How to avoid food waste and save money.

Recent media reports have highlighted the fact that at a large proportion of the world’s food (apparently somewhere between 30%-50%) is disposed of as waste whilst many people across the world have insufficient food and go hungry.

This includes householders throwing away up to £600 of food on average a year, by crops not being harvested because they do not meet the stringent demands set by supermarkets (wrong shaped carrots for instance) and food wasted by supermarkets and food outlets when they are past their sell by date.

We find these figures shocking, as we rarely throw away any food at all. We have our shopping down to a fine art which means everything get used. The most important thing we do is make a list before shopping which avoids being tempted by supermarket displays or special offers.  At the end of the day it simply comes down to planning your shopping and meals to fit in with whatever is available as fresh produce from the garden. We tend to eat a lot of soups when there are gluts say of peas or artichokes and leftovers can often be included in a soup or used the next day for a snack on toast.

Set yourselves a target to reduce your food waste to zero and not only will you be better of financially but you will discover tasty and creative recipes to use leftovers.