3 Facts About Food Waste You Won’t Believe

January 9, 2017

by Trisha Learn

Contents

Food waste is becoming more and more of a prevalent issue in the UK. In fact, each of us throws away an average of 110kg of food every year, which makes for a scary statistic when you think about how this can impact people who are unable to access edible food.

At HelloFresh we think awareness about food waste is important, and that’s why we wanted to share a few numbers around food waste in the UK from our friends at Love Food Hate Waste:

Did you know?

hf161202_extrashot_uk_wastephotographs_7million_low

“We throw away 7 million tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year in the UK, and more than half of this is food and drink we could have eaten.”

“Almost 50% of the total amount of food thrown away in the UK comes from our homes.”

“Wasting this food costs the average household £470 a year, rising to £700 for a family with children, the equivalent of around £60 a month”

How can we help?

It’s hard to know where to start with such daunting statistics. That’s why as a part of The Daily Yay, we’re challenging you to try and cut your food waste in half this week, and here are a few tips to get you started:

Get inspired. Leftovers can be boring, so it’s always good to research for a little inspiration when it comes to using up what’s left in the cupboard. We have plenty of exciting dishes to help shake up your dinnertime here
Organisation. We all have that moment when we find the old stuff at the back of the fridge and curse ourselves for not using it in time. Why not label up your food with use-by dates and organise so the oldest food is at the front and easy to see. Simple!
Store it right. Make sure you keep the right food in the right spot: potatoes in a cool, dark place; most fruit can go in the fridge and bread in a dry cupboard.
Think ahead. What if tonight’s delicious dinner could also be tomorrow’s exciting lunch? If you make enough food to last you a few meals, planning ahead could save food and money!
Portion it out. Over buying on ingredients means we can sometimes end up having too much food with no one to eat it!

At HelloFresh we deliver the exact amount of ingredients for delicious meals straight to your door, so there’s no food waste! Why not give it a go next week and see how little you can waste?