Six easy tips that can help you diminish food waste

Most people buy food without checking their kitchen and later it becomes the cause of food waste. Australians say that they waste 20 percent of food that they buy from the market.  20 percent of food means one of five bags is thrown away in dustbin. So even though you are so confident, you must check what you have in your freeze before shopping. 

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Image credit Food waste

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There are several tips that can help you in reducing of food waste. It doesn’t mean that you store everything in your freeze like the peels of carrot or potatoes. As we know that we are not going to use it anymore. So it is better to throw them away and store edible foods that you can consume in future. 

How these 6 easy tips help you diminish food waste? 

1. Look inside your freeze if anything is left there before shopping

No one wants to throw away edible foods intentionally, but the problem is that we don’t understand it until we start wasting foods. It happens because we are not habituated to search our kitchen. Once we make it our habit, we will be able to control food waste output.

Annika Stott, sustainability strategist at OzHarvest reports HuffPost Australia.

"So many people waste food because they don't check their fridge to see what they already have before they go shopping,"

"Then once they arrive back home, they realise they've doubled up on ingredients."

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Image credit Food shopping

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2. Buy only necessary things

When you visit supermarket, you get various special offers that may induce you to purchase them, but you must be care. Just make a list what you need to purchase and avoid buying unnecessary things that can not only become the cause of food waste, but also can be a waste of your money. 

Stott says

"The fridge actually has a lot to answer for because there's this mentality to 'stock the fridge',"But often we don't actually get around to using what we buy.”

"That goes for avoiding supermarket specials, too. So much of food waste comes down to simply buying too much in the supermarket to begin with."

3. Make a plan before preparing food

Before cooking you must be sure who will be at home. Don’t guess just be sure. It is necessary to assess who will be available for lunch or dinner and what food you have in your freeze and what you will have to purchase. In this way, you can be able to control and lessen food waste.  

Stott says

"Being aware of what you have and what you need, and who is home for dinner and what's happening this week is really beneficial when it comes to figuring out exactly how much food you need to purchase,"

4. Keep remaining foods in freeze for the next day. 

Generally people do not eat remaining foods which causes food waste. If you have prepared excessive dinner or lunch and couldn’t be able to consume it entirely, you must keep it in freeze so that you can have it later. Thus food waste will be reduced. 

Stott says

"Be happy to take what you had for dinner and have it for lunch,"

"Or if you're feeling really confident you can try to transform them into entirely new meals."

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Image credit Store cooked food in refrigerator

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5. Keep your food in freeze properly

If you store your food in freeze properly, you can be able to use it even two weeks later. So food waste is not possible if you have much care of it. 

Stott says

"People in homes can really take advantage of your freezer. It's a really, really great way to save food, because it acts like a pause button,"

"Any food that's close to expiry can go in the freezer. Then you can cook from the freezer once a week to keep things rotating around."

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Image credit Store vegetables in refrigerator

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6. Know the expiry date of foods

Packed foods generally have expiry labels written on it. You should not avoid it because it is better to use foods before its expiry. But Stott says foods are still usable after its expiry. So don’t throw it in bin. 

Stott says

"People guided by labels often throw away something that is perfectly edible."

"For instance, lots of people don't know that 'best before' actually still means you can eat it after."

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