People should pay more and eat less to tackle the rise in food waste, the managing director of a successful online food retailer said today.
Planning ahead and considering what you put in your fridge is also crucial to reduce the amount of food that ends up in the bin, according to Hannah Anderson from 44 Foods.
Her comments come after research showed food waste is back on the increase, having fallen when the UK went into lockdown at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Love Food Hate Waste, the campaign delivered by environmental charity WRAP, found a spike in the amount of food being chucked away in July, coinciding with the end of restrictions on travel and eating out.
Love Food Hate Waste found that during lockdown many more people adopted positive food management behaviours – initially prompted by concerns about food availability and going out shopping. This led to a 43% reduction in food waste.
But with time pressures returning as more and more of us return to the office, many of these good habits, like freezing, using up leftovers and batch cooking, are being dropped. And, with the easing of restrictions, more people are eating out or buying takeaways.
Hannah, who manages online retailer 44 Foods which prides itself on reducing waste by not keeping fresh food in warehouses and giving customers the maximum shelf life, is urging people to stick to the good habits they have adopted – and recommends people to spend a little more when they shop to save money in the long term.
“We need to completely change the way we think about food,” said Hannah.
“We need to pay more for food and eat less”
“We also need to give greater consideration to planning what we are putting into our fridges, and buying fresh, seasonal produce – which in turn gives a better shelf life, meaning it lasts longer and less of it gets thrown away.
“We are very proud of our four-day lead time, which means not only is the delivery service more sustainable but the produce is freshly-packed rather than being stored on site.
“It also encourages people to plan their meals for the week ahead, meaning everything gets used.”
Hannah said the initial factors that led to people changing their habits were again becoming a factor, with more and more supermarkets reporting food shortages.
“44 Foods is not only providing high quality, sustainably sourced food – but we are also doing things in a completely different way – and individuals need to change the way they approach food too if we’re going to make a difference,” added Hannah.
