PERSONAL FINANCE:Irish households throw out large quantities of food each year, but those who engage in a little planning and some careful reading of labels need not continue this costly habit
A QUICK RUMMAGE through the average Irish fridge will generally uncover a shameful graveyard of culinary aspirations. There will be shrivelled courgettes, doomed never to become part of that hearty soup, forgotten bags of rocket leaves and jars of half-used pesto or mustard, which were opened long ago and left to grow mouldy at their own pace. There will be other exotic ingredients too that were bought with a Jamie Oliver-worthy plan in mind before being forgotten. In most households, all face the same ignoble end: the bin.
Irish people throw out 30 per cent of the food they buy, according to figures from Stop Food Waste, a programme developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of the National Waste Prevention Programme. This profligacy is costing the average Irish household upwards of €1,000 a year. There is also the issue of disposing of binned food and the subsequent cost.
Bread, apples, potatoes and salads are the most regularly thrown out items, according to Odile Le Bolloch, the Stop Food Waste spokesperson. “But there are other things you wouldn’t think about such as condiments – jams, jellies – and then there’s dairy products. Leftovers aren’t quite as significant.”
It’s not difficult to see how such waste happens. We routinely load up on “special offers” that will never be used and often miscalculate how much rice or potatoes to boil. (It’s probably less than you think.)
Sorting out the problem isn’t difficult, and there’s a lot of useful advice available on such websites as stopfoodwaste.ie and lovefoodhatewaste.com to help you out.
Ultimately, however, it boils down to smart shopping, clever cooking and shrewd storage.
“Don’t go shopping when you’re hungry. That’s a big tip even though it’s obvious,” says Le Bolloch. “You go into the shop on your way home from work and you buy way more than you need. I know everyone is busy and it’s hard to really make a plan but have a quick look around the cupboards and see what you have already.”
Buy less if you will be going out during the week, she says. “It’s even just simple things like remembering you’re going to yoga on Monday and you’re out on Thursday, so on those days you’ll be eating on the go,” she says.
Make a shopping list and stick to it. “Don’t get distracted going around the aisles, which is what supermarkets want you to do,” she adds.
Everybody can learn from professional kitchens, where the bottom line dictates that all food needs to be used. People don’t utilise their freezers enough, says Colm Carmody, head chef at The Cloister restaurant in Ennis, Co Clare.
“We buy everything fresh, like fish, and then freeze it, whereas if you buy frozen stuff, then defrost it, you can’t freeze it again,” he says. “Bread and cheese freeze well. It’s also a good idea to remove packaging and label things individually, so you can see immediately what’s there when you open the freezer.”
For him, it’s all about thinking ahead. “When I order fish, I don’t buy extra just because I feel like it. I have a plan for everything. Chicken bones become stock, wings are a starter and legs are used in a variety of places. Soups, risottos and stir fries are where to use up tired-looking vegetables,” he says.
Food writer John McKenna has a couple of theories as to why there is such waste in these cash-strapped times. Firstly, he blames a lack of food knowledge and skills.
“Anecdotal evidence suggests that the majority of younger people in Ireland have never actually roasted a chicken,” he says. “They will fry a chicken breast or throw it in the oven. There isn’t really a wider knowledge about what you do with this or that bit. We’re just in a mindset, which is to consume product and then get rid of what is left over.”
In previous generations, Irish people had a better awareness of the food they ate and how it was produced. Now food is often seen simply as a commodity, something that has been driven by supermarkets’ focus on price.
“If you go into a supermarket and you are shopping on price, in theory you’re saving money. But if you actually throw the food out, you’re not saving any money at all,” McKenna says.
“Nature or the farmer had to produce the food, or a fisherman had to catch it. Not to be conscious of that and to let something wind up in your bin, mouldering away, not to see the big picture of how it actually arrived in your fridge is a bit depressing really. It’s not just a product wrapped in plastic that you bought, whether it was inexpensive or expensive. It takes a lot of effort to produce a single potato.”
The idea that buying ready-made meals might help consumers to save time and money is misguided, says McKenna.
“Prepared food is the biggest rip-off in the world. It is genuinely as simple as that. I could put a Thai chicken curry on the table in 15 minutes because that’s all it takes – and feed four people for €3-€4. Buy that as a ready meal and it will cost so much more.”
Victoria Mackechnie of Whip It Up, whose cookery courses include those aimed at teaching parents how to cook inexpensive nutritious dinners, agrees.
“The misconception out there is that if you’re going to cook healthy meals from scratch it is going to be expensive and we’re trying to dispel that,” she says.
“People are realising that they can make [meals at home] . . . for a lot less than a ready meal costs and it’s not going to have preservatives in it. Then they have leftovers they can freeze or do something different with.”
One of the recipes she teaches in her classes is an asparagus and prawn risotto for six people, which costs €2.05 per person, and risotto balls using the leftovers as a starter for three to four, served with a tomato salad which costs €1.48 per person. Leftovers should not be a dirty word, she says. “I think of them as a positive thing because you can get creative and stretch the meal over two days,” Mackechnie says.
While clearly not wasting any food in the first place is the ideal, it’s not always possible. That is no excuse for throwing food in the bin, however, as those who have some outdoor space at home can turn most of it into compost for use in their gardens.
Composting expert Craig Benton, who works with the Stop Food Waste Campaign, has seen a huge increase in home composting. He holds classes to trains volunteers to teach composting to others in south county Dublin and says the interest is fuelled by people’s desire to grow their own foods, as well as an awareness of costs.
“People will become more conscious [of the issue],” he says. “The increase in the cost of energy means an increase in the cost of food as energy is embedded in every aspect of food production, processing, distribution and consumption,” he says.
“People’s tastes need to coincide with the seasons. I don’t know how long it’s going to take but we are going to see some shifts long-term.”
As to how much money composting can actively save you? “In a typical household of four to five people, bin charges are €30 to €40 a month but you can compost much of this because food, which has a lot of water in it, is heavy,” Benton says.
Food for thought, indeed.
Ditch those bad habits: How to avoid throwing money away
Keep it visible: When you can't see something, you are more likely to forget about it so clear out fridges and cupboards regularly, display fruit in bowls and vegetables on a rack.
Serve yourselves: If people help themselves from communal bowls, leftovers are more likely to be kept, but when everything is mixed together on a plate, leftovers tend to be thrown out.
Don't buy too much: Bulk buying is fine for things like toilet paper and other dry goods that will not go off, but not for perishables.
Keep it real: You may aspire to eating nothing but berries and leafy green vegetables, but if you're not going to actually eat all that good stuff, it's a waste of money buying it. Always buy loose instead of pre-packaged too.
Don't live by dates: "Sell by" and "display until" are used by supermarkets for stock control purposes and have little real meaning for consumers. "Use by" dates are the ones that must be adhered to, however. Use common sense when it comes to "best before", which is a guideline. Mind you if it smells rancid or has mould growing out of it, bin it.
Plan portions: We often cook far more rice, potatoes and pasta than we need, so measure out portions per person.
Get clever with leftovers: lovefoodhatewaste.com has a recipe section to give cooks ideas. And we also like stopfoodwaste.ie.
