All too often the fruit and vegetables we buy are not used to their fullest potential. There is always going to be food waste from the kitchen – from the discarded peels, seeds, stalks and stems, or maybe from making too much food or letting the fruits and vegetables go bad before eating them. These are all very common ways in which we inadvertently create food waste.
We should all be eating a plethora of plants everyday to maintain a balanced, healthy diet with all the vitamins and minerals our bodies require. It seems a shame that so much of our food is thrown away when with just a few simple changes we can easily prevent this. Want to eat more and waste less of your delicious and nutritious food? Then, read on for 6 Ways to Reduce Your Fruit & Vegetable Food Waste!
1. Make a Shopping List
A great tip is to look through your fridge, freezer and cupboards before you go shopping to see what food you already have and base your shopping list on what you need. This will allow you to make the most of the food already in your kitchen so you don’t risk things turning bad, and this should reduce impulse purchases too.
2. Store them Correctly
By storing vegetables and fruit in the correct way you can keep them fresher for longer, allowing you to eat more and waste less of them. My favourite examples include keeping carrots and herbs in a glass of water and storing potatoes in cool, dark places.
3. Freeze, Freeze, Freeze!
Freezing works for so many foods in your kitchen including fresh fruit and vegetables, and cooked leftovers. This can extend their life for many months and opens up a whole new host of recipes, such as banana ice cream. Just make sure you don’t forget what’s in there!
4. Share with Your Neighbours
Maybe you made too much dinner last night, or you bought too much of that one vegetable and aren’t sure how else to use it. Well why not share some with your neighbours! This is such a fantastic way to connect with your community, and you might even get some food in return. Good karma points!
5. Make Use of the Scraps
There are some bits of the vegetable that we just don’t want to eat, but sometimes the most nutritious part of the vegetable is the part we end up throwing away. Of course there is always the option of putting scraps in a compost bin, but there are actually still ways of eating these odds and ends, including making vegetable stock as shown in the video above!
6. Try Pickling!
My last tip is to try preserving your vegetables by pickling them. Adding salt and vinegar to food in a jar is a tried and tested method of making it last longer – plus the end-product is delicious too. This is an especially great idea for vegetables that will soon go out of season.
