An average Irish household throws away about 120kg of food waste per year which equates to 43kg per person. To put that in context, it is about half the weight of a full brown bin – and this is one of the highest rates in the EU.
Food waste also costs the average Irish household about €60 per month or €700 per year. This comes to an annual national cost of a staggering €1.29bn, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Food waste is not just an Irish problem; it’s a global issue that is bad for the environment, and it’s certainly disastrous for your pocket.
The StopFoodWaste.ie campaign is encouraging the public to change daily habits in a bid to cut food wastage.
1. Shopping smart: Small changes have a big impact according to Maurice McGeehan, head performance chef with the Irish Rugby Football Union, (IRFU) and is known on Instagram as thenowastechef. He advises planning your meals for the week and basing your shopping list on that.
“Have a quick check of what fresh food you already have at home to avoid buying duplicates. Be careful not to overbuy or be tempted by 2-for-1 or 3-for-2 deals on perishable produce. These offers might seem great, but often we don’t get around to using everything, and it ends up spoiling,” he says.
2. Smart storage: By adopting smarter food storage, families can significantly reduce food waste.
“Keep your fridge tidy and organised so you know exactly what’s in it, and always use older items first. Make better use of your freezer: nearly all foods can be frozen, including fruit, vegetables, dairy, and meats,” says Maurice, who cooks regularly for the top Irish rugby players.
Overripe fruit from the fruit bowl can also be chopped and stored in your freezer for smoothies, chutneys, or crumbles.
“Build up a stash of leftover bread –when you have enough, it’s perfect for making stuffing, breadcrumbs, or bread pudding. Save and freeze roast chicken bones/carcass and, once you have several of these, make a delicious [and nutritious] stock for broth or gravy. Put bones in a pot with onions, garlic, celery, bay leaves, peppercorns and any other spices, etc.
“If the milk in the fridge is nearing its use-by date, freeze it and use it later for bread or for puddings.”
Maurice Mc Geehan is the head performance chef with the IRFU.
3. Know your labels: Safefood.net encourages consumers to know the difference between ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ labels when you go shopping. The ‘use by’ date tells you when the food will become unsafe to eat. After this date, you should not eat the product.
Meanwhile, the ‘best before’ date tells the shopper when the quality of the food will begin to diminish. This means that the food may begin to lose its flavour and texture after that date, but it is still safe to consume.
4. Lovely leftovers: If you have leftovers, make a plan to use them either for the next day’s lunch, as an ingredient for dinner later in the week or freeze them for future meals. lovefoodhatewaste.com or mabs.ie have plenty of recipes to get you started.
“The key is to preserve your perishable ingredients and once that’s done, you don’t need to worry about them going off,” says Maurice.
“Try to use every part of the fresh produce you buy. For example, if you poach a small gammon at home, use the poaching liquid to make a white sauce instead of milk, or as a base for soup.
“Don’t throw away your vegetable peels – just wash the vegetables well before peeling.
“You can crisp up the trimmings for homemade vegetable crisps, or better yet, don’t peel them at all and roast them with the skins on for added texture and nutrition,” adds Maurice.
“If some fresh ingredients like vegetables, fish, chicken, or meat – are starting to spoil, cook them straight away. If you don’t need them that day, freeze the cooked dish. This can be as simple as roasting off your vegetables for a salad or soup. The same goes for meat and fish: marinate, season, cook, and freeze them for later.”
5. Portion control: Start planning your perfect meal portions and measure out your ingredients by count (number of potatoes) or by weight/volume.
6. Food hacks: There are plenty of great food hacks on StopFoodWaste.ie that are practical ways to change your mindset.
For instance, use strawberry tops and squeezed lemons twice. Put them into water to infuse it and enjoy refreshing flavoured water.
Keep celery stems in water to keep them fresher for longer, or freeze fresh herbs in oil or water and use them from frozen as you need them.
7. Helpful apps: Check out the Too Good To Go (toogoodtogo.com) app that provides an online marketplace for restaurants and food businesses to list food for sale at the end of the day that would otherwise be thrown out. foodcloud.ie is another useful site to look out for.
8. Composting: Composting is a great way to get a final use out of this waste food rather than it going into bins. compostingireland.ie has plenty of advice.
An average Irish household throws away about 120kg of food waste per year which equates to 43kg per person. To put that in context, it is about half the weight of a full brown bin – and this is one of the highest rates in the EU.
Food waste also costs the average Irish household about €60 per month or €700 per year. This comes to an annual national cost of a staggering €1.29bn, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Food waste is not just an Irish problem; it’s a global issue that is bad for the environment, and it’s certainly disastrous for your pocket.
The StopFoodWaste.ie campaign is encouraging the public to change daily habits in a bid to cut food wastage.
1. Shopping smart: Small changes have a big impact according to Maurice McGeehan, head performance chef with the Irish Rugby Football Union, (IRFU) and is known on Instagram as thenowastechef. He advises planning your meals for the week and basing your shopping list on that.
“Have a quick check of what fresh food you already have at home to avoid buying duplicates. Be careful not to overbuy or be tempted by 2-for-1 or 3-for-2 deals on perishable produce. These offers might seem great, but often we don’t get around to using everything, and it ends up spoiling,” he says.
2. Smart storage: By adopting smarter food storage, families can significantly reduce food waste.
“Keep your fridge tidy and organised so you know exactly what’s in it, and always use older items first. Make better use of your freezer: nearly all foods can be frozen, including fruit, vegetables, dairy, and meats,” says Maurice, who cooks regularly for the top Irish rugby players.
Overripe fruit from the fruit bowl can also be chopped and stored in your freezer for smoothies, chutneys, or crumbles.
“Build up a stash of leftover bread –when you have enough, it’s perfect for making stuffing, breadcrumbs, or bread pudding. Save and freeze roast chicken bones/carcass and, once you have several of these, make a delicious [and nutritious] stock for broth or gravy. Put bones in a pot with onions, garlic, celery, bay leaves, peppercorns and any other spices, etc.
“If the milk in the fridge is nearing its use-by date, freeze it and use it later for bread or for puddings.”
Maurice Mc Geehan is the head performance chef with the IRFU.
3. Know your labels: Safefood.net encourages consumers to know the difference between ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ labels when you go shopping. The ‘use by’ date tells you when the food will become unsafe to eat. After this date, you should not eat the product.
Meanwhile, the ‘best before’ date tells the shopper when the quality of the food will begin to diminish. This means that the food may begin to lose its flavour and texture after that date, but it is still safe to consume.
4. Lovely leftovers: If you have leftovers, make a plan to use them either for the next day’s lunch, as an ingredient for dinner later in the week or freeze them for future meals. lovefoodhatewaste.com or mabs.ie have plenty of recipes to get you started.
“The key is to preserve your perishable ingredients and once that’s done, you don’t need to worry about them going off,” says Maurice.
“Try to use every part of the fresh produce you buy. For example, if you poach a small gammon at home, use the poaching liquid to make a white sauce instead of milk, or as a base for soup.
“Don’t throw away your vegetable peels – just wash the vegetables well before peeling.
“You can crisp up the trimmings for homemade vegetable crisps, or better yet, don’t peel them at all and roast them with the skins on for added texture and nutrition,” adds Maurice.
“If some fresh ingredients like vegetables, fish, chicken, or meat – are starting to spoil, cook them straight away. If you don’t need them that day, freeze the cooked dish. This can be as simple as roasting off your vegetables for a salad or soup. The same goes for meat and fish: marinate, season, cook, and freeze them for later.”
5. Portion control: Start planning your perfect meal portions and measure out your ingredients by count (number of potatoes) or by weight/volume.
6. Food hacks: There are plenty of great food hacks on StopFoodWaste.ie that are practical ways to change your mindset.
For instance, use strawberry tops and squeezed lemons twice. Put them into water to infuse it and enjoy refreshing flavoured water.
Keep celery stems in water to keep them fresher for longer, or freeze fresh herbs in oil or water and use them from frozen as you need them.
7. Helpful apps: Check out the Too Good To Go (toogoodtogo.com) app that provides an online marketplace for restaurants and food businesses to list food for sale at the end of the day that would otherwise be thrown out. foodcloud.ie is another useful site to look out for.
8. Composting: Composting is a great way to get a final use out of this waste food rather than it going into bins. compostingireland.ie has plenty of advice.
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