Zero food waste goal: The top 10 items we waste

Worm farms are a great source of compost. Photo / Supplied

Opinion

Every year Kiwis send over 157,000 tonnes of food to landfill, all of which could have been eaten. Not only is this costly, but it is also bad for the environment.

What are the top 10 items we waste?

Leftovers, bread, bananas, oranges/mandarins, beef, rice, lettuce, apples, potatoes, and poultry.

So, what can we do to reduce food waste?

You need to buy less, use your leftovers, and learn the best way to store food. Even by observing these three things you will make a huge difference to your wastage.

If you can spare the time, plan all your meals for a week and then buy the food accordingly. When it comes to leftovers, use them, or turn them into a quiche, add some pasta and a fresh tomato sauce or have a good old general fry up and add an egg on top.

Once a week, have a sort out of your fridge. That single carrot, half a red onion, partially used red pepper, pumpkin that needs some attention and the couple of parsnips rolling in the vegetable bin, by adding a few potatoes to them ... voila ... roasted vegetables for tonight’s dinner.

You can also make pesto with vege leaves and stems. Freeze cheese rinds and use them to flavour soups. Use your coffee ground and eggshells to fertilise your garden and keep down the slugs and snails and did you know you can also replant roots or trimmings from onions, celery and lettuce?

Although we intend to eat the food we buy, sometimes it inevitably spoils while sitting on the counter or in the back of the refrigerator. We’ve all been there before.

Storage of your food is essential, and you can make your vegetables for instance last longer by storing them in the correct condition. Don’t put anything into the fridge uncovered and remember to put lids back on the condiments.

If you have an excess from your garden of fruit or vegetables, remember you can always freeze, pickle, bottle and dehydrate.

Repurpose or compost

Capsicums, can be used in so many ways, so no excuse for waste! Photograph/Warren Buckland

Don’t put your food scraps in the bin, add them to your compost heap or why not invest in a worm farm? If you have chooks, cook the food scraps up till soft and offer them to the chooks, they are sure to deliver an extra egg for your effort.

REMEMBER . . . Give Zero Food Waste a good Kiwi go. Show the world how it’s done.