How to reduce food waste: organise, categorise and love your leftovers

Every year consumers, retailers, wholesalers and caterers in the UK waste approximately 8 million tonnes of manufactured food. According to the Government more than half of this is wasted at home. With a total value of £16bn, this is the equivalent of £700 per household each year.

To help Britons avoid wasting food, the Sainsbury’s Waste less, Save more campaign has invested £1m to turn market town Swadlincote into an official test-bed of ideas and innovation. Here are some tips based on lessons learned in the year-long trial.

Get organised

Sainsbury’s research revealed that a quarter of people throw away food because they buy products they’ve already got in the fridge. Overbuying alone results in £1.5bn being wasted by UK households annually. Getting organised could change all that.

1. Take a shelfie: Simply photographing the contents of your fridge before you leave the house could save the average UK household £235 a year – the average being wasted on over-buying!

2. List it: One third of people don’t write shopping lists, according to WRAP. To form good food habits, keep a note pad and pen on the fridge and note down items as they run out.

3. Seeing is believing: For two weeks write down everything you throw out. You may discover you’re repeatedly binning the same items, in which case you can adjust your shopping habits accordingly.

Label lovers

Understanding the ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates of food is key to cutting waste. The ‘use by’ date is about safety and the most important date to remember. Foods can be eaten (and most can be frozen) up until the ‘use by’ date, but not after.

The ‘best before’ date refers to the quality and taste. The food will be safe to eat after this date but may not be at its best in terms of flavour and texture. You can't beat looking, smelling, and tasting for a reliable indicator of freshness.

Your fridge is your temple

• First In, First Out: Follow FIFO when unpacking shopping; orgnanise items by the use-by date, moving new products to the back. This way, you’re more likely to use up the older stuff before it expires.

• Be consistent: Create regular spots for essential items such as milk so it’s easy to recognise when they’re finished.

• Pack it right: Store food in the correct place in the fridge; it’s colder near the bottom so that’s where you should keep perishables like meat and dairy. Likewise, some food benefits from being kept at room temperature.

• Check the temperature: Keeping your fridge between 1-5°C helps you get the best from your food. If your fridge doesn’t indicate temperature, try a fridge thermometer.

Become a matchmaker

Fresh fruit and vegetables contribute a significant amount to what Britons are wasting with 20% of all bought produce being thrown away. Storage is key to longer shelf life as certain fruit and veg produce gases during ripening that can quicken the ripening process of neighbours in the fruit bowl or veggie drawer.

For a comprehensive guide on to how to pair your fruit and veg, Sainsbury’s has created a helpful ‘Vegemates’ infographic.

Love your leftovers

Use it all: Often by-products of cooking can be turned into something delicious. For example, use bones from meat for stocks and cheese rinds to flavour sauces.

Juice it: Fruit and veg don't have to be thrown away just because they’ve gone a little soft. Throw fruit into a smoothie, and wilting veg into soups. Or combine both in tasty juices that are super healthy.

Get creative: Make delicious snacks and even full meals with leftovers you would have ordinarily thrown away. Creating everything from soups to tacos, Burritos to Biryanis, there are great ways to love your leftovers.

Portion control: Avoid cooking too much by sticking to recommended serving sizes listed on packaging. If you do over-cook – freeze the leftovers for another day.

Give away don’t throw away: If there is perfectly good food at risk of the bin, why not ask your neighbour if they’d like it or donate it to a food bank? OLIO is a free app that connects neighbours with each other and to their local shops so that surplus food can be shared. OLIO is now being used by 675 people in Swadlincote with 2,000 items already shared in the town alone!

There are a number of ways that technology can help shoppers waste less food and save more money. Click here for more information.

Storage is key

Use your loaf: We throw away 24 slices of bread every single day in the UK. Keep it in a cool dark place for a longer lasting loaf, but never the fridge.

Box clever: Keep your eggs fresher for longer by leaving them in the box, in the fridge.

Hard cheese?: If your cheese is in danger of hardening, grate it, then freeze it and it’ll be good to use in cooking.

Don’t go all mushy: Half an avocado lasts longer in the fridge with the stone in.

Organic waste

Feed your garden: On average over 70% of household waste goes to landfill each year. Composting reduces the amount of rubbish you put out for collection and creates a free, nutritious fertiliser that will help make your garden more beautiful. Compost your kitchen and garden waste. Many councils sell home composters, often at a reduced cost. You can also buy compost bins from local garden centres and DIY stores.

Give to your local farm. If you live near a farm, farmers often accept organic waste which they can use for fertiliser.