Simple Hacks to Cut Your Food Waste with Gino D’Acampo

According to the latest estimates, UK households waste a shocking 4.7 million tonnes of edible food every year. The good news? An estimated 60,000 tonnes of food waste could be prevented every year if produce was just sold loose, rather than packaged.

This year, 18-24th March is Food Waste Action Week in the UK, and TV chef Gino D’Acampo has teamed up with charity Love Food Hate Waste to encourage more people to buy loose fruit and veg. Here are some of their simple hacks and see their tips below for buying loose and using what you buy…

1. Buying only what you need and then eating what you buy is easy with a few new habits, so here are some simple ideas you can try to save your food and ensure it gets eaten.

2. Check your fridge, freezer and cupboards before doing your shopping: what do you have already that needs using up? Perhaps you’ve already got a couple of carrots left and just need one or two more for the recipe you have in mind, or you’d forgotten you have a few spuds left from your weekend roast.

3. Write a flexible meal plan for the week: factoring in what you have already, take a few minutes to write a flexible meal plan for the week ahead. There’s lots more advice on this in our post on meal planning.

4. Make a list of what you’ll need: now that you know what you’re planning to cook, you’ll know what ingredients you need. You can now come up with a list of the total portions of fruit and veg you’ll need for the week using our handy portion calculator.

5. Stick to the list: when you’re in the supermarket or doing your online shop, tick things off your list and only buy the exact quantity you need from the loose fruit and veg section. Remember to take your reusable food bags or containers to pop your loose fruit and veg in if you’re heading to the shop!

6. Store it in the right place: when you get your loose fruit and veg home, you can make sure it lasts as long as possible by storing it in the right place – which, for most fruit and veg, is the fridge (it’s only really bananas, whole pineapples and onions that should be kept at room temperature). You might be surprised how many foods you’ve been storing in the wrong place!

For more tips, visit lovefoodhatewaste.com