Ideas to reduce food waste

[drankthekoolaid]

I've somehow ended up on a work project about reducing food waste (I work for the council and they've pulled people In from unrelated roles) -

I'm quite good at this myself as I shop for fresh food every couple of days to avoid waste but I have nothing innovative to suggest!

• does anyone have any ideas?

Following with great interest. I end up throwing away food every week and it drives me mad.
We buy fresh stuff but never seem to get it used up in time.

I'm not perfect but I try to stick to a meal plan so when my shopping is delivered I've got a couple of days fresh then I'll top it up.

I also will go past the date on some things like veg if looks ok- I just don't tell DH as he thinks he'll immediately die of food poisoning.

DH is terrible actually- throws away perfectly good salad if it's been open a day- drives me nuts as I would've eaten it!

Meal plan and shop from a list, so that you don't buy too much in the first place.

If cooking lasagne, cottage pie etc, only serve up what you can eat, and freeze the rest.

Bagged salad is my downfall, so I've switched to bagged spinach. Use as salad leaves, in soups, an extra veg, freeze portions if necessary for said soups.

Ditto fresh tomatoes. If they start to go soft, make a fresh tomato sauce for pasta, or add to bolognese.

Admittedly, not everyone has a freezer or time to cook from scratch, but only buying what you need is a start.

Frozen veg especially garlic and ginger

Obvious answer = get a dog.
I've tried to reduce waste in the last couple of years.
Freezing left overs has been the biggest reduction. Plus the component parts are handy pre cooked.
Buy frozen veg where possible.
Stop trying to feed adult dc healthy food when meat or chicken is all that's eaten.

I hate food waste!

I make a veg soup once a week on a Thursday with any leftover veg in the fridge. We always have veggie dishes for dinner on Thursday too and any veg left over from main dish goes in the soup.

Make apple compote with our windfalls. There is a collective in our area that comes and collects excess apples on the tree and veg in the ground that for some reason people won't be harvesting or using themselves.

Once a month have a "eat up everything in the stores" weekend so tins/frozen food don't go over their "eat by/best before" dates.

Bagging up and freezing advance cook meals in single portion sizes saves waste in some instances.

We actually have a website/app in the area where I live that allows neighbours to share excess food so it doesn't go to waste. So, for example, if you have a big sack of potatoes and you are going away on holiday and know you won't eat them, you just photograph them on your phone and send the message out to people nearest to you who have signed up to the scheme, to come and collect! It works really well!

Be realistic when you do the shopping.
Menu plan
Serving dishes for family meals, so you can freeze leftovers.
Stir fry once a week with whatever is left in the veg department.
Make soup, freeze it in portions.
January, April and August are Wassin months for us. It’s a family term for using up whatever is in the cupboards and stores.
In the spring/summer I grow my own salad mix, so I pick what I use. Winter, I have a sprouting jar or two.

Chickens&the egg..ur reward for food waste

Meal plan and only buy the food you need. Plan every meal, breakfast, dinner and tea. Not just evening meals.

Freeze leftovers.

Batch cook so some evenings are pre catered for.

I use up whatever is oldest first, not in terms of date necessarily, but in terms of colour and texture. If plans change and there will be too much left from the shopping I will freeze it.

I don't do meal plans, I buy the right amount for the week from what is available when I am in the shop, and work through it as above.

I buy chopped garlic in jars. Keep veg in the fridge rather than a rack as it stops it going wrinkly, not potatoes though, they are kept in a potato store basket. Carrots, parsnips etc. I leave on the side to dry off because they are always moist from the change of temperature, then wrap in foil, ensure it is airtight and keep in the fridge. Onions in a bowl with foil loosely laid on top. Cool and dark corner of the kitchen. Same with lemons and apples.

I don't buy bagged salad or leaves, it is never finished and goes slimy quickly, I have never managed to use an entire bag.

Make sauces with older stuff. I buy dried and tinned food so less fresh to go off. Lots of lentils, they keep a long time, chickpeas, although dry are no good when they get too old.

I cook by using what needs using and freezing spare meals or using it the next day, saves waste and time.

I hate food waste and make sure just about no food is ever thrown away in my house.

I meal plan for a month although will change those meals around a bit if needed. We do a big shop roughly every 4 to 6 weeks and then buy fresh fruit and veg weekly. Me and DH are both vegetarian.

I'll often make double of something and freeze one portion, especially meals like shepherds pie, ratatouille, curry etc.
I always keep an eye on the fruit and veg I have and if it starts to look past it's best I will make soup with it or cut up and freeze fruit and veg. You can make crumbles or pies and freeze them too.

I buy bread and divide it into bags (usually 2 or 4 slices in each) and freeze. Saves it going mouldy or stale and having to be thrown. If any does every start to go stale I make breadcrumbs and freeze them.

I use broccoli and cauliflower stalks and leaves in stir fries. Again you can freeze them until you have quite a few. I often use veg peelings (potato, carrot, parsnip etc) in soup.

I buy large containers of milk as they are cheaper and then split that into smaller containers and freeze.

There's a lot shops (supermarkets ) could do: get rid of buy on get one free/buy one get X%extra free offers on anything even remotely perishable, pick as much as you need for fresh food rather than packs. It's obviously in their best interests for us to buy more than we need and throw it away. It was interesting talking to my dad about food waste as he enjoys cooking but lives alone and eats out 3 times a week, he says things like green beans, spinach etc he just doesn't buy fresh anymore as they come in such big packs.

I only buy loose veg so no expiry dates to look at. We chuck it when it's gone. The problem for us is stuff just doesn't seem to last very long.
We also have a fussy 2 year old who will start eating something then refuse a few mouthfuls in and so that portion often ends up in the bin if we can't reuse it

Buy less.

Also, use by dates are usually misleading, I use my common sense and ignore most of them.

I put any last ends of fresh veg that's beginning to lose its freshness in a casserole - good way of using up the last few bits.

If I realise the lettuce or salad stuff is getting a bit limp I make a curry or stir fry and dump them in that. Lettuce is the same as any other leaves - pak choi or spinach or romaine lettuce are exactly the same - leaves! So use them like leaves and cook them. They need to be added right at the end so they go limp (like spinach) but not gloopy. Same for spring onions or radishes - if you cook them it doesn't matter if they're not crunchy any more as you're using them for flavour not texture.

And, back to the fresh veg, if you find you've got a lot or you've bought a big bag just blanch and freeze them! Almost everything can be frozen. I've just bought a load of onions as they were on offer. I've chopped them, open froze them then bagged them up. I have put them in a sealed box in the freezer to stop the strong smell but they can then just be added to food during cooking from frozen.

If you are looking for ideas for a council initiative how about

1. low budget meal plans - standard, veggie, vegan. These could be published and seasonal
2. Regular published recipe ideas for how to use up leftovers (based on foods that typically get thrown away eg bread ends)
3. subsidised edible plants. Lots of councils have their own plant nurseries and could do this for residents
4. subsidised compost bins, hot bins, green cones, water butts. Lots of councils do this but lots don't.
5. Community edible gardens on waste land or sections of underused park land. You help, you get to share in the produce.
6. Council run zero waste shop. This is likely to be profit making which can be pumped back into the other various initiatives
7. Basic cooking classes for low income residents to access

If it's a council then maybe they can make more plots available for allotments so people can grow their own, instead of allowing developers to squeeze luxury flats on every available scrap of land?

Allotments as pick as you need, no wrapping, culture of sharing/swopping & mental health benefits of activity & socialisation.

This isn't meant to come across as critical as everyone does their best in different ways but one of the things that struck me from reading the responses above is a lot rely on splitting things up into bags or using a lot of foil. Unless these bags and foil are reused multiple times the what is being saved by reducing food waste is then being used on single use plastics and foil which end up in the bin. I don't know (genuinely) which is better or worse environmentally?

I'm really not trying to sound preachy - I do my best but bread and old veg still end up in the bin sometimes and whilst we're trying to reduce single use plastic we still have some way to go so this is meant very much as an observation not criticism.

It's all been done already for you on the Love Food Hate Waste website.

Check your fridge temperature to ensure it's at the optimum temperature for food preservation.
Check out initiatives such as Community Fridges and Pantries in your area, there's also the Olio app.
Consider a food sharing shelf in your fridge at work.

I put reminders in my phone and diary regarding items that I know don’t last too long. So say chicken, if the date on it is the 20th, I put a reminder in my phone on the 18th.

Some good ideas here thanks.

What about on a larger scale? Like what is th council's responsibility?

a lot rely on splitting things up into bags or using a lot of foil

Which ones are these? I can see only one post where a PP bags up chopped onions.

Leftovers are frozen in reusable tupperware here.

I whizz noggies from loaves of bread into breadcrumbs and put In the freezer for when a recipe requires breadcrumbs.

I save the water that I've cooked vegetables in, along with any veg left on the plate, and use to make soup