Tips for Minimising Food Waste

Perfectly good food in waste bin.

As a society, we have become much more wasteful. In 2015, households in the UK threw away £13bn worth of perfectly good food. Of this wasted food, around 4.4 million tonnes is estimated to be avoidable waste: food that could have been consumed before it was binned. On average, every UK household wastes £470 worth of perfectly good food every year – a trend that people are looking to change. 

Alternatives to Landfill

Fulton Foods, a family-run chain of supermarkets, has begun selling out-of-date food to shoppers at significantly lower prices in order to stop this food being wasted. The Barnsley-based business operates more than 100 stores throughout the Midlands and the North and has been selling products at bargain prices to shoppers.

Thousands of products – including pasta, biscuits, crisps and cake bars are being salvaged by schemes such as the one run by Fulton Foods. This alternative organisation was set up to counter useable food being wasted. The food is delivered to customers, which further helps to save money and reduce the waste created. 

Best Before and Use-by Dates

These are both terms you will often see on food packaging, however they mean totally different things. Here are the actual meanings of the two terms:

  • Use-by dates – A use-by date on food packaging is about safety. This is the most important date to remember and the food can be eaten until the use-by date but not after. Use-by dates are found on foods that go off quickly like meat. It’s important that you don’t eat, cook or freeze the food after the date as even though the food might look and smell fine it could be unsafe to consume.
  • Best before dates – The best before date is about quality and not safety. The food will be safe to eat after this date but might not be at its best. The flavour and texture of the food might be poor. Best before dates appear on a wide variety of food including – frozen foods, dried foods and tinned foods. However, the best before date is only accurate if the food is stored as it should be.

5 Ways You Can Reduce Food Waste

Here are 5 simple things you can do to prevent yourself wasting good food:

  • Don’t over-serve – When cooking make sure you don’t over serve and make too much food for you and your family to eat. This will stop you from having to throw away uneaten food.
  • Save leftovers – However, if you do prepare too much food you should save it and eat it later. Label the food so you know what’s what and make sure you store it correctly so you can consume it later.
  • Store food correctly – Not storing food in the correct conditions is one of the major reasons that food goes off. It’s important you check the foods packaging to find the instructions for storage.
  • Donate unwanted food – There are several food banks within Norfolk. If you have leftovers you don’t fancy storing you can donate it to these food banks. Not only do you prevent wasting food it also goes to those in need.
  • Pickle it – Fruits and vegetables can be preserved through pickling. A very tasty way to preserve food.

Once you have minimised the food waste in your life, you might start thinking about responsible disposal of other accumulated waste. If you need to hire a skip, we can help, give us a call on 01493 668118 or email us on info@wtskiphire.co.uk.


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