and your wallet will thank you – not to mention your taste buds. Food writer Victoria Glass shares her wisdom for putting your good intentions into real, do-able practice, plus four recipes for using up the inevitable odds and ends. Small changes... BIG pay-off
PHOTOGRAPHS KATE WHITAKER FOOD STYLING KATY MCCLELLAND STYLING DAVINA PERKINS
What would you do with a spare £800? Maybe a weekend away, or how about a fancy new coffee machine? Or maybe you would rather spend it duplicating a bunch of ingredients that are already sitting in your cupboards?
Right now in the UK, 9.5 million tonnes of food are wasted every year, with household food waste making up a staggering 70% of this figure. We bin nearly 20% of all the food we buy, resulting in the average household wasting £800 of edible food a year. According to Catherine David, director of collaboration and change at Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), this equates to the average UK household throwing away eight meals a week. No one likes a wagging finger and no one can be perfect all the time, but it’s obvious that little changes would make a big difference.
A study published in the Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences found nearly two thirds of our unused comestibles were bought for specific recipes that were never made. This points to a pattern of culinary over-optimism; our cupboards are bursting with mementos from abandoned cooking projects.
If you’re feeling a bit guilty at this point, you are not alone. A quick peek in my fridge reveals three opened jars of the same brand of harissa. (If you can relate, don’t miss The Project this month – you may never buy harissa again after you’ve made your own, and our recipes are just the inspiration you need to use it up.)
My cupboards are no better. In the spice rack alone, I’ve discovered two jars of star anise and three of caraway seeds – and that’s the tip of the iceberg. WRAP’s Chill Chain Report revealed that up to a third of us don’t check the contents of our fridges before a shop, leading to unnecessary duplications.
IT’S TIME TO RELAX ABOUT FOOD SAFETY – UP TO A POINT
Professor Jessica Aschemann-Witzel of Aarhus University’s Centre for Research on Customer Relations in the Food Sector says consumers recognise that food waste is unethical. That, she says, is a good starting point for individuals to engage in sustainability – but the professor cites “misconceptions about food safety and exaggerated disgust” as major hurdles.
Food safety is an understandable concern. Many of us are unsure about which foods are safe to reheat, while 59%
