Food glorious food, why waste it?

As a Foodbank volunteer, I can only imagine the hardships families face. Their life is based around FEAR… ANGER…SADNESS… A heart breaking 1 in 5 people of the UK population live below the poverty line. Can you imagine how hard it is for parents to face the fact they can’t feed their own children properly? Can you imagine how hard it is for young people to function at school without a nutritious meal? Can you imagine how hard it is for these people to reach for help? It would take a phenomenal amount of courage. 2,230 three- day emergency food supplies were given to people in crisis last year. Could you help by donating food that you would otherwise carelessly throw in the bin? As Carlo Petrini (founder of Slow Food Movement) stated, “there is food for everyone on this planet, but not everyone eats.”

How can you prevent food waste? I believe there is simply no reason to chuck your food away if you can follow these simple steps:

1)      Plan your meals and make a list for your shopping.

2)      Reuse leftovers- have the extra portion from dinner as your lunch the next day.

3)      Use the more unappealing vegetables as they will still fit the purpose.

4)      Freeze meals if possible.

For example, Tayto use the starch from the potatoes to send to glue factories and all the peelings of the potatoes are sent to local farmers. Tesco are promoting the ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ campaign. They are even starting to sell cheaper strawberries which are all different sizes and shapes. Now it is time for consumers to change our attitudes. Not everything has to be perfect.

Interestingly, according to the ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ campaign we would save the equivalent of 17 million tonnes of carbon dioxide if we stopped throwing the good food away, which is as good as taking 1 in 4 cars off the road. So why wouldn’t we stop wasting our precious food? Food is wasted at every stage of the food chain- from farm to fork. This unnecessary food waste also makes its way to landfill sites creating unnecessary pollution which in turn contributes to global warming. Disgusting, atrocious and simply ridiculous if you ask me. Do you agree?

Do you think that food waste could directly affect your pockets? Most families waste £60 each month which could pay for a lengthy phone bill or an evening meal at a restaurant. A Telegraph article states “it costs £8 billion a year.” The Government also spend around 1 billion each year cleaning litter and a lot of this is food waste. Surely you would rather the money was spent our vital health service, important education or extra enjoyable leisure facilities? So, put your litter in a bin and reduce your food waste.

Education has been given over and over again. The Environmental Youth Speak was organised as a public speaking event on the topic of food waste- challenging food waste, giving simple solutions and raising awareness. Adverts have been introduced by Tesco and other companies, it is now even reinforced on food packaging.

Many of you are probably thinking that this is a boring subject, but I feel it is extremely interesting. People, particularly young people, need to be educated on this huge topic because it affects our economy, our environment, poverty and even your own pocket.

Consumers have the power to change the whole system and it would take just one simple step: stop wasting food. Food waste is a global issue, but being aware is a personal responsibility. Make the difference, change our world, do it today.