Cutting food waste at home
Here in the UK we waste up to 9.5 million tonnes of food each year, 6.4 tonnes of which is still edible. That’s 15 billion meals, enough to feed the UK population 3 meals a day for 11 weeks!*
We know sometimes waste is just down to our own time and energy constraints, so here are a few tips to getting more organised and cutting down on what ends up in the bin.
Know the common culprits
Can you guess the two items most commonly wasted?
That’s right - the humble potato and bread.
4.4 million potatoes and 24 million slices of bread go in the bin every day in the UK! But there are so many ways to save them!
Bread can be made into croutons, blended into crumbs and frozen for breading, make bread sauce or bread and butter pudding, and stale bread even works great for toasties!
As for potatoes make sure you store them correctly (cool, dark, dry and not in the fridge!), or parboil and freeze for extra crispy roasties (you can roast directly from frozen) or even an emergency bubble and squeak never goes a miss!
First in, first out (FIFO)
We all have that sad bit of veg that ends up getting thrown out because it was forgotten at the back of the fridge, but if you follow the ‘First in, First Out’ rule then that can be a thing of the past.
This can simply be making sure new items go towards the back, so that the oldest gets used first, or if you’re getting fancy then get labelling so everything is extra clear!
Correct portion sizes
If you find you’re wasting a lot of food regularly then perhaps try preparing or cooking small portions.
Not only will this cut down on your food waste but it’ll also help with those sky high food prices at the moment.
Why not try growing from waste?
You might remember us mentioning this amazing article about growing your own broccoli from discarded stems recently, and just to prove to you it works we had this lovely flowering example from one of our dear customers, Helen!
While we’re on broccoli stems, did you know that you can actually use them!
You can: shred them into rice, spiralize them into noodles, blitz into hummus or pesto or roast them into veggie french fries! They really are a versatile part of the vegetable and severely underused!
and when it comes to our streetbox produce…
Be sure to keep an eye on the in-the-box leaflet which will tell you how soon something needs to be used with our handy traffic light guide. Because we are saving produce from becoming waste there might be some items that need to be used a little quicker than usual, but we will always do our best to let you know what needs to be used first.
By getting your fresh fruit and veggies from us you are already helping to cut down on the amount of food that is going to waste in the UK, so give yourself a big pat on the back for that, and if you’re able to decrease your food waste a little bit more at home then you really are doing all you can!
We’re a CIC (Community Interest Company) who support local charities, community kitchens, food banks, schools and even more, with donations of fruit and veg for every box sold. Helping organisations across North and East London to fight food poverty in their local communities.
So when you buy a box you’re not only feeding yourself and your family, but helping others gain access to this amazing surplus produce and feed themselves as well!
Sound Good?
Our shop is open for new one-off and subscription orders
from Fridays at 12PM - Tuesdays at 6PM
(*) Stats from Wrap.org.uk
