Save the planet & your pocket when buying your groceries.

In recent times, many of us in the community have been feeling some financial pressure given the rising cost of living and fuel prices. When looking to save money why not give some thought to your household food budget and really have a think about how much your weekly shop ends up in the bin. It’s estimated that households throw away an average of 265kgs of food per year, worth roughly $2500 per household (Welcome to The Great Unwaste — Let’s turn food waste around). This type of waste can have a significant impact on the environment contributing to higher greenhouse gas emissions, not to mention the wasted resources for growing and transporting the food. There are measures you can take to reduce this type of food waste which will not only save money but also reduce negative environmental impacts.  

• Have a grocery list and stick to it. 

Plan for the week and consider what you might like to cook, buy ingredients that you can use in multiple ways. Try not to shop when you are particularly hungry to avoid buying items you wouldn’t otherwise buy.   

• Use up what you already have first. 

Utilise the oldest food items first by having a drawer or shelf to use first in the fridge and be organized, know what’s in your fridge and cupboard, find inspiration for leftover meals online (Love Food Hate Waste / Preventing food waste).

• Grow what you can at home. 

A home veggie garden is great, but everyone has different degrees of time, effort and accessibility that they might be able to put into a garden. It is important to remind yourself that something is always better than nothing. If gardening is not your thing, it might be that a few pots of herbs are all you can or want to do, but this will make a difference in saving waste and resources and avoiding unnecessary packaging.  

• Shop seasonally 

Buying produce that is in season ticks both boxes of saving money and resources, not to mention always tastes better. Out of season produce is often grown in a climate-controlled resource hungry way or has been shipped from overseas. Try to get into the habit of cooking seasonal produce and not just the same meals throughout the year. 

Households will always have some food waste, and there are always peelings and fruit cores, outer leaves of lettuce that need to be thrown away, and this is where the home compost or worm farm comes to the rescue.   

If you still have food waste and green waste to dispose of, make sure to put it in your green bin to be transported to Wangaratta’s Organic Processing Facility where it will be composted (Wangaratta’s Organics Processing Facility Rural City of Wangaratta). When using a kitchen caddy for your green waste bin make sure to only use the appropriate compostable green caddy liners, and leaving the bag untied helps to make sure it is more easily composted. A little forward planning and consideration for what food you buy can go a long way to save both money and the environment. 

Image source: Waste Management Review