Love Food Hate Waste's (LFHW) latest campaign is all about the fact that food has value beyond the price tag at the supermarket.
It’s not just about wasting money but avoiding wasting the resources and work that went into producing our food. Find out below how you can check your fridge for ingredients to prepare you weekly meals, then make a meal plan with what you have already in your fridge or pantry. Find inspiration through a variety of recipes suggested by LFHW.
What is Love Food Hate Waste?
Love Food Hate Waste is an ongoing behaviour change campaign that commenced in 2016, to help Kiwis reduce the amount of food they waste. A collaborative effort involving 59 councils across the country in conjunction with the Waste Management Institute New Zealand (WasteMINZ) and Wanaka Wastebusters. In partnership with Countdown, New World, Healthy Families, University of Otago, Kate Meads, New Zealand Food Writers, community initiatives, and Chinese New Settlers Trust. These relationships led to many successes with audits showing that targeted households who have heard of Love Food Hate Waste have decreased their food waste to landfill by 27.1%.
Globally the UN Environmental Programme estimates that one third of the food produced for human consumption is wasted.
New Zealand households throw away 157,389 tonnes of food annually, enough to feed 337,744 people or the population of Dunedin for three years. That costs $1.17 billion a year. For Kiwi families, that is the equivalent of three shopping trolleys of edible food going to landfill each year. For the average household that is at least $664 worth of food going to waste and for some it's over $1,000 per year. Eliminating this food waste would have the same effect as reducing CO2 equivalent emissions by 409,234 tonnes – that's like planting 163,694 trees or taking 150,453 cars off the road for a year.
What can you do?
Before going to the supermarket do an audit of your fridge leftovers here. Once you have some ideas, how about checking out some recipes on how to use your leftovers well here. Get an easy meal planner to download here. This means at the beginning of the week you can plan by writing down your meals and ingredients. Planning your meals will help you save. If you are in need of inspirational meal ideas check out LFHW recipes and their Spring Easy Kai books. All free to access.
Where do I start on this journey of reducing food waste?
- Store your bread in the fridge or freezer
- Keep bananas separate from other fruit and freeze them if they are getting too ripe
- Plan your meals and shop with a list
- Keep one night free per week to zero-down your fridge, eat leftovers and what needs using up
- Create an “eat me first” shelf in your fridge
- Tell other people about it @lovefoodhatewaste
- Share your food waste tips or recipes with us, to go on the Love Food Hate Waste website
- Offer excess food you're not going to eat to your friends and neighbours
- Attend or participate in a Love Food Hate Waste event
- Volunteer with your local food rescue group
- Host an event or run a Love Food Hate Waste day at your workplace
- Show leadership and champion the cause
