As we all try to stay home a bit more and we’re conscious of whatwe’re using, its worth taking a moment to ensure we’re gettingthe most from what we have.  Almost a third of all food in Ireland iswasted, and the average household looses €650 per year1in food waste. Below are some tips and tricks to help you make yourfood go further.

Buying

1. Check what you’vegot before you go shopping!

2. Have a meal plan,this helps you to buy what you need and speeds up dinner time whenyou start to get hungry.

3. When you’rehome and putting your shopping away remember first in first out –new items go behind older items to make sure you use up the oldestitems first.

Storage

1. Are you usingyour fridge correctly? Your fridge should be set to 4 degrees foroptimum storage, but remember that this temp varies inside thefridge. Items in the door will be subject to more temperaturevariations, items at the top are in the warmest area so put yourcheese, youghurt or prepared foods here. The bottom is coldest, sobest for meat. And veg should be stored in the veg drawer whereavailable as this helps to keep veg crisp.

2. Sauces and stockcan all be frozen to be used another day – but try to label anddate things in the freezer to avoid the dreaded UFO – UnidentifiedFrozen Object.

3. Bread, and someveg like spuds, onions and garlic will last longer outside of thefridge than in. Though bread can be frozen for longer term storage.

4. Fruit: bananas(and apples and mandarins) give off a gas that makes things aroundthem go off faster, so store in a seperate bowl away from otherfruits.

Cooking

1. Pay attention toportion sizes when plating up; it’s easy to ask for seconds andleaves leftovers untouched.

2. Don’t thrownaway leftovers, store in containers in the fridge for lunches laterthe week.

3.Not everythingover ripe is past its use. Banana bread is best made with over ripebananas for instance.

For lots more info,recipes for leftovers, or to get started in the world of fermentingand preserving go to www.stopfoodwaste.ieand for a quick and easy bread recipe(!)https://www.bordbia.ie/lifesty...

Finally if you stillhave food left over that is gone off or can’t be stored thenremember to use you compost bin if you have one. This brown gold willgo to help grow more fruit and veg in the future.

1Stopfoodwaste.ie