Tips for reducing food waste

Between a fifth and a quarter of food purchased in the UK goes to waste, according to sustainable food charity WRAP, with the greatest percentage of this coming from households.

At ARAPINA we strive to make ethical decisions every day and have a serious outlook on food waste. Having partnered with 2 good 2 go, we have managed to sell items to prevent them from going to waste, making both us and the customers happy!

But what if you are not a corporation and only an individual? What can you do to contribute towards reducing food waste? We’ve come up with a list of tips that can help.

Don’t buy too many perishables at once.
This becomes slightly easier when you’re cooking for someone else, or willing to eat your leftovers for lunch the next day and is a way that ensures that all the fresh goods you are buying are used up.

Use your freezer
Let your freezer become your best friend for things like bread, or even some veg that might not get the attention right away. This way you can get what you want when you want it.

Vegetable scraps
Garlic and onion skins could be used to make a lovely stock. You can store a bag of them in the freezer until you’ve gathered enough to make sure that it’ll steep the flavours into your broth. You can also roast the leaves of your cauliflower for a crunchy side to your meal.

Weight your carbs
Cooked rice often gets thrown out if you’ve cooked too much of it. Weighing your portions doesn’t just help ration of how much water to use, but also is making sure you’re cooking the right amount.

Re-growing veg
Spring onions can regrow if you add the roots in water, and so can lettuce. What a brilliant hack for the environment but also your wallet!

With these tips we can make small reductions to our food waste which then increase over time. If you can, try to compose as it’s better for scraps to be turned into soil than for it to go to a landfill.

If you feel like there’s more that you feel like we might have missed out on, email us at [email protected]

Stefano Ferreyros