For your Pocket, For our Planet. Small everyday actions make a big difference. Let’s make our food go further.
By preventing food waste, using up leftovers, and recycling anything that can’t be eaten, we can unlock more value from the food we already have by helping it to stretch further.
On average we spend around £1,000 a year* on food that ends up in the bin. There’s lots of ways that you can save yourself around £83 per month by taking a few simple steps:
- Write a shopping list
By finding a method of writing a shopping a list that works for you
- Keep a list of the most common foods that you buy each week to hand – then just copy and paste into a new note if using your phone and delete what you don’t need when checking your cupboards, fridge and freezer. If using a wipe board or paper list – use this list to remind you what you might need. It’ll save time writing it out all the time and helps you easily remember your go-to foods.
- Keep your list up to date throughout the week then sense check it just before you go to the shop – saves you having to write a list in the moments before you hit the shop when you are likely to have the least amount of time.
- Try to organise your list around the shop layout – base your list on how the shop is laid out, group the same types of foods e.g. bakery, pick your frozen food last (it will stay cooler for longer while you get it home).
- Add food to your list throughout the week, when you run out of something – It only takes a second.
- Remember to add your non-food items too e.g. shampoo, toothpaste, loo rolls, etc.
2. Plan your meals
What meals are you going to make this week?
- Having a meal plan to hand will save you time when creating your shopping list, particularly if you start writing your shopping at the time you create your meal plan.
- Using a meal plan to write your shopping list will take the guesswork out of calculating how much food you’ll actually eat during the week.
- Meal plans help you rationalise your shopping list too – if recipes need similar foods e.g. root vegetables for curry, stews, soups, then you can swap out food mentioned in the recipe for something similar and use up whole packs rather than buying different types of food and only using half the pack e.g. swap parsnips for carrots. The great alternative is to buy your fruit and vegetables loose.
Who’s in, who’s out? – Check your calendar to see who’s in and who’s out for mealtimes.
What’s your food budget? – Make a note of this and plan your meals around your budget. Check out some pocket friendly recipes here.
3. Check what food do you already have at home
- Fresh food isn’t the only way to buy food – think about what food you can buy to put in your cupboard and freezer. This food will last longer, particularly when your plans may change last minute.
- Remember to look at what’s at the back of the fridge and cupboards too – it’s easy for food to get forgotten when new food is put away.
- Move food that needs eating up right now to the front of the shelf or create an ‘eat me first’ shelf. Check out our Weekly food routine tool for some other quick food habits to adopt each week that’ll save you time and money.
- Forgotten food – If you have food you thought you’d use but just haven’t had the time to use – now is the time to do something about it. Freeze it (tips are available in our food pages), make a meal and freeze for later, or give to someone who will be able to use it e.g. aps like Olio
- Staple foods – It’s worth keeping some food at home that helps you use up leftovers so keep an eye on what you have in your cupboard e.g. canned tomatoes, rice and dried pasta.
4. Sense check your list just before you go shopping or order online
- Have a quick glance in your fridge, cupboards and freezer – what still needs eating vs what’s on your list?
- Have plans changed next week re: who’s in/out and has anything changed that will impact the time you have available to cook/prepare planned meals?
- Remember to check any coupons you have and take them with you e.g. supermarket loyalty cards etc
And finally, when you are in the shop
- Shop and scan – If you can, use a shop and scan handheld device – it saves time packing as you pack as you go, and it adds up your shopping as you go too, helping you stick to your budget.
- Remember to tick/delete your items off your list when it’s in your trolley.
- Special offers – pause for a moment and think – ask yourself when will you eat the food?, do you really need twice the amount? … so will it actually save you money? Consider trying own brand food – quite often it’s as good and nutritious as branded food and costs less too.
- Remember to use your coupons – every penny saved counts.
- Distract your little folk by giving them an easy game to play while in the shop e.g. count how many food items you see that have green packaging, pre-draw a basket on paper at home and ask them to draw food to put in their basket or ask them to help you find the food on the shelves (if they can).
- Super end-of-day deals – if you shop at the end of the day then you might find some brilliant deals when food is marked down for sale. Sense check if it’s something you can use though – a great deal on food is only one that you’ll end up eating and not throwing away. You can freeze food up to its Use by date, if it has one.
For more helpful tips on how you can save food from landfill while saving yourself some money visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
*Source Love Food Hate Waste
