Reduce: Food Waste Part 2

Many decisions we make around purchasing, storing and using our food can help us to reduce food waste. This is kind of like our first line of defense - a little planning and awareness here mean less to deal with down the line.

The statistics I shared the other week showed that one out of five shopping bags of food go to waste. Sometimes life happens, our best laid plans go awry and things get lost in the back of the fridge - but the more awareness at this stage the better.

Today I want to talk about planning before we shop, storing food and share a few food safety points.

Pantry storage.

I thought I'd share a few strategies that we use around here and some that readers have shared. There may be a few ideas or strategies that could help around your place. If you have any to add pop them in the comments below.

Before shopping

• Check food supplies in the pantry, fridge and freezer. What is already on hand? What needs using up? I try and do this at least once a week or before I head to the shop.
• Meal planning - I won't go into this in too much detail as I'm sure you're aware of all the benefits and various strategies to do it. Two things I'll highlight around food waste is that I meal plan with a list of any foods that need using (this includes things in the garden) and my schedule. If there are things on during the week that impact on my ability to use up food then I try to either plan around it (quick meal, freezer meal etc) or plan not to need food and therefore don't buy it.
• Making a list and sticking to it definitely helps avoid any 'over-shopping' waste.

Food storage

Once you get the food home, how you store it will impact on the shelf life. A couple of strategies that help to keep food at its best:

• Freeze any grains or flours for 24 hours to kill bugs/eggs - not nice to think about but very effective. If you have the space storing grains or flours in the freezer will increase their shelf life.
• Take potatoes and onions out of any plastic bags - store in mesh bags/baskets in a dark cupboard. If I buy a big bag of potatoes I will sometimes store half in the fridge to extend their shelf life.
• Wrap celery in foil - this is a game changer, crisp celery even after more than a month in the crisper (thanks Rhonda for this awesome tip)
• Briefly soak strawberries in a bowl of vinegar and water and store in a container lined with something absorbent (paper towel or cloth).
• Store herbs in a glass with water (like flowers) and cover top with plastic bag - this creates a mini greenhouse and they keep very well (if no one knocks the glass over in the fridge of course!)
• Store veg in sealed plastic containers or bags in the crisper.
• Freeze any meat that is not going to be used within 2 days.
• Store nuts and seeds in the fridge or freezer to avoid oils going rancid.

Food Safety

I suspect a lot of unnecessary waste occurs in many instances because there is a lot of fear and uncertainty around food safety. Here are a few bits of information that I found useful to know:

• Best before simply refers to quality of a food and not safety - theoretically you could eat a food product many many years after its best before date.
• Use by dates are not a food safety time bomb - the food doesn't automatically go off once the date arrives. They are a guide, some foods will be ok after their use by dates have passed. This is particularly true for many dairy products. I remember a food microbiology lecturer at uni saying how he only bought the discounted yoghurt because, unless contaminated, it's completely safe to eat after the 'use by'. Although, I'd probably not test the theory on meat or chicken. Interestingly in the UK changes were made last year to go from use by to best before on hard cheese and pasteurised juices.
• Freezing guides only relate to food quality. You could freeze something for 10 years and it would still be safe to eat as long as it has remained frozen, sure it'll be sporting some serious freezer burn after 10 years but it'll still be safe. There is no need to throw away food from the freezer because it's been in there 'too long'.
• You can refreeze foods that have been defrosted in the fridge and will ultimately be cooked. If you get some meat out to cook dinner, defrost it in the fridge, but don't get around to using it that night then pop it back in the freezer. Don't do this if you defrosted on the bench or if you left it in the fridge for several days after defrosting.
• Meats that have been frozen raw can still be frozen when cooked (I had a friend ask me this recently and I didn't realise it was something people worried about, but there you go).
• Food left on the bench for up to 2 hours can be put back in the fridge. If it's been on the bench between 2-4 hours it's still safe to eat but not store. If it's been on the bench for longer than 4 hours it's time to go (hopefully into the compost or other resource recycling system).

Over to you. What tips do you have to reduce food waste in relation to food buying, storing and safety?

Further resources:

Fresh produce storage guides

Golden rules of food storage

Food storage posts at Down to Earth blog
How to store produce without plastic

Food waste series
Intro: Part 1
Reuse: Part 3
Recycle: Part 4
Food waste: the Australian picture