Published 20 January 2023

Make fighting food waste your New Year's resolution

By Alys Bannister

Finding a sustainable and achievable new year’s resolution is a challenge for all of us. Luckily, saving food waste is an easy way to be more sustainable whilst saving your household up to $1520 per year.

In April 2022, a study conducted by Rabobank and KiwiHarvest found that 157,389 tonnes of good quality and edible food is wasted every year - enough to feed Dunedin’s population for nearly three years! This means kiwis are throwing away $3.1 billion a year - equating to $1520 per household.

Food waste also has a huge impact on our environment. Producing food accounts for 30% of global carbon emissions and uses large amounts of natural resources such as water. Therefore, when we waste food, we waste the very energy and resources we use to make it in the first place. In Aoeteroa, our level of food waste is equivalent to 271 jumbo jets of rotting food!

The good news is that fighting food waste not only saves our planet, but saves our pockets by reducing our food bills. The even better news is that reducing the amount of food waste that your household produces can be very simple.

We’ve rounded up our top ten ways to start reducing your food waste.

Before you leave the house:

1. Make a meal plan and write a shopping list

It sounds very simple, but how often do you make a list of exactly what you need for the week? Make a detailed list of your plans for the week - think about what meals you need (for example, are you going to be out one or more evenings, do you need to bring lunch to work?), and what food you need to buy to make the meals.

Equally, make sure this list is reasonable - don’t write a plan for seven days with every meal cooked from scratch unless you have the time (or desire!) to do so. Instead, give yourself a few days when you can have leftovers, eat out, or use something from the freezer.

2. Check what food you have

Could you recite exactly what you have in your fridge or cupboards right now? Taking the time to know what’s in means you don’t end up with multiples of food, such as bread, milk, or veggies. Update your shopping list accordingly!

3. Consider frozen food

Frozen fruit and veggies can be a cheaper and easier option than their fresh counterparts. They also last much longer when kept in the freezer. Try using frozen berries in your morning porridge or frozen broccoli as a healthy side to your meals.

When food shopping:

4. Stick to the list - I repeat, stick to the list!

We’ve all been tempted to nab the best deals in the supermarket, but sticking to your shopping list is one of the simplest ways to make sure you buy the food you will eat, and eat the food that you buy. A list can also make sure you don’t get home and realise you’re missing ingredients, derailing entire meal plans.

In a similar vein, making sure you don’t shop when you’re hungry can help stop the temptation of picking up extra snacks which were not on the original list!

5. Set a budget and sense check special offers

Are you actually going to use those two extra tins of beans? Will you actually eat those slices of ham? Even if it is on sale, if you don’t need it, buying extra food can cost you more money. Keeping a strict budget on your weekly shop will save you a considerable amount of money in the long run and prevent you from throwing away food you won’t eat.

When you get back to the house:

6. Double check how to store your food in the best way

Save the Food and Love Food Hate Waste have some amazing (and surprising!) tips to make sure your food lasts for the longest time possible. Examples include freezing chopped herbs in ice cube trays covered in water if you won’t finish the entire pack, keeping mushrooms in paper bags rather than plastic to prevent them getting slimy, putting a paper towel inside bags of salad to prevent excess moisture, and storing bread in the freezer for freshness.

7. Check your fridge temperature

According to Love Food Hate Waste, keeping your fridge cool can help keep your food fresh for three days longer than usual, and the optimal fridge temperature is between 0-5°C. If you don’t know how to set your fridge temperature, Love Food Hate Waste have a handy tool here.

8. Keep fruit in the fridge

We all love a fruit bowl, but it lasts much longer (and keeps the fruit flies away!) if you store it in the fridge. Just make sure you keep bananas out - they prefer a more ambient temperature.

9. Move your oldest food to the front of the cupboard/fridge

This will make you more aware of what needs eating first and prevent you from throwing it away. Be flexible with your meal plan and adapt if certain ingredients will go off before others.

10. Utilise your freezer

If you know you’re not going to use all of your food that week, keep it in the freezer until you need it. For example, cut your loaf of bread into slices (or better yet, buy it pre-sliced) and pop what you don’t need in the freezer. When you’re in need of toast, just pop a frozen slice directly in the toaster. Additionally, if you know you’re not going to finish your leftovers, pop them in a freezer-safe container and keep them in the freezer (for up to 3 months) for one of those days when you don’t feel like cooking!