1.3 billion tons of food are wasted every year worldwide, meaning 33 % of the total food production. This causes huge social, environmental and economic impacts. Food is wasted at all the stages of the food chain, but statistics reveal that households are the major contributor to food waste. Yes, us! We are the cause of 42% of the total amount food waste. It’s time to take action!
Just keep it challenge
For the reasons mentioned, FoodWIN was ambassador of the JUST KEEP IT challenge. This initiative aimed to fight food waste at household level. Yoneko & Gwenny, the organisers, believe there is a lot of room for progress when it comes to Food Waste at home. With only a few adjustments, consumers themselves can change this trend!
For 21 days, the challenge provided you, as a consumer, daily info to manage your food budget, to eat better and saving money. By reducing food waste you can save up to 5.000 euros a year! You hear it, the benefits of saving food are great. And even though the challenge is over, you can still find the tips and tricks for saving food from all the other ambassadors on the Just Keep It website.
And we have some extra tips to share, to prevent, rescue and manage your food waste in a better way!
Plan your shopping
- Ask yourself “how many times will I eat at home this week?” (or how many times will I eat out?).
- Take a picture of your fridge before going to the supermarket for groceries. This will help you to avoid buying products you already have or that you won’t need this week.
- Bring a shopping list to the shop
- Try to write down every week everything you have thrown. You will be surprised to see how much food you can rescue! Prevention of food waste is always the best solution.
Organise your fridge
Another way to reduce the amount of food waste is to make the life of your food products longer. How? You only need to follow some easy fridge rules:
- Top shelf: the temperature of your fridge is higher in the top shelf. It is recommended to store there dairy products, ready meals, salad dressings and jams.
- Middle shelf: it is suitable for leftovers, cooked food and opened cans.
- Lower shelf: the lower shelf is colder, that’s why it is the best place to store meat, poultry and fish products.
- Fruits/veggies drawers: due to the altered levels of humidity fruits and vegetables will last longer in the drawers.
Be creative
There are many ways to rescue your food, even when it seems to be to ripe or when you don’t have enough to make a full meal. The products you would usually throw they can still be used to make something delicious.
Your fruits and vegetables are too soft? too ripe? damaged? No problem! Juice them all! You can always turn your fruits into great smoothies and the veggies can become tasty soups.
Do not overcook, and if you do, save the leftovers in the freezer. Otherwise get creative! Make snacks or full meals from your food surplus.
Make your own compost
Almost everyone nowadays recycles paper, plastic and glass. So, what is stopping us from recycling the food we waste? Toss the food waste you could not avoid in a bin, cover it with soil and some old newspapers. Now let the microorganisms do the work for you!
This process will turn the surplus into a natural fertiliser for your your garden or your beloved plants. Online you can find many instructions on how to create your own compost, it is eco-friendly, creative and simple!