Reduce Love Food Hate Waste

Wasting less and making the most of the food available to us means we will buy less and save money. According to Love Food Hate Waste’s 2021/2022 figures (Source: Love Food Hate Waste website), each person in the UK wastes £250 a year on food, equating to £1000 a year for a household of four.

The savings don’t stop there. By making sure we’re not shopping for, preparing and cooking more food than we need, you could save additional money on energy bills.

Wasting food is bad for the environment

Wasting food results in the release of unnecessary climate changing greenhouse gas emissions. Taking action to reduce food waste at home is one of the most effective things you can do to help tackle climate change and live more sustainably (see: Project Drawdown for more information).

If we ate more of the food that is currently wasted, it could have a transformational impact.

• We wouldn’t need to produce as much food, so carbon emissions from agriculture would reduce.
• There would be less pressure to destroy natural habitats to create more agricultural land, so there would be more space for nature.
• There would be less pressure on limited fresh water reserves too, meaning that the UK had greater food security.
• People across the globe could be at less risk of the impacts of severe drought or flooding, malnutrition and high inflation on food prices (Source: United Nations).

Taking action to reduce food waste at home

Love Food Hate Waste is an international campaign led by the Charity WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme). It provides simple methods to help people reduce food waste at home.

Whether you waste a lot of food or very little, Love Food Hate Waste has something to help everyone. We’ve put together a simple guide to food waste prevention basics which you can access through the links below:

1. Plan your meals and use a shopping list – buy only what you need, and to using everything that you buy.
2. Get to know your dates – foods are safe to eat after the ‘best before’ date, but may no longer be at their best. Items with a ‘use by date’ must be frozen or eaten before the date to avoid health risks.
3. Perfect portions and savvy servings – cooking and serving too much food means that you are more likely to waste it.
4. Savour your surplus – knowing your options for dealing with unexpected surplus food is key to making sure it doesn’t go to waste.

For more information about reducing food waste at home, you can also:

1. Visit the Love Food Hate Waste website and find out more
2. Find out more about food waste prevention events in Leicestershire
3. Seek advice with a specific food waste issue by emailing waste.prevention@leics.gov.uk
4. Share surplus food via Olio
5. Find out about The Community Fridge network
6. Read about action to reduce food waste across the food supply chain via Courtauld 2030
7. Become an Environment Action Volunteer
8. Take advantage of reduced price food with the Yellow Sticker Cookbook