Published on 17 April 2020

What to do with food waste

Most of us don’t realise how much food waste we produce.

Here’s the thing, food waste is a BIG problem. In fact, it's a $1.17 billion dollar problem. New Zealanders waste $1.17 billion dollars on food every year - that breaks down to $250 per person!

Just imagine spending $250 on a big grocery run, and then leaving all of that food at the supermarket. Outrageous.

According to Love Food Hate Waste New Zealand, the main reason that Kiwis waste food is largely due to poor planning: we buy and cook too much food, we don’t eat our leftovers, and we let food in our fridge and freezer go off. 

The top three foods that Kiwis throw out each year are:

• Bread

• Fruit and vegetables

• Leftovers

Wasting food doesn’t just waste our money, it also harms our planet. When food waste is thrown into our bins it ends up in our landfills, where it breaks down very slowly and produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that is around 28 times stronger than carbon dioxide at warming the earth. Additionally, the more food we waste, the more we need to produce, which places greater stress on our land and resources.

The bottom line is that we're all guilty of biting off more than we can chew. The good news is that it's completely within our control to fix this. 

Here are our top eight tips for reducing food waste during lockdown and beyond:

1. Look at what you are throwing away. Keep food waste in a separate bin (if you don’t already have a compost) and make a note of what gets put in the bin most often - these are the items to look at when thinking about the rest of our top tips. If you want to turn it into a real project, check out Love Food Hate Waste’s ‘how to’ guide. 

2. Don’t overbuy. Only purchase what you need and less will go to waste. This is particularly important during lockdown, when there is a strong temptation to overstock on food. Keep track of what you have at home by taking a ‘shelfie’ - a photo of your fridge and cupboards to remind you of what you have!

3. Know your dates. Check the use-by dates of fresh food; if you won’t be able to eat it before it expires, don’t buy it! Food that is past its best-before date is still OK to eat, as long as it looks, smells, and tastes OK. 

4. Plan meals. Think about what you want to make in advance so that you only purchase what you need, and to also ensure you use up everything you have. Check out Love Food Hate Waste’s useful planning tips. 

5. Eat your leftovers. According to a Rabobank survey, fewer than half of New Zealanders always eat their leftovers from a previous meal.  Next time you cook more than you can eat, either finish your leftovers within two days, use them to make a new meal, or freeze them for up to two months.

6. Eat all the edible parts of your produce. Many kiwis throw away peels, leaves and stalks that are not only edible, but are the most nutrient-dense part of the fruit or vegetable. Next time you are making a meal, consider leaving the peel on your veges on and cooking the stems, or using the scraps to make stock. 

7. Store your food correctly. Storing your food in the right way and in the right place will make it last longer. For example, Kiwis should keep bread in the freezer, as our humid climate means that mould grows quickly.  Check out Love Food Hate Waste for more useful storage tips.

8. Keep a compost bin or worm farm. If you don’t already have a compost bin or worm farm, consider setting one up after lockdown to ensure that your food waste isn’t ending up in the landfill. Sustainability Trust sells Bokashi Buckets, which are a popular alternative to organics recycling, for those who don’t have a lot of space. No yard? No problem! Have a look into community composting options, such as the ones that Sus Trust are setting up in collaboration with Kaicycle, which you can read about here. You can also check out ShareWaste and see if someone in your neighbourhood has a compost that you can contribute to.