In collaboration with Love Food Hate Waste.
It’s already week three of the Love Food Hate Waste #GiveUpBinningFood campaign, where is the time going?!
This six-week long food waste prevention campaign running throughout Lent is broken down into weekly themes to help make reducing food waste at home a more attainable goal. These themes are:
1st March (week 1) Meal planning – when’s this for? Read >> Tip for Weekly Meal Planning
8th March (week 2) Storage – where should I put this? Read >> Food Storage Tips
15th March (week 3) Fridge focus – how do I make the most of my fridge?
22nd March (week 4) Portioning – how much should I use?
29th March (week 5) Food labels – what does this mean?
5th – 13th April (week 6) Leftovers – what can I do with my ingredients?
This week we’re sharing some tips and tricks on how to make the most out of your fridge. One of the greatest contributors to the UK’s food waste problem is the perishables that need to be kept in the fridge. Sadly, many fresh foods are not chilled correctly, or aren’t chilled at all, so they don’t last as long as they should. If they don’t last long, you have less time to eat them and then they get binned.
Saying that, be mindful not to overuse your fridge either. Some foods won’t flourish or ripen in the fridge, like tomatoes and avocados – these need to be stored at room temperature. Pineapples, potatoes and citrus fruit also prefer to be kept out of the fridge.
TOP TIPS FOR MAKING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR FRIDGE
- The fridge should be set to below 5 degree Celsius. 4 degrees C is optimal. Consider getting a fridge thermometer if not already integrated and check it regularly to make sure it is still working.
- Your fridge temperature is not the same throughout. The fridge door area is warmer which is fine for condiments. The back is colder, so it’s better for perishables like dairy and meat.
- Overstocking your fridge makes it hard for air to flow and the fridge becomes inefficient. This will impact the quality of your food. Buy less but buy more often.
- Fridge foraging is a great way of pulling out foods that need using up. You’re likely to make an extra meal or two from this simple action. Why not share your recipe creation with the No Waste Food Challenge
- Food can last up to three days longer if stored in the fridge.
- Transfer tinned food to air tight containers. Once a can is open, residual metal on the rim can leak into food, giving it an unpleasant taste and potential health effects.
- Sort out your fridge! It doesn’t take long and it’ll save your food. Wrap up any half used packets such as cheese, sliced meats or sausages to stop them drying out (cheese can also be frozen!). Bring the oldest foods to the front so you can see them and that they get used first.
- Cool down leftovers as quickly as possible (ideally within two hours) to stops illness-causing bacteria growing. Store them in the fridge and eat within two days.
- Mark packets such as ham slices and pickles with the date they need to be used by once you’ve opened them.
Make sure to visit the Love Food Hate Waste #GiveUpBinningFood page for daily tips and tricks to help prevent food waste at home. Sign up to their newsletter too so you don’t miss a thing! In the meantime, check out their latest video about fridge storage with blogger Liberty London Girl, below!
JOIN US WITH THE NO WASTE FOOD CHALLENGE!
I challenge you, dear reader, to share your own recipes and tips to help prevent food waste! You don’t have to have a blog to enter, simply let me know your recipe or suggestion in the comments below and fill out the Rafflecopter form. You can share an image of your dish, if you like, on Twitter as an extra entry option. Tag me @tangoraindrop and use the hashtag #nowastefoodchallenge to help spread the word! I will include a selection of my favourites in next month’s round-up, where we’ll get to do the challenge all over again! Bloggers – link up with the linky tool, as usual, to be included in the roundup – click here for the full No Waste Food Challenge rules. If you want to enter the giveaway, leave a comment and enter via the Rafflecopter form.
HOW TO ENTER
For your chance to win a £25 Amazon Gift Voucher enter using the Rafflecopter form below. Share your recipe, meal planning or food waste prevention tip in the blog comments. Come back and tweet about the giveaway every day for more chances to win!
TERMS & CONDITIONS
This giveaway is open to UK entries only. Entrants must be age 18 or over. The winner will need to respond within 30 days of being contacted; failure to do this may result in another winner being selected.
The prize is offered and provided by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary. The prize is to win a £25 Amazon Gift Voucher. There is no cash alternative and the prize is not transferable.
There is no entry fee and no purchase is necessary to enter this giveaway.
The promoter (Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary) reserves the right to cancel or amend the giveaway and these terms and conditions without notice.
Entry into our giveaways will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.
If you need some help using Rafflecopter, here’s a quick clip to show you how. Rafflecopter will pick the winner at random from all the entries received. I will be verifying entries. Any automated entries or those who have claimed they have made the mandatory blog post comment and really haven’t will be disqualified. It’s mandatory! Please make sure your comment is eight words or longer or Google views it as spam and this negatively affects my spam score. All entries with comments fewer than the mandatory 8 words will be disqualified and deleted.
Closing date is midnight (that’s 00:00 hours, 12 am on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning) on Wednesday 22 March 2017 (GMT). The winner will be announced afterwards.
This is a paid post in collaboration with Love Food Hate Waste, although all thoughts and opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for supporting the brands who make it possible for me to do what I love: mess up my kitchen and share recipe stories.
Image source: Shutterstock.
Mum of three, daydream adventurer, OU Life Sciences graduate, occasional crafter, ex-pat Canadian & quite possibly Britain's most northerly food blogger.
Rachel Smith says
Thanks for the tips! I never knew that temperature varied in the fridge! Going to order a thermometer now and rearrange my fridge x
Diana says
Planing our meals and stopped doing weekly shopping! Going few times a week but picking up just what we need 🙂
Jane Middleton says
Just make sure we use everything that needs to be eaten and buy things that last or can be frozen if they won’t be eaten straight away.
Mark Johnson says
Do your menu and shop daily to use what you already have and minimise your stocks
Tom Murat says
Only buy what is needed, plan meals carefully, use tuppaware
Deborah Bird says
I try to use extra bits of veg up with our meals, or chuck them in a soup x
Sadaf Norouz says
Never underestimate the power of freezer! I always move any leftover food in the fridge to the freezer.
Ian Campbell says
Always take a list with you to the supermarket, and remain as focused as possible on it. If necessary, allow for some additions, but attempt to stay as true to it as possible, thus cutting out any unwanted and surplus foodstuffs that’ll go to waste!
Kat Allinson says
We try and plan meals and use up any leftovers in meals on a following day
Emma Rawlinson says
I always try to check the fridge and cupboards before going to the supermarket to avoid duplicating food we already have – especially things like tomatoes and lettuce which go off so quickly
Kristy L Brown says
We use a food planner and make sure we don’t buy too much fresh. We also make a soup once a week with any veggies that need using up and any food that is leftover that can’t be used the next day is frozen
Holly Edmundson says
i normally freeze meat if it is coming up to its sell by date and any veg that is also coming up to sell by date i will make veg soup out of it x
Jessica Slater says
We bulk buy in advance, and plan our meals. Any leftovers we give to either the dog or the chickens.
Sheila Reeves says
Do a weekly sweep of the fridge and try and plan a meal from it. or make asoup – sometimes trns out really well!
sandy ralph says
any left over food is normally frozen in this house and used for another day, if its something that cant be kept then we tend to give it to my daughter who lives down the road with our grandson to save her cooking too
Lia Burns says
I bought a simple meal planner from Asda and it’s helped so much, I now only buy what I know I will use
Tammy Neal says
I always cook extra to put in the freezer to prevent wasting food x
dolly A says
Buy food for the week and plan.. if ive got anything left over i do a mix and match meal on a friday
Julie Camm says
Plan ahead what we’re going to eat so the fresh ingredients can be used up in different meals.
Rachel Craig says
Plan some meals. Use up fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables. Fiancé eats fresh fruit frequently, so none goes to waste. Whilst we try to regularly have a variety of vegetables, and do our best to make use of all the fresh vegetables we have within our home. We do enjoy eating out on occasions. Also eat at relatives when invited, so aim to have used up our own fresh foodstuffs, rather than overstock. Sometimes attend Events where some refreshments are provided, try to take account of Events coming up when shopping, so as to avoid overstocking.
katie w says
freezing what ever i can – making sure meat is portioned up first though not kept in original packaging
chloe brill says
use leftovers for bubble and squeak
Shannon collier says
To make sure there is as little food waste as possible I plan ahead, I write a list of the food we need. However sometimes there is still some food left over so I often put leftovers into the fridge or freezer and make it into a brand new meal the next day. My son loves this and often helps me.
kirsty broadhead says
I like to buy just what I know I’m going to eat that week. But I must admit, I’m a sucker for the £1 bins lol and ends up with more than I went for
Andrew Hindley says
meal plan for the week and stick to it
Jade Pawley says
We buy food when it is needed & don’t stray for unneeded food bits!
Karl Borowy says
plan meals and write notes and only buy what you can use
Terrie-Ann Wright says
I make a list for everything that I need, and don’t sway from the list. I always buy loose fruit and vegetables so that I just buy what I need, and any left over meat I either freeze or use to feed the dogs with that day.