The average UK household spends £50 a month on food that could have been eaten but ends up being thrown away. Yet producing, transporting and consuming food is responsible for nearly a third of individuals’ contribution to climate change.
Making a few simple changes to the way you shop for food can save pounds on your shopping bill and slim down your carbon footprint.
When buying food, think carefully about who is eating and what size portions they are likely to eat. There are many useful tools available to measure portions, from a tablespoon to a spaghetti measurer, and they can soon repay their cost. This could help reduce the amount of food you need to buy – and the amount left on the plates at the end of a meal. If you do overdo it, getting creative with leftovers can save the time and hassle of starting from scratch.
Eating seasonal food can help tackle climate change – that’s because it sometimes requires less energy to produce than food grown out of season. An example of this would be out of season fruit or vegetables being refrigerated for long periods of time. Challenge yourself to cook a few meals using fruit, vegetables, meat and fish that are in season.
Cutting waste doesn’t have to mean making sacrifices. A low waste lifestyle can mean less carbon emissions and be good for your pocket.
Wasting less means you help to keep valuable materials out of landfill sites. It also means that less energy and raw materials are used to make new products, helping to tackle climate change.
How the greenhouse effect has raised the Earth’s average temperature and the change this has already caused to the climate
Planning your meals in advance of your weekly shop is one of the most effective ways you can reduce the food you waste. Making a shopping list of the things you need for those meals, and trying to stick to it, means you’re less likely to end up with items you won’t use.
By planning what you need to buy in advance, you can cut down on the number of trips you make to the supermarket. Making fewer food shopping trips by car, or using other forms of transport instead, will help cut emissions and could even save you money.