Love Food Hate Waste

In the UK we throw away a staggering 7 million tonnes of food every year - most of which could have been eaten! As well as this being a big environmental problem, it costs the average household about £50 a month on their shopping bill!  It's also a double-whammy because burying all this rubbish then ends up costing all Council taxpayers even more money to pay for the landfill disposal charges. 

To help you save money on your shopping Shropshire Master Composters are backing the Love Food Hate Waste campaign. We have been running a localised version of the campaign across Shropshire for a number of years and its already resulted in a big reduction in food being wasted. But there is still too much food being wasted so visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for ideas on how you can waste less.

 

Being crafty with your food is the clever way to save those pennies – and it really just means thinking before you throw it.

Hints & Tips

·         Understanding 'use by' dates - you can still eat food after its best before date - it just wont be at its "best" but its still absolutely OK to eat - especially if its being cooked. The only thing you need to be really careful with is eggs.

     ·         Plan your shopping - simple ideas like taking a shopping list potentially leading to    
            big savings.  Try making a meal plan for the week ahead and then only buying what  
            you really need.  It really works - you could save loads.

·         Store it right - knowing the best way to store food to keep it fresher for longer can help save us pounds.  It’s a great investment to have some airtight tupperware storage containers to help fresh food last longer.

·         Portion control - most people end up cooking too much pasta and rice because it expands its easy to misjudge the amount.  A simple tip is to use a mug to measure out your carbs before you cook.  One mug of dry rice feeds 4 people when cooked. 

·         Love your leftovers - It’s amazing how many meals you can get from one chicken! Enjoy a roast on Sunday, the remains make a great curry plus you’ll always find enough spare slices for a sandwich. Also the carcass can also be boiled up for stock and soups. With a little bit of thought, you can create some delicious surprises from your leftovers - they don’t have to mean second best!

·         Cook once, eat twice - a good money saving tip is to cook large amounts of food which can be used again for another meal the next day.  So for example if you're making a tomato sauce for pasta make a big batch up and then use the sauce again for pizza toppings the next day.

·         Befriend your freezer - most food can be kept in the freezer for months to stop it going off.  This is great for bread which freezes well and can be used straight from the freezer for toast.  But did you know you can also freeze milk or even cheese? Try it.

For more helpful tips like this and free recipe suggestions and an excellent on-line portion calculator visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com