Susanne and Jane are the fantastic mother/daughter team who have Eko Hub in Whangarei. They are both passionate about making changes towards a more sustainable lifestyle. In this blog they share some of their top tips for reducing food wastage in our homes.

If you are in Whangarei you can purchase Green Goddess products along with a huge array of eco conscious items at Eko Hub.

“We live in a time where it has become all too common to throw away food. With a little bit of planning, we can use more of what we have and reduce the amount that goes to waste.”

Here’s some ideas to reduce food wastage.

Plan your meals.
Making the time to plan ahead can save you not only money, stress of not knowing what to make and unnecessary trips to the store, but also to reduce the amount of food being wasted. Check your fridge, freezer and pantry to see what you already have and plan some meals to incorporate these ingredients.

Re-grow food scraps.
There are many vegetables that can be re-grown by popping the roots and end in a little water. Once the roots have grown a bit, transfer them to the garden.

Re-use vegetable scraps.
After peeling and chopping off the ends of vegetables (or any left over bits) save and freeze these to use for stock or soup.

Store leftovers.
Keep your leftovers in a container and eat the next day or freeze for a another meal.

Best before and expiry dates.
Often food is still completely edible past the date particularly the best before date. If unsure about safety of the expiry date, contact the company and check.

De-clutter.
Often our fridges, freezers and pantries are over stocked with food making if difficult to see all what’s there. Food can be missed when it’s hidden at the back. Have a look through regularly to keep an eye on what you actually have to avoid it becoming waste or doubling up on your next shop.

Compost.
Not only does composting prevent food going to landfill, but you can turn your scraps into compost to use in the garden.

Storage options.
Re-use containers to store food in. If you have some food that you may not use up quickly enough, freeze it to use another day. Ie. Bananas.

Store separately.
Some fresh foods such as banana, onions and potatoes are best stored separately to avoid over ripening others or sprouting quicker.

Share.
Have leftovers or food you bought but won’t use? Have excess produce on your fruit tree or in the garden? Share with your neighbours and community. An easy way to do this in on your local community page.

Do you have any other ideas to share? Please leave us a comment below, we’d love to hear from you.

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