Unique Ideas to Help Prevent Food Waste

DolceLoca

Food waste is a huge issue in the western world, with over 3 times the amount of food needed to feed the hungry, thrown in the trash, simply because it’s not eaten. Yet despite Bruges being the first city in Europe to go zero waste (and it being illegal to throw away uneaten food in France), in England not much is being done.

In England, people throw away a third of all food (mostly fresh produce, salads and bread – often because loaves and big salad packs are way too much for the average one or two-person household buying them).

It’s estimated that UK supermarkets throw away around 190 million meals a year, which could feed hungry people. If supermarkets really wanted to reduce food waste, they would offer smaller serving sizes.

If you have food that you can’t use up (say you are going on holiday or into hospital), use food-sharing apps like Olio and Too Good to Go. These redistribute fresh food to neighbours and organisations, which may use unsold bread to make into meals, for those in need.

Veg Boxes (that use up food waste)

Earth and Wheat is a one-stop wonky food market, that sells wonky fresh produce and bread, that would otherwise go to landfill. The grocery store has vegan options, and the bread is suitable for freezing. Produce that arrives here has been ‘rejected’ due to being:

• Too big
• Too long
• Too many
• Wrong colour
• Blemished
• Wonky
• Too thin

So far this company has rescued over 600 tonnes of food waste. A typical box could contain 1.5kg of fresh baked goods (5 different breads) and up to 5kg of fresh wonky veggies. For instance:

Crumpets, tortilla wraps, folded flatbreads, pitta and naan, plus white potatoes, red onions, peppers, cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli.

Wonky Veg Boxes is a similar company, that stops the 40% of fresh produce going to waste in England, by delivering fruit and veg boxes nationwide. If you’re on a budget, order the Basics Box that delivers onions, carrots and potatoes each order, to make soup or feed large families.

Food campaigner and chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is not impressed by ‘supermarket wonky produce’. Often it’s the supermarkets themselves that are rejecting ‘imperfect produce’ that means so much of it goes to waste. It then tries to sell the wonky leftovers for more profits.

Despite being a food waste champ, Hugh admits he has a guilty secret. Unlike his wife who will eat the whole apple including the core, he can’t. He says she can bite off the ends and the middle to leave a tiny stalk, but he is still left with a ‘pencil-sized core!’

Ideas to Reduce Bread Waste

couple of rolls each day instead.

Millions of bread loaves end up in landfills, releasing methane gas. Often because most supermarkets sell loaves that are way too big for the average small-person household to eat. You can freeze sliced bread, then thraw at room temperature (wrap in a clean tea towel or store in a bread box) or buy a toaster than lets you toast from frozen.

FreshGlow Bread Saver Sheets are impregnated with organic spices, to help bread last longer. 8 sheets last around 3 months, meaning these pay for themselves in two weeks.

Fresh bread from an indie baker lasts longer, if you live alone or as a couple, just visit and buy a couple of rolls instead.

England has 60 million people, so only feed the occasional torn up fresh wholemeal bread to garden birds and wildfowl, to encourage them to eat natural food. Throw it on the water (to avoid birds coming into contact with roads and dogs).

Never feed birds stale, crusty or mouldy bread as it can choke (not buttered sandwiches, as fat can smear on feathers, affecting waterproofing and insulation).

Vegan Beers (made from upcycled bread)

Toast Brewing replaces 25% of brewing yeast with surplus sandwich loaves and ‘heel ends’ from bakeries. So far saving 3 million slices of bread from going to landfill, other malt is bought from regenerative farmers, with spent grains collected by local farmers.

The company also gives 100% of profits (after costs and staff salaries) to good causes, mostly to Feedback, a food waste charity founded by Tristram Stuart, who says the world throws away enough food to feed the world’s hungry people three times over.

Volunteers for its Gleaning Network turn surplus farm produce into free meals, and once even cooked a dinner to ‘feed the 5000’. Jesus would be proud! Tristram is Toast Brewing’s ‘Golden Shareholder’, to ensure it never ‘sells out’.

Although beers use bread without seeds, nuts, fruits or vegetables (to avoid flavour contamination), upcycled ingredients means there are no allergy guarantees. The company also does not use oily bread – so no focaccia beer!)

Choose from:

1. Grassroots Pale Ale  (peaches, passionfruit & pineapple)
2. Rise Up Lager (an English Helles-style beer)
3. New Dawn Session IPA (punchy citrus & floral notes)
4. Changing Tides (0.5% low-alcohol citrus-spice lager)

Crumbs Brewing (Surrey) was founded by a small bakery. The owners used to run a pub, so it was obvious what to do with the bread waste! The all-vegan range includes:

1. Sourdough Pale Ale
2. Bloomin’ Amber Lager
3. Rye Ruby Ale
4. Naan Laager!