It’s a challenging time for everyone right now, and as we are at home a lot more these days you are probably noticing the food is going down quickly and the bills are going up. . .
Here a some tips that will help you maximise your food, reduce food waste and help your wallet! Something I am sure we are all keen to do right now.
1. Plan meals (but be flexible) – before you go to the supermarket (or shop online) write a list of meals you could make and use this to create your list. The current climate means you may have to be a bit flexible with recipes so good to have a number or options up your sleeve and know your substitutes.
2. Be creative – if you do have some random items in your fridge and pantry and don’t know what to do with them, don’t despair…get creative. There are a number of apps that can help you out with recipe ideas, we like the Australian Love Your Leftovers app (check out our review here) but there are also a number of other worldwide ones, this blog reviews some quite well.
3. Get back in the kitchen – more time at home may mean more time available to cook and prepare meals so you can ensure your food doesn’t go to waste. Use this time to enjoy doing something practical and make some amazing comfort food! Look back over those recipe books that are gathering dust and pull out the slow cooker. Cook up batches of food that you can freeze to enjoy in the winter months to come.
4. Label leftovers – label your leftovers in the fridge with a date on so you know when you can use by. Freeze anything you are unlikely to eat in the near future.
5. Check your thermostat – to avoid food spoiling make sure your fridge and freezer are set to the correct temperature and check regularly that thermostats are working. The CSIRO states that the best energy saving temperature for your fridge is between 3 and 5 degrees Celsius and between minus 15 and 18 degrees Celsius for your freezer.
6. Use your scraps – think outside the square a little…for example vegetable peels can make yummy chips (i.e. potato/sweet potato/carrot – add some oil and bake), chicken or beef bones can be used to make stock and pumpkin seeds can be roasted up for a snack.
7. Buy in bulk (if you can!) – at this time buying in bulk will be really useful to keep well stocked of essential items, and these also use less packaging (and therefore less waste). But with the current state of panic buying still having an effect this may or may not be possible.
8. Compost food scraps – if you don’t already have a compost bin set up at home now is a great time to get this started. If you are tight on room a bokaski bin might suit you best. Click here to find out more about composting options (not the community options may not be available currently).
If your Council has a food and green waste collection available ensure you are utilising this service and are familiar with what you can dispose of in this bin.
And for the workplace, KS Environmental provides efficient and reliable food waste collections. Click here to find out more or contact us today.