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Waste minimisation at home

Love Food Hate Waste at Home

To help you get the most out of your food budget and cut down any food waste, we have some tips to share.

In need of meal ideas and food inspo?

There's tips galore on meal planning, recipes for leftovers and more. Check out Love Food Hate Waste 

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Meal planning and shopping list

Planning how much food you actually require can be a big help in avoiding buying more than you need – which saves money as well as reduces food waste.

Meal planning is especially useful when it’s for an event where you’re cooking for more people than usual, such as birthdays or Christmas.

  • When making a meal plan, start with what you already have in the cupboards. Old bread in the freezer? Turn it into breadcrumbs for chicken stuffing or bliss balls (see the recipe below).
  • Once you have your meals planned, write a shopping list and stick to it.
  • Beware of bulk-buy deals – they may look good but if you don’t use all of it then it’s a waste of food and money. Buy in bulk only those items that you know you’ll use such as pantry essentials (flour, rice, etc), or that have a long shelf-life (tinned food).

Do good for the planet and your pocket

Every year, Kiwis' waste $3.2 billion dollars worth of food. That's $1,510 per household, per year.

Not only is this a huge waste of money but it's an environmental impact with 4% of our total greenhouse gases coming from food waste in New Zealand.

For tips to reduce waste, save money, recipes and tips head to Love Food Hate Waste

Portion size

Knowing how much food to prepare, especially if you’re inviting guests, can be difficult. How much a person eats can vary, so here’s a handy guide:

  • Protein (meat) should be the size and thickness of the palm of your hand.
  • Carbohydrates (potatoes, pasta, rice etc) should be equivalent to the size of your clenched fist.
  • Vegetables and salad should equal two cupped hands.
  • Fats (cheese, dressing etc) should be the size of your thumb.

Download the Bread Bliss Balls recipe (PDF 3.9MB)

Leftovers

Try to reduce the amount of leftovers by cooking only as much as you need to eat – but sometimes, such as at Christmas, leftover food is hard to avoid. That’s when your creativity can kick in.

  • Use leftovers as fillings for pies, toasties or savoury/vegetable bread puddings.
  • Mix leftovers with eggs for a frittata.
  • Pad-out leftovers with pasta, rice, beans or salad.
  • Soups are great for using vegetable leftovers.
  • Crumbles and smoothies can use up all sorts of leftover fruit.

Ensure leftovers are covered or in a sealed container before they go in the fridge, and don’t reheat them more than once.

If you’ve still got more leftovers than you can get through, pop them in your green food scraps bin or compost bin.

Another option is to get in touch with a food rescue charity such as On The House, which distributes quality surplus food to those in need.

Sustainable Cookbooks tile.

Fridge and freezer

Using your fridge and freezer well can extend the life of your food (both fresh and leftovers).

  • Up to 70% of our fridges are too warm, meaning food won’t last as long as it could. Keep your fridge below 5⁰C.
  • Get leftovers into the fridge within two hours of the food being dished up, and eat them within two days from the fridge or two months from the freezer.
  • You can freeze a wide range of food, including bread, bananas, grated cheese, eggs (with yolks and whites separated first), milk, cake (sliced) and general leftovers.
  • Always defrost leftovers completely, in either the fridge or the microwave, before using them. Cook the food within 24 hours of defrosting and do not re-freeze them.
The 2:2:2 guide for leftovers tile.

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