Reducing food waste

Cutting down the amount of food that’s not eaten and going to waste is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint, as well as saving you money.

In 2023 our research showed that around 21% (by weight) of the contents of the average Somerset rubbish bin was food that could have been recycled.

16,090 tonnes of food was in our bins, and included:

• 12,067 tonnes of food could have been eaten (75%), if it had been saved before going off.
• 25% was food that would not normally be eaten (for example eggs shells or tea bags).
• 7,240 tonnes was thrown away still in its packaging (45%)

Make one change, choose to take food out of packaging and recycle it.

This simple step could makes the biggest difference.

Put food only in the caddy. If it’s wrapped, unwrap it first, put food into the caddy, then put the packaging in the right place (recycling or rubbish).

It is estimated that the average UK household could save £15 per week (£780 a year), by reducing food waste. Find out more from Wrap online.

Love Food Hate Waste and Hubbub are great online resources for reducing food waste. Some food waste is inevitable, such as eggshells, banana skins and tea bags. Home composting makes the most of such “waste” to benefit our gardens.

Most Somerset residents have a kerbside food collection service that takes all food to process it into energy and a soil improver.

• Stocktake and meal plan – Know what food you have and what needs eating first. Then make a meal plan for a week or fortnight so you stay within your budget and can batch cook, use up all ingredients close to their use-by dates.
• Make a shopping list – Based on the meal plan and kitchen stocktake, and stick to it, avoiding impulse buys or shopping when hungry.
• Cook from scratch – To make full use of all ingredients, use fruit and veg ‘from root to tip’ where possible, scrubbing instead of peeling or using up the peelings for other meals or to make stock for soups or stews.
• Make the most of leftovers – There are all sorts of creative recipes to make use of leftovers. Love Food Hate Waste offer some great examples.
• Store well – Making the most of your fridge and freezer to extend the shelf-life of your food at home. Fridges need space for cold air to circulate around their contents and should be set at 0-5C (many are too hot so food goes off faster); freezers should be -18C. Defrost frozen foods in the fridge. Batch cooking and freezing can reduce waste, as can freezing any unexpected leftovers.

Freeze more foods

It’s not just the usual ice cream and frozen peas that can be frozen, many foods can be saved for later in the freezer, including:

• Bread – Use from frozen as toast or make sandwiches for work, by lunchtime they will be defrosted.
• Eggs – Beat into a mixture or freeze whites and yolks separately. Defrost in the fridge. Add salt (for savoury) or sugar (for sweet) to stop yolks going lumpy.
• Milk – Freeze as soon as possible and thaw in the fridge. Plastic containers are okay for freezing milk in, but the milk will
  expand, so pour out a small amount to allow for this.
• Cheese – Try grating hard cheeses before freezing and use as toppings on pizza or shepherd’s pie from frozen. Stilton can be
  frozen without grating.
• Fruit – Slice and freeze lemons then use them straight from the freezer in iced drinks.
• Cooked meat (such as chicken or turkey) – Thaw in the fridge and use as normal, in casseroles, curries and stews.
• Potatoes – Parboil and freeze them for later, thaw and roast. Mashed potato freezes well. Remember to portion before freezing.
• Yoghurt – Pots can be placed straight in the freezer but the yoghurt will expand, so make sure there is enough space in the pot
  for this. Defrost and use in smoothies or straight from frozen.