How you can reduce your food waste #StopFoodWasteDay

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It’s #StopFoodWasteDay 2020!

Did you know that the Scottish Government has it’s very own Food Waste Reduction Action Plan?

The Scottish Government wants to reduce household food waste by a third by 2025 which could reduce Scotland’s overall carbon footprint by around 1.5%. At the moment around half of the food waste in Scotland comes from households, and there are lots of small things we can be doing to reduce our food waste ending up in landfill.

Here’s a few ways you can help reduce food waste in your homes:

Use your food bin

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Almost all households in Scotland are provided with a small grey food bin, or an on-the-street food bin. If you haven’t got one, you can order a new one from your local council or buy one online!

Using your food bin instead of putting your food waste into the general waste has a huge impact on the greenhouse gases that are emitted from landfill sites. You can also use your food waste to create a compost in your garden, or if you’re brave on your balcony.

Plan your meals before you shop

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Planning your meals for the week will help to buy only what you need and will therefore help you reduce waste. You’ll only pick up the things you know that you’re going to use and it will help reduce the amount of perishable items you buy going out of date, and therefore in the bin. Planning your meals is good for reducing your waste but also for saving your pennies!

Make sure you store your food correctly

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If you’re not storing your food correctly, it might go out date faster and potentially to waste.

Zero Waste Scotland has a great resource on their website which helps you find the appropriate way to store your food and make it last longer: https://scotland.lovefoodhatewaste.com/article/food-storage-a-z

Before you bin, check if you can save or use it

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When our bananas go a little brown in the fruit bowl, we are often quick to throw them in the bin but there are plenty of things you can do with an overripe banana (and banana bread isn’t the only thing). You can blitz them in a blender with some milk and ice then pop it in the freezer and make your very own banana ice cream. Alternatively, you can peel them and pop them in the freezer to use at a later date!

It’s always worth a quick google to see what you can use your ripening food for, there’s always some sort of random soup or pie you could make! You could even get creative and put together your own recipe (that doesn’t always go well for me…)

Freeze freeze freeze

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I used to throw away a lot of food purely because I found myself too busy to cook a lot of the time. That’s when I discovered batch cooking! I started making a few meals on a Sunday afternoon that I could freeze and use later. That way, I always had something to eat in the freezer and I started to waste a lot less food.

Good and easy freezer meals include: spaghetti bolognaise, curries, chilli, lasagne, soups, pies, stroganoff and many more! You’d be surprised what you can freeze.

If you have any more tips for reducing food waste, comment them below!