Mrs Green talks on Radio Cumbia about food waste
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Mrs Green has a chat with Mike Zeller about food waste
A couple of weeks ago I received a tweet from Resource Cumbria; the waste prevention and sustainability team at Cumbria County Council.
The said “we’ve got a BBC Radio Cumbria reporter doing a zero waste challenge this week – what would be your top zero waste advice?” so I sent them a link to my beginners tips for reducing household waste page, packed full of ideas for those starting out on their zero waste journey.
Jenny (the radio reporter) and her neighbours are struggling with food waste in particular so I was invited to talk to Mike Zeller on his morning show to offer some advice. We had 4 minutes to share some ideas. If you’ve got 4 minutes to spare, have a listen by pressing the arrow at the bottom of this post and let me know what you think!
I mentioned making good use of freezer space – find more tips on what you can or can’t freeze with the Love Food Hate Waste Arctic Aunt. Alternatively, check out Still Tasty for all sorts of advice on safe food storage.
Tell me – what tips do you have for reducing food waste at home?
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Great tips in 4 minutes! You were on BBC radio! You’re famous!! I am so proud of you. Keep up the good work!
At our home, we reduce food waste by getting very creative. Once a week, the night before new groceries come in, all veg that’s getting close to turning is pulled out of the bins or fridge and readied to become soups, breads, etc., and if there’s too much soup, it gets frozen. Fruits of all sort make lovely muffins and breads, from bananas to apples to pears. Our dogs often benefit from “oops, I bought too much cheese!” But my most important tip is that, on Sunday night (the night before groceries), while we’re pulling out leftovers and such for dinner, we plan out what we would like to have for dinner each night, so that I will know exactly what I need at the store and exactly how much. Plus, we each pack a lunch each day, and it’s nearly always the same, which makes it easy when I know that I need 5 apples, 5 yogurts, 10 slices bread, etc. Buying just enough really helps avoid waste!
Do a shopping list for a week’s menu of dinners and stick to it.
Inc in that list foods you already have in the freezer and fridge.
Delegate one person to do the shopping, so nothing is duplicated, and then wasted.
We don’t usually have a written shopping list for our weekly shop, but we do have a mental shopping list and stick to it. We keep our bread in the fridge because we have found this makes it lasts longer. If any of our bread does become dry and stale, we keep it for toast rather than use it for sandwiches. I keep an eye on the fruit in the fruit bowls, and pop it into the fridge if necessary before it goes off or becomes over ripe. I also ignore “best before” dates, as the food is generally just as good after these as before these. However, if we have any meat approaching its use by date, I cook this, and it will then last a few more days in the fridge. We had a bumper crop of apples on our trees last year. As our apples never keep well raw, I cooked and froze these. Our elderly cat is the main waster of food in our house. Her appetite is very variable, and she refuses on principle to eat leftovers! I do not think it would be good for her, as a natural carnivore, to eat only dried food, even though it would keep longer. Sometimes, I can con her into believing her leftover meat is a new, fresh meal by putting it into a clean bowl and bringing it back to her. However, any leftover meat that she will not eat I feed to the birds. The black birds and starlings love it.
1. Prepare a menu: what will you eat the coming week? Will you cook something?
2. Make a shopping list with necessary ingredients (e.g.: 2 tomatoes, 1 onion)
Keep the list on the fridge, so when you run out of salt etc you simply add it there.
Anyone can shop with that list.
3. Shop the day you cook or the day before. Take the bags and the list with you 🙂
4. Figure out how much you eat, how many portions you get out of a cooked meal etc and adjust the ingredients list for next time.
I can’t understand how people can waste food.
Why do they need to struggle to keep things fresh for longer?
Isn’t everybody shopping at least once a week?
I agree with Jane above re cat food. They have a wonderful way of turning tail and waltzing off into the garden if they don’t fancy what is in the cat dish – even if you have just opened the tin. And can come back with the prize of a rat, or mouse or bunny or even a duck once. (That was rescued as there are two cat flaps to negotiate – only managed the first – presumably due to the volume and amount of flapping and quacking involved.) You don’t want these presented to you when you are upstairs asleep! And the look you can get when you try the turned over food and new dish trick!