Watching our waste lines

''I've had stories of clients breaking down because there's gluten-free bread that they can't...
''I've had stories of clients breaking down because there's gluten-free bread that they can't afford and someone's donated it. And fathers who have been really tearful saying `it's so nice to be able to give my children fruit and vegetables for lunch and dinner'. It's those sorts of stories that make you realise it's really worthwhile.'' - Deborah Manning. Photo by Linda Robertson.
The food the world wastes is enough to feed all the world's hungry several times over.

 But it's not just the waste of edible food that's a concern, it's a waste of resources - water, labour and land used to grow it - not to mention the leachate and greenhouse gas emissions from disposing of all the uneaten food. Charmian Smith looks at what we can do about it at home.

Waste not, want not

None of us plans to waste food, but it just seems to happen. 

Vegetables aren't eaten and go limp in the chiller drawer, grey mould appears on the half-full jar of olives in the fridge, things pass their use-by date, or we buy stuff just in case we feel like having Indian or Chinese during the week and then get takeaways instead of cooking.

Most of us feel bad about throwing out food but life intervenes: we work late, try to balance nutrition, or decide we can't face leftovers for a second or third night.

There are lots of reasons that make it difficult for people who do care about waste, according to Dr Miranda Mirosa, of the food science department at the University of Otago.

There is no comprehensive data on food waste for New Zealand, although a report last year for WasteMINZ estimated the cost of wasted food in this country was $751 million a year, which breaks down to $458 per household or $155 per person.

An international report last year by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers found that between 30% and 50% of all food produced in the world is never consumed by humans.

''That is staggering and it doesn't take into account the land, water or energy used to produce the food that isn't eaten, so when you stop to think, it's a massive issue, a really important issue,'' Dr Mirosa said.

"If we are serious about making our industrialised food system sustainable, we need to question...
"If we are serious about making our industrialised food system sustainable, we need to question the ideology, the notion of consumer choice, that we have the right to choose whatever we want, that more choice is a good thing" - Dr Miranda Mirosa, of the food science department at the University of Otago.
''We could easily feed the growing world population if we didn't waste all that food.''

In developing nations, food tends to be wasted early in the food chain as it is not harvested, stored or transported correctly.

In developed nations such as ours it's the opposite; most of the food is wasted at the retail, hospitality and consumer levels.

However, a drive through Central Otago at this time of year reveals a lot of fruit lying on the ground under trees, probably because supermarkets demand cosmetically perfect fruit and vegetables and we consumers have come to expect it.

The solutions to food waste are often simple, Dr Mirosa says.

''It's not rocket science, and in most cases it's common sense, especially at household level, making a habit of looking in the fridge before you cook a meal, and taking a shopping list with you.''

It's a matter of not buying too much, storing it well and eating what you have bought. Planning and portion size come into that.

If you serve too much then it's likely some will be left on the plate and have to be thrown out, but if it's left in the pan for seconds, what is not eaten can be used the following day.

It can also be a matter of changing our expectations, Dr Mirosa says.

''You don't need to make an entirely fresh meal from new ingredients every night. Using what's in the fridge or recycling leftovers can save time, money and waste.''

While some celebrity chefs are endorsing nose-to-tail eating and adventurous foodies tuck into sweetbreads, tongue or liver in restaurants, most of us turn up our noses at these meats, which offer not only new and exciting flavours but are also highly nutritious and cheap.

''If we are serious about making our industrialised food system sustainable, we need to question the ideology, the notion of consumer choice, that we have the right to choose whatever we want, that more choice is a good thing,'' Dr Mirosa says.

Supermarkets edit consumer choice all the time by brand or price or quality, but they could also edit by sustainability, as some UK supermarkets have done due to consumer pressure.

Some now offer smaller packages, such as small loaves of bread, or baked beans in a bottle so what is not used by a single person can be put in the fridge for later.

Some have even undertaken not to offer two for one or other deals that lead to wastage, she says.

• Every so often, Dunedin City Council staff rummage through the black rubbish bags we leave out for collection to see what we are throwing out.

Audits over the past few years show between 34% and 45% of rubbish put out for collection is food waste, Catherine Irvine, DCC waste strategy officer, says.

It may be inedible things such as chicken bones or banana skins but more often than not it's food that we've bought and haven't eaten.

Sometimes a packet hasn't even been opened but is past its use-by date or even its best-before date, she said.

Apart from being a waste of money and time, energy and CO2 emissions used to grow, make, store, transport, buy and cook the food we throw out, when it goes to landfill it releases methane and other greenhouse gases as it rots and produces a toxic leachate, all of which has to be managed, at a price.

''A lot of reasons people don't like dealing with their rubbish is that it's unpleasant and that's because there is food waste in it. If they take that out, they are just left with dry materials and you don't even need to use bin liners.

"If you can get food waste out of your rubbish you won't have to deal with stinky bags and rubbish bins,'' Ms Irvine said.

Best is to reduce the amount of food we waste, but second-best is to use it as a resource to get some other benefit, such as feeding it to animals or turning it into compost for the garden.

The council runs composting workshops, offers information on worm farms and sells bokashi buckets at cost.

The library has a large bokashi system that composts rapidly. No food waste comes out of the library and they are using the compost to grow herbs and tomatoes on the terrace outside their cafeteria, Ms Irvine said.

''Not every system is for everyone and sometimes it might be a couple of things, but trying to reduce food waste is the main thing.''

While it's easy to compost food waste at home, to do it on an industrial scale requires an in-vessel composter, which the city doesn't have, so it goes to landfill.

In 2008, when the council last considered the kerbside collection services, there wasn't a strong enough will to install one because it would have had an impact on kerbside rates, Ms Irvine said.

 


Save on your food bill and reduce waste

• Do your own home waste audit for a week and see how much you are throwing out and where it comes from. Are you buying too much? Or is it leftovers from meals? Perhaps portion sizes are too big. Where you can reduce, it will save you money and you won't have to deal with it in the rubbish.

• Plan your meals and buy specifically, using a shopping list. Don't buy in bulk unless you know you can use it all before it goes off.

• Make sure you store food correctly, that the fridge and freezer are at the right temperature. Get a fridge thermometer.

• Most fruit keeps better in the fridge than in a fruit bowl.

• Don't be afraid of cutting out blemishes in fruit and vegetables and using the rest.

• Regularly check the use-by dates of things in your fridge.

• ''Use by'' means the products should be used by that date (which is often conservative), but ''best before'' means that you can still use it after that date, although its quality may begin to decline. Freeze things that you are not going to eat before their best-before date.

• Cook fruit that is going wrinkly, it's great with cereal for breakfast.

• Collect recipes so you have ways of using up things you find in the fridge or pantry.

• Serve smaller portions and leave the rest in the pan or serving dish. People can always come back for seconds if they are hungry, and the food that's not eaten can be refrigerated to save you cooking so much the following day.

 


Using leftovers

• Leftover stew or casserole (meat or veg) can be topped with mash (potato, pumpkin, kumara) and reheated to make a cottage pie. Other toppings could be a scone mix, pastry or crumpled filo pastry. Or if there's not a lot, it could be turned into a pasta sauce.

• Leftover roast veg can be enjoyed as a salad with your favourite dressing. If there is only a little, use it in a frittata.

• Leftover cooked greens such as silverbeet, spinach or kale can be tossed in hot oil in which a chopped clove of garlic has been softened. A handful each of raisins and pine nuts or sunflower seeds, and a dash of lemon juice or vinegar, can lift this to a gourmet dish.

• Don't throw out stale bread. Cut it in slices and freeze it for toast or bruschetta; cut into cubes, toss in oil and crisp in the oven to make croutons for soup or salads; make breadcrumbs in the food processor or with a grater and use fresh, or dry in the oven for longer keeping; tear bread into pieces, crisp in the oven or a toaster and make panzanella or fattoush, Mediterranean salads with bread, tomatoes, cucumber and other vegetables.

• Leftover rice or pasta can be quickly recycled as a salad or, if there is only a small amount, use it in a frittata. Stir-fry leftover rice with a few chopped vegetables, pieces of meat or sausage, garlic, ginger and a dash of soy sauce.

• My go-to recipe to use up vegetables that have been lurking too long in the chiller drawer is a vegetable stew, inspired by the Mediterranean ratatouille. Soften onion and garlic in some olive oil in a large pan with a lid. Add chopped vegetables, the ones that need longest to cook first - such as eggplant, potato and carrot - then the faster-cooking ones like leek, capsicum, corn kernels, cauliflower florets, tomatoes (or a tin of crushed tomatoes) and finally the fastest-cooking ones - greens, fresh beans, courgettes, cabbage and so on. Simmer until the vegetables are tender, adding water, wine or stock if you need more liquid. If you add plenty of liquid you'll have a vegetable soup, which is also great.

You can flavour it with any herbs or spices you like. I often use a Middle Eastern spice blend like baharat or berbere but cumin and coriander are good substitutes; smoked paprika is nice; chilli adds a bite; fresh herbs are always a good addition, or you could use Tuscan or Mexican spice mixes.

If you have some bacon, leftover meat, sausage or fish, or cooked chickpeas or beans, these can be added too and it becomes a meal in a pot.

 


Want to know more?

British website www.lovefoodhatewaste.com has useful information and tips on how to reduce food wastage as well as recipes and a free app to help with planning, shopping and recipes for using what's in the fridge.

Waste: Uncovering the global food scandal, by Tristram Stuart, (Penguin 2009) is an eye-opening look at the global situation and the environmental consequences and also inspiring ways to help fix the problem.


 

 

Add a Comment