A tasty home-cooked meal can be one of the most delightful things in life, it can be time to share with our loved ones, not to mention the health benefits it brings. Home-cooked meals can help us cut calories, be more mindful of our eating, and helps us to have healthier, less processed meals! Of course, this is all very beneficial for your body, but is it beneficial for our planet and your wallet?
The topic of food waste has had more media attention recently, as, according to Wrap, 4.5 million tonnes of edible food are discarded by UK households yearly. And this isn’t just throwing out uneaten food, 25% of the waste is due to cooking, preparation or serving. This costs UK families £3.5 Billion yearly!
Food waste from households is affecting our planet as its one of the biggest problems impacting climate change. So to help our planet, it is essential to be mindful of food waste whilst cooking. The good news is that there are many clever methods to do just that! Granite City Good Food, the hub for sustainable food in Aberdeen, would agree! Check out their website for all things food and sustainability related here.
Zero-waste cooking can include easy changes that you can make while cooking to reduce waste, save your time, money, and the planet! To mark the launch of Food Waste Action Week 2023, we have put a series of steps together that you can give a go to help try reduce your food waste!
What is Zero-Waste Cooking?
Zero-waste cooking is precisely what it says on the tin! The aim is to leave as little food and packaging waste behind as possible. The picture above shows steps to start your zero-waste cooking journey using the well known rule “reduce, reuse, recycle.”
It’s so simple to begin wasting less from your food, and you don’t have to be perfect. Zero-waste cooking is about leaving as little food and packaging behind when cooking and eating, so why not use those trimmings for stovies, or turn those tattie peelings into a delicious soup?
Your Guide to Zero-Waste Cooking
1. Meal Planning
Planning your meals is the most crucial step to zero-waste cooking. It can help prevent you from buying unnecessary ingredients or cooking too much. Planning meals early will help you prioritise other weekly tasks. However, this varies from person to person. While meal planning, why not take into consideration the following:
- Foods you already have that need to be used soon
- Recipes that include foods you can buy in bulk and store well; frozen fruits and vegetables, dried fruits and vegetables, frozen meats, honey, oats, grains, pasta, nuts and seeds in shells, etc.
- Ingredients that can be used to make many different meals (ragu to chilli, pasta to pasta salad etc.)
- Serving sizes
2. Where you Shop
Shopping at places that sell locally produced food, refillerys as well as buying wonky fruit and veg and food that is low dates such as on the app 'Too Good to Go' are all eco-friendly options to help you reduce your impact on the planet. There are many sustainable food businesses in Aberdeen, check out some below -
- CFINE Vegaroonitoon, a fruit & vegetable box in three sizes. Just place an online order, and we will deliver your five-a-day directly to your door around Aberdeen using our eco-friendly fleet, four electric cargo bikes and CFINE’s new hydrogen car, wherever possible.
- The CFINE Fredrick Street Café (The Health Village) offers fresh fruit and vegetable packs, hot soups, drinks, and healthy snacks. Open on Wednesdays and Thursdays (10:00 AM to 2:00 PM).
- The Fruit Mart (Skelton Street, Peterhead) is a unique business, charity and social enterprise selling fruit, vegetables, dried goods, healthy snacks, and local produce.
- TAMS Aberdeen (Grove Nursery), help allotment holders sell excess produce & help locals access community-grown food. Open Monday to Friday (2:00 PM to 4:00 PM) and on Sundays (1:00 PM to 3:00 PM) depending on the season.
- Refillosophy (Albyn Grove) is a refillery which aims to make sustainable living easy for everyone. They offer fresh fruit and vegetables, vegetarian and vegan baked goods, and local makers items.
- Green Grocer (Clifton Road) offers locally sourced fruit and vegetables at affordable prices.
- Bare (Ellon), you’ll find a wide range of refillable whole foods, cupboard staples, cleaning products and toiletries, and a cheese counter full of small-batch farmhouse cheeses and the best sourdough toasties! They also offer plastic-free fruit and veggies, refillable local milk, Meal Kits, eco-friendly gifts and more.
- Check out the Granite City Good Food sustainable food directory for more options -https://www.granitecitygoodfood.org/directory.
3. Always Shop with a Positive Mindset
Don’t feel pressured to do everything or anything at all if it doesn’t suit you, do what you can and be proud of it!
Zero-waste shopping can include:
- When you can, shop at organisations and businesses that offer sustainable food (see list above)
- Bringing your own bag when you can
- Buying ingredients that store well in bulk when you can (like oats, dried, frozen or tinned fruits and vegetables, frozen poultry, peanut butter, etc.)
- Avoiding products with unnecessary packaging
- Don’t throw away things that can be used. See the Food Standard Agency website to learn more about best before and use-by dates (https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/best-before-and-use-by-dates)
4. Proper Food Storage
Storing food properly is essential for reducing food waste as it can help you keep foods fresher for longer, reducing the chance of them being wasted.
Please see more information here - https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/chilling-food-correctly-in-your-business
5. Reuse Leftovers
Instead of wasting leftovers, try to save them for later or add them to another recipe.
Here are some ways to reuse your leftovers:
- Make Stock with meats, vegetables or bones
- Stir fry vegetables and stems
- Juice leftover fruits
- Season and roast seeds
- Roast egg shells and feed them to the birds!
You could also replant leftover scraps;
- Replant roots and onion, lettuce, or celery trimmings
- Use coffee and eggshells as garden fertilisers
- Bigger eggshells can be used as seedling pots.
What to Takeaway from this Blog Post
- Zero-waste cooking is a great way to stay healthy and save time, money, and the planet!
- Do not aim for perfection, do what you can. Small actions done consistently accumulate into big results.
- Meal planning is a successful way to waste less, as it prevents you from buying and using unnecessary ingredients. AND it saves A LOT of time!
- Shopping at refillerys and local food businesses is a great way to help reduce food waste as they sell foods with less or no food packaging, which is environmentally friendly.
- Trying to shop with a zero-waste mindset will lead to less food waste as you will be more mindful of your shopping habits.
- Storing food properly will keep them fresher for longer, which will buy you time to use the food instead of wasting it.
- Leftovers can be unavoidable, so learning to reuse them instead of throwing them away can make a tremendous difference.
Overall it is important to do what you can, when you can, as minimising your food waste is important for both the planet and in reducing the amount of food that goes to waste. However, it is important to never feel pressured into doing more than you can take on, every change helps no matter how big or small, so feel proud!
