Save Money and reduce food waste this Christmas

Did you know that the average grocery bill for Christmas is £169!  For every household in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin thats £34 million pounds! 

So what’s the secret to saving money this year? Love Food Hate Waste has some thoughts…

1. It pays to plan

• Christmas is probably the one time of year when even the most ‘last minute’ of us will sit down, ponder over who is coming to stay and make some sort of plan. Planning your meals in advance will save you time, and ensure you always have something to feed the hungry hordes.

• Take a look in your cupboards, fridge and freezer and make note of what foods you already have, this will help you to avoid doubling up when hitting the shops.

Use the Love Food Hate Waste on-line portion planner whether you're cooking for family or a party - see www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for further information.


2. Know your dates

As well as keeping up with all the social dates in your diary, don’t forget to keep an eye on the dates in your fridge too. Use up foods with the shortest dates first, and when shopping check to see if fresh foods can be frozen in case you don’t get round to eating them over the festivities.

• Best before dates are for quality, so you can eat these foods after this date, they just may no longer be at their best – eggs are the exception which should be eaten by the use by date, but can be eaten up to 2 days after if cooked thoroughly.

• Use by dates are for safety, you can eat or freeze foods right up to the day before the use by date.

3. Lovely leftovers

• Leftovers of bubble and squeak and cold turkey sandwiches are a Boxing Day tradition.

• This year spice things up with a Christmas curry; try our turkey and chickpea coconut curry and use up those leftover veggies with our mixed vegetable curry.

• Transform your Christmas panettone into a lovely bread and butter pudding and your leftover Christmas pudding into a luxurious ice cream.

4. Perfect portions

Catering for family and friends, not to mention the unexpected guests, often leaves us unsure of how much to cook. Our Christmas dinner portion calculator and party portions calculator, remove the guess work by suggesting how much to cook.

5. Savvy storage

Simple tips on storing our foods over the festive period can help us make the most of them, and make them last into the New Year.

• Ensure your vegetables are at their best for the main meal by keeping them in the fridge; most vegetables will stay fresher for longer stored in the fridge in the pack or bag they came in.

• Most of our Christmas leftovers will keep for up to two days well wrapped in the fridge, or pop them in the freezer to have on a chilly January evening.

Just think what you could do with an extra £50 in your pocket this Christmas. The average family in Shropshire throws away £50 worth of food every single month - so visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com