UK HOUSEHOLDS WASTE MORE THAN £2,000 A YEAR ON FOOD AND DRINKS
By Adam Clancy
A recent poll of 2,000 adults showed that respondents waste £2,026 a year on food and drinks. This includes takeaway meals, bottled water and items left in cupboards or the fridge.
This can be avoided. There are special bins used by councils in London especially for food waste (to separate food from packaging and other materials) which deal with food waste in a more sustainable way.
If you have food leftover in your household that can be eaten later, why not preserve the food and give it to food banks or homeless charities? Or cover up the food and re-heat it for a meal the next day? This doesn’t work for some foods though, so putting it in a food waste bin would be more ideal.
Always check the expiry dates of the foods and drinks you buy. If a product expires within the week, for example milk, make sure you only buy what you’ll
realistically consume that week.
Also, in general, there’s no need to overspend on food and drink. You may be concerned about feeding your household to their satisfaction, but make sure you have a budget when going shopping and don’t overstep that.
The survey also revealed a fifth of participants to not think through their purchase before buying, and a further one in ten said they got a “high” from impulse buying.
Try to resist the urge to buy a food or drink product straight away. Refer to your budget, make sure you buy the essentials first and if there’s any room left in your budget after this then you can think about buying a few more products.
Money wasted on over-buying food and drink can be reduced, and food waste can be minimalised.
Food waste can be minimalised with a few simple steps.