I will be green
Eco-friendly information
Food container instead of plastic sheet
One tip to reduce your waste is to take your own reusable food containers, along with your reusable shopping bags, when going shopping!
You can take them to the butcher, fish market, deli counter and anywhere else where you can purchase loose products.
You can ask at your butcher to put your meat right straight into your own container instead of double wrapping it in plastic sheets and
then into paper/plastic sheets again, then into a plastic bag. The same when buying cheese cut from a large block, ask to put it into your own container.
At delicatessen, ask them if you can use your own reusable containers instead of the brittle plastic lidded for items like olive, dried tomatoes, Russian salad.
Adopting this style-life you will be pleasantly surprised how the amount of rubbish you put into your bin that ends into the landfill each week will be reduced!. Also the advantage is that your portion are already divided just to put into the freezer and in case of delicatessen food prepared with oil if your containers are well closed no more worries about leaking oil into your reusable shopping bag.
Tons of food waste
Unfortunately part of the food you have bought and could have been eaten finish being thrown away, this wastage has been calculated in around 50 Eur monthly. Making some changes to routine help to save money and the planet. Wasting less means you help to keep valuable materials out of landfill sites. It also means that less energy and raw materials are used to make new products, less packaging to be recycled and it helps to tackle climate change.
Here some tips to reduce food wastage, if you follow them not only will save pennies but also will reduce your carbon footprint:
1. Plan your meals: The most efficient way to reduce your food waste is planning your weekly shop. Make the shop list of things you need for your weekly meals and stick to it. In this way you will avoid to buy things you won’t use.
2. Know what you’ve got: Have a quick look to your store cupboards, fridge and freezer while making your shopping list, so that you won’t buy things already have.
3. Consider portion sizes. When buying food, specially fruits and vegetable consider that if they are pre-packed normally quantities are more than you really need, so if you can not pick up 2/3 pieces then think about cooking different meals a week with same components. When cooking use available tools to measure portions, in this way you will cook and serve the really quantity you will eat avoiding left on plates. If you overdo it, put in in the fridge and let your immagination go and create other meals the day after, taking advantage that they are already cooked.
4. Buy local/ seasonal food: Eating seasonal food requires less energy to produce than food grown out of season, and we can add that seasonal food have better taste. Fruits or vegetable you find out of seasonal period have been refrigerated for long periods of time. Read on the labels of products the production place and prefer local ones, price will be cheaper as won’t have the transportation cost incidence.
5. plan your trip to the shops: Planning in advance what you need to buy will help to cut down the number of trips you make to the supermarket. Making fewer food shopping trips by car, or using other transport means instead, will help to cut emissions and could even help to save money.
P.S. At the top of your shopping list add your reusable bags!