With more of us trying to be eco conscious and be more zero waste motivated, here are some tips on how to reduce food wastage and save money as a bonus!
- Don’t go shopping on an empty stomach, you will end up picking up more than you need and if you are like me you will pick up sweet snacks to have in the car on the way home!
- Write a list before you go so you aren’t tempted with the well placed ‘offers’ at the end of the aisles
- Shop online-it saves you being tempted and you can see the amount you are spending as you are popping it in the basket
- Plan your meals and buy exactly what you need
- Consider buying short dated and outdated food, Approved Food specialise in surplus and short-dated stock, food that is either near or just passed its ‘best before’ date, allowing them to pass on huge savings to their customers. Best before dates do not mean they aren’t safe to eat, it just means they may not be in their best quality. Every year in the UK we throw away 7.2m tonnes of food and drink, most of which could have been eaten.
- Use your leftovers for another meal, don’t throw them away
- Use your vegetable peelings, cardboard boxes, coffee grounds to make your own compost for the garden
- Buy meat in the reduced section and freeze it
- Store your food correctly to ensure it stays in it’s best condition for as long as possible
- Every month or so have a clear out, use what is in your cupboards before restocking so you don’t have tins being pushed to the back and not used
Some very useful tips here. I always write a list beforehand so I’m not tempted to pick up things I don’t need. I used to shop in Sainsburys and found shopping online was always much cheaper. I also head to the reduced meats section and pick up cheap meat or fish to freeze.
I totally agree about not going shopping on an empty stomach. I am lethal when I do that x
Some really great tips you have here. I think I do most of them apart from making my own compost. My neighbours do this though so maybe should give them my veg peelings although the dogs get the potato and carrot ones 🙂
OOh some fab tips here. I am a list writer too and whilst I do stick to one when I go food shopping, I am distracted by offers x
What brilliant tips, I need to listen to some of these when I do the food shop x
Some great tips here! Unfortunately we can’t do a compost heap, as we have chickens so the compost heap would attract rats (who have been known to attack chickens) – but the chickens do get the majority of our veg peelings, egg shells etc! x
Some very helpful tips here! writing out a list helps me out a lot
I’m the worst culprit for number 1! Some really great tips there. Everyone should be responsible for doing their bit for helping the environment and themselves.
I love all of these tips. I’m big on cutting down food waste (and the money it wastes) so I always write a shopping list and stick to it.
Buying online definitely helps! When you go into the shop yourself you can often pick up stuff that you do not need!
Such fab tips. Especially the one about going shopping on an empty stomach. I’m so guilty of this, I go after the gym when I’m absolutely starving and buy so much that I really don’t need.
Ami xxx
Admittedly, I’m awful about impulse buys at the grocery. What I’ve started doing instead is ordering online and having them deliver. The extra cost is minimal, I can stay on budget, and best of all I can do other things instead! x
I’ve started meal planning & I can safely say, it saves time, money & waste x
Great tips. I always buy in bulk and then freeze. We recycle all our scraps as garden compost. Before I had my youngest I used to go through the cupboards every month to get out things that were near their end date to use up.