How to avoid food waste: everything you can do to avoid throwing away food

Sometimes it is inevitable that leftover food ends up in the garbage can: either because we will not be able to eat it the next day, because it is going to get bad… This fact can be justified but only when there is no other choice because The truth is that this amount of kilos and liters discarded is a huge figure which we should not allow ourselves for several reasons: other people could be benefiting from them and it is money that we have lost.

Best before use and expiration date

According to a study carried out by Too Good To Go, an app against food waste, for Spanish consumers there are three main keys to making the shopping bag cheaper: 47% indicate that the shopping list must be better planned, 33% % talk about organizing meals more efficiently and 40% point out that more knowledge is needed about when it is safe to consume a product after its best-before date.

In relation to the last key, according to the AESAN (Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition), the best before date and the expiration date do not mean the same thing and distinguishing them is key for food safety but also for reducing food waste. .

While the expiration date It alludes to the fact that from that date it is not safe to consume the food, preferential consumption is advice, that is, preferably consume it before that date although if you go a couple of days, in principle nothing would happen.

Some cases that demonstrate the lack of knowledge of consumers are, for example, that “35% of consumers do not know that meat has an expiration date and therefore should not be consumed after that date. But on the other hand, 33% are unaware that the best before date is indicated on cookies or 39% are not aware that bread has a best before date, and that once it expires they may lose some properties but may still be suitable. for consumption later. Regarding the products that are thrown away the most when they exceed the expiration or preferential date, the report highlights packaged fruits and vegetables (60%), bread (59%) and fresh products, such as milk, cheese, yogurts (39 %).

Look, smell and taste

Let’s use common sense when eating. To combat food waste, check if food with an expired best-before date is still in good condition before throwing it away unnecessarily. «Date labeling is one of the main causes of waste in homes. If a product has a best-before date, it is essential that consumers get used to looking, smelling and tasting these foods to know if they are still in good condition. This will not only save money for households but will also help reduce waste figures and their environmental impact,” says Marie Lindström, general director of Too Good To Go in Spain.

Many other brands have been fighting for a long time to reduce the amount of food wasted considerably. With the alliance of FoodSaver and Ecocesta, for example, the aim is to offer practical solutions that help reduce this current problem. FoodSaver’s vacuum packaging technology and Ecocesta’s ecological products complement each other to promote a more sustainable and conscious cuisine.

Vacuum packaging

Small changes in the way food is stored and organized, such as the use of appropriate packaging and conservation techniques, can reduce waste and contribute to more sustainable management of food resources. Thus, FoodSaver, in addition to contributing to food waste, promotes other values ​​based on meal planning, keeping food fresher, and saving time and money.

The essence of the entire FoodSaver product range is to preserve food for up to 5 times longer compared to other traditional methods. Likewise, the brand belonging to the multinational Newell Brands is promoting the circular economy by promoting the use of recyclable plastic – after having the first range of recyclable consumables in its catalog – with the double aim of reducing the environmental footprint and contributing to a more sustainable future.

How to avoid waste

Some tips from experts so as not to waste food and drinks:

1. Buy wisely. When you make the purchase, try not to get carried away by whims or what is on sale at that moment if we don’t really need it. Better to go to the supermarket with a specific list, after having previously planned the weekly menus, and this way we will really buy what we are going to need when cooking, and we will not end up letting the food remain ‘pocho’ in the refrigerator. or they expire.

2. Freeze instead of throwing away. Many products can be frozen, whether fresh or cooked. If we have some steaks that have been in the refrigerator for a while, or a stew that we have left over, we can freeze them before they go bad and take them out another day. Surely they can arrange a meal for us. Also most fruits and vegetables hold up well if stored in pieces; It is true that they lose their original consistency, but they can be used for a cream, a stew or a smoothie.

3. Better in bulk. Many times, large distributors force us to buy more than we need. By buying in pieces it is easier to get the quantities right (if we only need one pepper for a stir-fry, why buy half a kilo?), and we also reduce the use of packaging and contribute something positive to the environment. This is just as valid for fruit and vegetables as it is for meat, cold cuts or fish. And also, fresh food will always have fewer preservatives than packaged food.

4. Be careful with meat. Its protein is an important part of our diet, but its production is very polluting. According to Greenpeace, livestock farming emits 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions: the same amount as cars, trains, ships and planes combined. We can opt for other types of vegetable proteins that will be less harmful to the atmosphere.

5. Weekly shop. It is the ideal frequency to fill our pantry with what our family needs, since we can easily plan what products to buy so that they stay fresh throughout the week. Monthly purchases, which many mothers used to do, are not easy to plan, it is more likely to end up buying more than necessary (“just in case”), and they force us to throw away frozen products because fresh ones do not have as much durability.

6. Everything can be used. With the heads of the shrimp or fish we can make a fumet. If we save the peelings and remains of the vegetables that we use for cooking (potatoes, carrots, peppers, onions), we will only have to fry it a little, let it boil for half an hour and strain to have a delicious (and natural) vegetable broth that we can use for a soup, a paella or a stew. The chicken offal can also be used to enrich the broth.

7. A day “of leftovers”. Despite everything, when cooking for the whole family it is difficult to calculate the portions exactly. But if we have a small amount left over from the menu every day, and we save it, one day a week we can have “tapas” lunch or dinner. This way we take advantage of what we have prepared the previous days and get rid of cooking for a day.

8. Sustainable packaging. Waste is also measured in packaging. It is not easy to go to the supermarket and not come home full of trays and packaging of plastic materials that, of course, we then recycle at home. But if we try, it is possible to use, whenever possible, bulk products or paper packaging (many companies are beginning to replace their plastic packaging with others made of this material) or glass, which we can reuse at home: It is the best for freezing and for storing leftovers in the refrigerator, as it does not pick up odors or flavors.

9. Cook healthy. Preparing our own food at home gives us control over what we buy and eat, and opting for fresh and seasonal products over prepared or pre-cooked dishes is much less polluting (due to industrial processes, packaging, transportation), in addition to be more advisable for our health. And in the case of ordering food at home, it is better to opt for responsible companies that use recyclable packaging and that use top quality ecological products.