Preventing food waste

Although composting can be both great for your garden and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, the best way to reduce waste is to prevent it in the first place. Here are several tips for how you can reduce the amount of food going to waste in your home.

Make a shopping list
According to research from WRAP, more than a third of us go shopping without a list and you are ore likely to over-purchase if you don't plan before you shop.

Check your refrigerator's temperature
Keeping your fridge between 1-5 degrees centigrade helps to keep food fresh longer. It may be worth investing in a fridge thermometer.

Leftovers
At this year's BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham (November 2006) WRAP had a stand and leaflet with simple tips to help people reduce food waste at home. The leaflet contained many great recipes (sample recipe below) from WI members for leftover foods and foods that may otherwise have been thrown away.

SWEET POTATO AND PEPPER SOUP
An ideal recipe for using up your vegetables
25 g (1 oz) butter	1. Melt butter in a large pan. Add onion and garlic and cook over a low heat until soft.
1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed	2. Stir in the ground coriander and cook for 2 minutes.
450 g (1 lb) sweet potato, peeled and cubed	3. Add sweet potato cubes and red pepper to the pan and cook for 5 minutes
850 ml (1½ pt) vegetable stock	4. Pour the vegetable stock over and bring to the boil. Cover and
1 onion, peeled and chopped	simmer for 30 minutes.
15 ml (1 tbsp) ground coriander	5. Allow to cool a little, and then blend in batches in a food processor or
2 red peppers, deseeded and diced	liquidiser. return to the rinsed-out pan and heat gently until piping hot.

Ideas for the Upcoming Food Waste Campaign
If you have any ideas for the upcoming WI Food Waste Campaign with WRAP please write to us (contact details below). Ideas could be anything from what types of publications you would like to see, to what types of information you think the general public would find useful for helping them to reduce their food waste in the home.

NFWI Public Affairs Department
104 New Kings Road, London SW6 4LY
Tel: 0207 371 9300
Fax 0207 736 3652