10 tips on how you can reduce your own personal food waste

You guys know I love my food, but another key passion for me is the environment. I’m constantly trying to educate myself on ways I can lower my personal effects on it. Growing up my mum was and still is a bit of an eco-warrior so the idea of a compost bin in the kitchen, using up all leftover food and not over buying items is something that become habit for me from a young age however, there’s guidelines I continue to use to keep myself in check. Finding new ways on how we can lower our impact on the environment is something I think we should all try prioritise and I will be sharing more and more simple ways on how I try to do it on a day to day basis.

1. Track what you throw. The key success at any change is first becoming aware of your everyday habits, track any items you toss, after meals, at the end of the week or what ruins out of date- keep this in mind when planning your food shop and find ways to prevent this excess.
2. Plan your meals. I suggest everyone does this regardless of what your eco goals are – it gives a huge sense of direction for the week and a clear outlined shopping list so nothing off the list enters that trolley! I lay out 2/3 breakfast options, 2 lunches and 2 dinners for (MON- SAT) which gives me plenty of variety and keeps my weekly shopping list to a minimum. I try to choose recipes with similar ingredients not to help keep my lists short and for speciality foods like pesto etc. double them up with other recipes that call for that ingredient to ensure its use during the week.
3. Storage. Make sure you are storing your fruits and vegetables to optimise their time on this planet J check this site out for some handy tips; here
4. Become friends with your Freezer. I freeze everything I can- from berries that are about to spoil to my avocado halves I may not get to use in time- with left over fruits/vegetables I dice them up and I make “smoothie bags” for blending delicious cold frothy breakfasts cups.
5. Save your Left overs. If you find yourself with left overs after dinner save them for tomorrow omelette, lunch or snacks- from roasted veg to spinach leaves, meat and more find ways to re-use them to bulk out tomorrows meal.
6. Feed the animals. Some leftover food is perfect to feed others and by others, I mean animals- overs like seeds, nuts, crusts, fruit peels, cores are great to leave out for birds. We used to feed our peels and veggie ends to our ponies and Wilko loves crusts and left-over porridge.
7. Don’t go out of Dates- take note of what is next to go out of date in your presses, from rice to tins of beans, flours, pastes keep these at the forefront of your press, keep them in site so you prioritize them for your next meal.
8. Preserve/ remake/pickle/Dehydrate. Those of you how are into your culinary skills or maybe learning a new skill why not make use of what’s going off next by making jam, fermenting or dehydrating!
9. Step away from the bulk offers. I know you might see a pack of apples that are a better deal than buying just the two but be realistic if your living solo are you going to get through all of those – be smart don’t let the deals compromise your mission- it’s more of a waste in the bin!
10. Eyes bigger than your belly? When Eating out be realistic try not to over order and be left with plates. I know its hard especially when you go to try a new place but maybe opt for sharing dishes to avoid any waste.