One of the biggest issues when it comes to the environment is the amount of food that’s wasted every day. The issue is that not only does this contribute to landfill, but it can also mean that prices go up because there’s more demand for food that eventually just gets thrown away anyway.
If you’re worried about this and want to come up with some ideas about how to reduce your own food waste, there are some great things you can do that are easy and will help you protect the planet (and, as a bonus, will probably save you money too). Keep reading to find out more.
Meal Planning
One of the best and easiest ways to reduce your food waste at home is to plan your meals properly before you even start cooking at all. Before you buy your food each week, make a plan about what you’re going to cook or prepare for each meal, and only buy the ingredients you’re going to use. Although this can start off being a big job to get done each week, after a while, you’ll get used to it, and you might even start to enjoy the process of planning everything out and being completely prepared ahead of time.
Meal planning has a number of different benefits, including the fact that you’ll spend less money at the store because you won’t be buying things on a whim or just in case you might need them. On top of this, if you’re only buying what you need, you won’t have to throw much out at all, and if you have a garbage disposal system in your home, anything you do have to throw away (like vegetable peelings and so on) won’t even have to go to landfill anyway.
Good Storage Solutions
One issue that can lead to a lot of food waste isn’t that you bought too much (or not just that, at least), but that the food you bought goes off before you can use it. This means you have to throw it out and waste it, plus you’ll have to buy more to replace it, so it’s a negative thing all round.
However, if you find some good storage solutions, you should be able to prevent the food from spoiling, meaning you don’t have to buy more and you don’t have to throw the bad food in the bin. If you have airtight containers, for example, the bacteria that causes food to rot can’t get to it, and it will last much longer (although not forever, so you’ll still need to use it up fairly quickly). Plus, you can use your freezer to store most things, including bread and milk, so that could be another option – just remember to give the items enough time to defrost when you’re planning to use them.
Use Leftovers
Even if you do cook with only the ingredients you need, you can’t guarantee that there won’t be any food waste because you might not be able to eat everything you cook. In most cases, people will throw out their leftovers and start fresh when they next cook, but if you can use your leftovers instead and not throw them out, you’ll be saving money, and you’ll have less food waste, so it’s an ideal solution.
Leftovers can be used for all kinds of things, from soups to stews or even as sandwich fillings. Even overripe fruit can be mashed into smoothies or turned into jam. Try to use everything up as best you can and only throw food away when it’s completely necessary, and your food waste will go down drastically.
