Australians waste 7.6 million tonnes of food each year—70% of which is edible ¹. Food waste in Australia is a big issue and can cost households between$2000-$2500 per year ¹, with the most wasted food being vegetables ¹.
Vegetable wastage can often be because we’re not sure how to cook certain veggies, we don’t store them correctly, or we simply don’t feel like eating them. The good news is there are plenty of ways to add more veggies to your day, while also reducing your waste.
To reduce your vegetable waste:
- Buy in season—buying vegetables according to season means your veggies have travelled less kilometres to get to you; meaning they will last longer in your fridge, often taste better, and are usually cheaper because they’re in abundance.
- Buy ‘ugly’ vegetables—unfortunately many of the vegetables grown don’t make it home or even to the supermarket, due to looking imperfect; despite being perfectly edible. Choosing ugly and imperfect vegetables can help influence the consumer market and reduce the astonishing statistic that 25% of crops don’t make it past the farm gate due to not meeting the supermarkets’ visual specifications ² ³.
- Buy what you need and plan ahead—a major factor leading to vegetable wastage at home is that we buy more than we need, and the vegetables go off before we eat them. Taking the time to plan out meals for the week and adjusting our shopping list accordingly can help lower our vegetable waste each week. Plus it will likely save you money.
- Use up your veggie scraps—save the peels, tops and leaves from vegetables you don’t eat and repurpose them into new tasty dishes. An easy scrap saver tip is to pop them in a container in the freezer. Keep adding at each mealtime until full, then boil all the frozen scraps with water, herbs and spices to make your own vegetable stock.
- Regrow your veggies—instead of throwing away the ends of shallots, carrots or lettuce roots, pop them in a shallow bowl of water on your windowsill and watch them grow. Not only will you be reducing your vegetable waste, in the long term you can also save on money by growing your own veggies.
Acknowledgement to Nutrition Australia for this content.
References
[1] OzHarvest. (2020). Food Waste Facts.
[2] Hingston, & Noseworthy, T. J. (2020). On the epidemic of food waste: Idealized prototypes and the aversion to misshapen fruits and vegetables. Food Quality and Preference, 86, 103999.
[3] Hort Innovation. (2017). Giving ugly vegetables a nutrient-rich facelift.
