Your freezer is your friend
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Your freezer can be your greatest friend in the prevention of food waste, whether you have a large family or you a single parent or, simply, single.
Save food, money and the planet and move food that’s nearing its ‘use by’ date to your freezer.
Reducing your food waste
It is estimated that one in five bags of food shopping goes to waste each week. That adds up to a substantial amount of food, but also money wasted. Did you know that an average family of four could save £70 a month simply by reducing the amount of food they waste?
Recycling your food waste going into the waste stream, such as landfill, by using a caddy, or into your composting bin, is great; but reducing the amount of food waste we produce in the first place is the real solution.
Surprisingly there are some small, easy changes we can make to our daily habits that could make a world of difference.
Three simple tips to reduce food waste
Save food, money and the planet by:
- Freezing food near its ‘Use By’ date
- Making meals from leftovers
- Planning meals and avoiding over-buying
While the packaging label generally says “freeze on day of purchase” generally it is just good enough to freeze before the “use by” date.
Another advice, though I do know that there are some who would argue with it, is to buy as much of your food, especially vegetables, frozen, and when it comes to meat and fish, especially when buying larger packs which are often cheaper, to freeze those into individual packs immediately.
Using frozen vegetables, especially if you consider that, due to the way and shortness of time they get from field to package, is that firstly they are fresher than so-called “fresh” vegetables on the shelves and secondly that you have no waste such as peelings and that you only use the amount you really want and need as they can be used straight from the freezer. This is not only good advice for the single person but for everyone.
© 2020
