste at home? Share them with us in the comments below!
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