I was reading yesterday's G2 at breakfast this morning, and lighted upon this article on how to cut back food waste - no doubt triggered by the £8-a-week statistic that's been bandied about recently. As the two introductory paragraphs remark, food waste is by no means the province of domestic households and it is often difficult to make the 'correct' lifestyle choices*. But it's no use just shifting the blame and sticking our heads in the sand** - every little helps and all that, and constructive advice is always more agreeable than pure sanctimony.

 

I am tempted to save and distribute the article, although I know that I would not be popular to say the least if I stuck it up in our kitchen in Durham - and in all fairness it might seem a little bit like saying 'I told you so', which is never helpful or necessary! I think that my housemates already think I'm some sort of crazy environmentalist anyway***...

 

In any case, for easy disgestion****, twenty ways to reduce food waste, courtesy of Laura Barton and Jon Henley (and expanded upon in the article itself):

 

1. Avoid the supermarket

2. Ignore 2-for-1 offers

3. Shop daily for perishables

4. Bulk-buy non-perishables

5. Be storage savvy

6. Meal-plan for the week

7. Cook

8. Buy quality not quantity

9. Freecycle/ become a 'freegan'

10. Utilise your freezer

11. Don't be afraid of an empty fridge

12. Grow your own herbs and salad

13. Buy vegetables whole

14. Know how much a portion is

15. Bulk-cook meals

16. Learn how to use leftovers

17. Look to previous generations

18. Take sell-by dates with a pinch of salt

19. Rediscover packed lunches

20. Equip yourself

 

 

*Case in point: At home, I have a small convenience store, a couple of newsagents, a couple of butchers, and an organic produce shop within about ten minutes' easy walk. Within a mile I have access to a Spar, a couple of other convenience stores, a Tesco Express (which actually sells 'proper food'), a couple of bakeries, a couple of greengrocers, a Somerfield... that's just off the top of my head. Within two miles, I can go to one of two big Sainsbury's or a big Co-op - I don't suppose I could list all of the smaller food shops within that distance. We have a car, and despite the questionable reliability at times, there is also a bus network - you can turn up at a stop and would be very unlucky to have nothing come within twenty minutes.

 

Then in Durham, where I have an incredibly busy lifestyle and am basically reliant on my feet, there is a Somerfield a mile away in the wrong direction, some small food shops in town half an hour's walk away, and they're closing the only supermarket within reasonable walking distance of the centre. Then the newsagents ten minutes' away sells onions, milk, and expensive non-perishables if we run out and need something urgently - and that's it. Literally. It's not that you can't buy food responsibly, but it takes a much greater degree of time and effort (- and yet must seem like convenience paradise to people who live in the middle of nowhere!)

 

**For those of you who really don't care, this article is completely unrelated, rather amusing, and needs distributing, I feel :-)

 

***I'd disagree. I don't do nearly enough. But then there are degrees and it does depend on your starting point!

 

****Oh dear, I just re-read that... it was not intentional. I am actually turning into my mother.