UK Harvest has once again teamed up with West Sussex County Council (WSCC) to tackle food waste in our communities. Their latest initiative in the fight against food waste is a booklet that will be available free of charge at all community food hubs and which can also be accessed online. It is a fabulous publication with masses of information packed into 12 colourfully printed pages.
Some shocking facts and statistics
The booklet doesn’t pull its punches, providing some shocking facts about the food we waste but also always adding some good advice about what can be done to prevent that waste.
Who knew that 2.9 million potatoes are wasted everyday and that this is the equivalent of throwing away half the potatoes bought? Can we not feel some shame when we are told that 20 million slices of bread go uneaten every day, together with a million bananas? Their suggestion is to store bananas separately, freeze them if they turn brown and use the black ones for delicious banana bread and cakes.
It is both encouraging and horrifying to learn that what is described as an average family can save up to £80 a month by not wasting food and that a significant amount of the food we just throw away is in fact edible.
Cut your waste and cut your food bills
Apart from the alarming evidence of our excess, there is masses of good advice that not only results in less waste but will also cut our food bills. Obviously, slavishly following every one of this booklet’s excellent ideas for cutting waste could be a full-time job in itself and I can hear the yells of ‘How much time do you think I have, what with a job, children, home to run, partner, aged relatives etc?’ In reply, just do the best you can and take on the ideas that fit in with your own busy life.
Batch cooking at the weekend and then freezing might suit your lifestyle; organising the fridge so that ‘eat first’ is on the top shelf might suit another. Lists and planning aren’t my thing, but I am attracted to the meal planner and list page which can be downloaded – incidentally, its advice can save you an awesome eight meals a week!
Go for the wonky vegetables, don’t peel anything (which incidentally will save time later), use all your leftovers in exotic original recipes and don’t forget to make the most of the freezer if you have one. Try to eat only the fruit and veg that are local and seasonal. That will save the planet as well as your purse and helpfully, they have two pages of plates, showing what could be put on them month by month.
Another two pages are devoted to delicious-looking recipes, which can be downloaded digitally, all featuring one or more of the nation’s most wasted foods. Last but not least is the ‘Find Out More’ page, which is jam-packed with links to UK Harvest and its work with WSCC. Here you can find out how to volunteer, how to donate, how to access good food that would otherwise go to waste, and how to find a programme for the community hubs and much, much more.
Find your nearest food hub
Photo Credit: UK Harvest
The food hubs are run in the Chichester district by UK Harvest and further afield in West Sussex in collaboration with the WSCC. For no more than a suggested donation of £3.50 anyone is welcome to bring along a large supermarket bag and fill it with the groceries, vegetables, fruit and other goodies on offer. Everything has been donated and would otherwise go to landfill because of sell-by dates and quality control, so to go along and join in is to be part of the fight against waste.
Have fun, offer to help, meet new people and even find out new ways to deal with Brussel sprouts. Refreshments are usually provided if you have to queue and, for the time being, videos will be shown on how to cook the dishes mentioned in the booklet plus other food-saving tips.
Download an app
If you can’t get to a hub, how about downloading some anti-waste apps? There are apps to help you with your budget, apps to help you keep an eye on what’s in your fridge and apps to access food that would otherwise be thrown away.
Too Good to Go is a good one, which will let you know which supermarkets or restaurants have left-over food that can’t be sold normally. With a click you can order a bag of food for £3.50 or so and then collect it at a specified time. The only drawback is that you don’t know exactly what’s in it – it’s a surprise! However, clues can be gained, in that a pizza place is unlikely to be offering cakes and pastries.
If you like surprises, then this is the app for you, but if you have allergies or just need to know what to expect, then try Karma, where you can order restaurant food and know what you are about to feast on. And don’t forget Olio, the app for ‘finding what you need and sharing what you don’t with local people’, whether it’s food or anything else.
So hooray for UK Harvest and West Sussex County Council. Thank you for the inspiration, the ideas, the advice, the helpful hubs and the brilliant booklet.
For further information, please contact Joanna Lodge: joanna.lodge@ukharvest.ork.uk
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR CROWDFUNDER
HELP US BECOME STRONGER SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO DELIVER POWERFUL CITIZEN JOURNALISM!
