Reduce your food waste in 4 steps..
Reducing your food waste is great for your budget and it goes a little way to reducing what goes into landfill too. Reducing food waste doesn’t have to be tedious. A little planning goes a long way! How do we do it? Read on!
Write a Shopping List
Writing a shopping list might sound dull, but it really helps you avoid buying extra things which “tempt” you, but you won’t actually use. I also plan the shop (or more often – shops) I need to visit. I try to make sure I tie shopping in with other things on my “to do list” to save on fuel. Bags,
Meal Plan
Writing a meal plan might sound dull, but it makes meal times less stressful! Meal planning also helps with writing your shopping list, as you can buy exactly what you need to make things which are going on your plan. I find meal planning helps us to stick to a budget, but it also reduces our food waste dramatically.
Portion Control
Learn how much you need to cook. Rice is something which we always seemed to cook too much of! We’ve now worked out how much we need to cook using a mug to measure out exactly the right amount. It might seem like an irrelevant step, but each time we don’t overcook and waste rice, we are saving pennies and reducing the waste which enters our bin.
Utilise your Freezer
This one I was dubious about, but I’m converted. We often buy in bulk and utilise our freezer to extend the life of things. Things like lemons and limes I don’t use often, but love to “have in” so I cut them into quarters and freeze them ready to use. (They’re great to add to your gin and tonic in lieu of an ice cube!).
Use up your leftovers!
Lots of people I know use leftovers for the next days lunch. We don’t tend to have many leftovers. However, sometimes we do cook too much mash..we keep it in the fridge for potato cakes the following evening! Talking of mash..Potato peelings, yes they can be composted BUT.. they make delicious crips when baked in a little oil in the oven.
If you’re looking for more tips on reducing your waste, in all areas of your life, pop over to My Zero Waste blog, it’s a really inspirational site which got me thinking about how much we waste as a family.
