How I reduced food waste in our house #tastewithoutwaste

This is a collaborative post

I have recently been looking at how much how much food we waste in our house. We never really used to have a plan for what we were cooking for the month. We would just buy things and hope for the best this resulted in a lot of things going in the bin. Mainly because we didn’t eat them before the dates were up. So not only were we wasting a lot of food it resulted in us wasting a lot of money. We have recently teamed up with the #tastewithoutwaste campaign, to share ways that we started to reduce the amount of food waste we have each month.

To stop the amount of food we waste I have started to meal plan. I plan for the month so I know what exactly I need to buy in our monthly shop. Then I would just buy the fresh stuff as and when I needed it. I was finding that I was throwing a lot of fresh things away. I would buy them when I did my monthly shop and not use them straight away and they would normally go bad before I used them. Meal planning alone has reduced a lot of the food waste. Which in hand has reduced our monthly food bill. Were not alone though with the amount of food we used to waste. As in the Uk alone we throw out 7 million tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year. This costs the average household £470 a year !

We have also switched some of our fresh produce like veg to frozen as they keep for ages . We can pick the amount we want for each meal and don’t waste any at all. Frozen vegetables are just as good as the fresh stuff ,I even think it has the same taste.

The freezer is really your best friend when it comes to reducing waste. When making meals we generally have some left overs especially if its pasta. So we have stared to let this cool down and pop it in the freezer. Normally the size of the left over meal is perfect for Ava. Plus it’s really quick to microwave it and give it her on those days when were in a rush. Also keeping an eye on the dates on fresh products like meat. Get them in the freezer before the dates are up ! this is something were getting a lot better at . We do also separate it into portions so we can just pull out the amount of portions we want.

We have also started to look at the packaging that our products come in . We have started to opt for the less packaged item . Most of the time some of this packaging isn’t necessary and it just ends up in landfills. It wasn’t until I moved into my own home that I took recycling more seriously. The last couple of months I have stepped it up a notch and have really taken notice to what we recycle. Since doing this I have noticed that our general waste bin is a lot emptier as a lot of the packaging we have is recyclable. I have also started to make Ava aware of recycling .As if we teach them young it will be second nature to them when they have their own home. Meaning hopefully in the future there will be less wastage and more things being recycled properly.

Me and Jordan have the conversation quite frequently about dates on food. I’m one that will eat it as long as it hasn’t got mould on it. Even then if it’s on the edge of something like bread I will cut it off and eat the rest. Jordan isn’t so keen on eating things that are out of date. I think you just have to use your judgment if it looks okay and smells okay then eat it I say.

Do you think there is anything else you could do to reduce food waste in your house ? If so what is it. If you’re looking for more information on this then why not take a look at the #tastewithoughtwaste.