How much unused food do you throw away? Are you one of the households where 50% of salad leaves get thrown out as green sludge? According to the website stopfoodwaste.ie, about 1/3 of the food we purchase ends up in the bin, costing the average household up to €1,000 per annum. The most common foodstuffs which find themselves in the bin are bread, apples and potatoes.
Food waste isn't limited to just households. Think of all those useless side salads on your plate in restaurants that you don't eat - the total effect of uneaten food in Irish restaurants comes to a stunning €125 million.
Food waste isn't limited to just households. Think of all those useless side salads on your plate in restaurants that you don't eat - the total effect of uneaten food in Irish restaurants comes to a stunning €125 million.
October 16th is World Food Day, an event used to mark the foundation of the Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in 1945. October 16th is also Blog Action Day,
an annual event whereby the global blogging community unites to focus
on a particular topic of immediate concern. As a result, the selected
topic for Blog Action Day 2011 is "Food" and registered participants are
free to write on any relevant area.
As a poor Ph.D. student, I learned the hard way not to over-purchase when food shopping. It's all too easy when out in the supermarket or that lovely farmers' market to end up with trollies or baskets full of produce. Everything looks so good in the shop, but later on in the week when throwing food in the bin, you can feel the pennies slipping through your fingers.
Simple tips to help you avoid over-purchasing include the following:
- Plan your meals in advance and purchase what you need. Granted, this requires some discipline.
- Don't shop when hungry. This is common sense really, after all "Is maith an t-anlann an t-ocras"
- Don't get suckered by multi-purchase deals (i.e. 2 for 1) deals that you don't really need. This also extends to multipacks. Do you really need a bag of 10 apples or will 4 loose apples suit your needs better?
- Check best-before or use-by dates before placing the goods in the trolley. Supermarkets rotate stock on their shelves so that older produce is typically located towards the front. This gives you less time to use the product. Instead, look on the shelves for a further in the future date.
For more savvy tips and advice on fighting against food waste, visit Stop Food Waste. By taking some simple actions, you can keep more money in your pocket as well as reducing the amount of waste being generated for your rubbish collection.
