Food waste
Food waste is a big problem, for our environment and our wallets. Save money and help the environment by following these quick tips. Or if you are looking for more, take the 3-week Food Waste Challenge.
Meal planning
Make a meal plan and shopping list (PDF 184.9 KB) to reduce shopping time, help your wallet and solve that mid-week ‘what’s for dinner?’ panic. Here are some tips for how to get started:
- Start with planning a few meals per week.
- Add an ‘eat what you can find’ night to use up any extras.
- Check your fridge, freezer and pantry to help make your plan before you go shopping.
- Put your plan somewhere visible, like the fridge.
- Write a shopping list, take it to the store and only buy what you need.
- Don’t shop when you are hungry.
Food storage
Make sure food is lasting its longest. Having an organized fridge and freezer makes a big difference.
- Set your fridge to 3° or 4°C to best preserve food.
- Avoid overcrowding your fridge.
- Use airtight containers for storing food.
- Make use of your leftovers by eating them the following day of freezing them for later.
- Label frozen food (PDF 267.0 KB).
- Freeze foods before their ‘Use by’ date so they can be used later.
‘Use by’ and ‘Best before’ dates
- Do not eat food beyond its ‘Use by’ date, it’s not safe.
- Use your senses to decide if you can eat food after its ‘Best before’ date. The quality may have decreased but it could still be safe to eat.
- Take extra care if you are pregnant, sick, elderly or giving the food to a young child.
Food Waste Challenge
The 3-week Food Waste Challenge is a step by step recipe to reducing food waste.
Thousands of Canberrans have already completed the Food Waste Challenge with great results:
- 90% of participants in the Food Waste Challenge said they were wasting less food by the end of the challenge.
- 78% of participants estimated they saved money – on average $583 per year per respondent!
- Motivation to reduce food waste increased by 52%. This a key to reducing food waste in the home.
Printable resources
Food waste audit (PDF 209.4 KB) – track the food you are throwing away.
Food storage poster (PDF 2.2 MB) – get the most out of your produce.
Food storage labels (PDF 267.0 KB) – organise the food in your freezer.
Meal plan and shopping list template (PDF 184.9 KB) – plan your meals and shopping.
Why are we trying to reduce food waste?
- In the ACT around 26,000 tonnes of household food waste goes to landfill each year.
- In Australia, 34% of food waste in the supply chain and 74% of the food waste in landfill has come from households.
- Australian households waste thousands of dollars every year by throwing away food that could have been eaten.
- One-third of all edible food produced globally is lost or wasted.
- Uneaten food wastes many resources – land, water, transport, refrigeration and packaging.
- Food waste also produces methane in landfill – a powerful greenhouse gas.
Studies and reports:
Contact
Email no.waste@act.gov.au or call Access Canberra on 13 22 81.