How do I waste less food?

Household food waste is mostly a logistics problem. Food is bought without a plan for when it'll be eaten, stored where it can't be seen, and thrown out on a date rather than an assessment. Each of those has a straightforward fix.

Step by step

1. Check what you already have before shopping.Two minutes with the fridge door open prevents the third jar of the same thing.
2. Plan meals for the week and shop to that list.You don't need to follow it rigidly — the point is buying with a purpose rather than by optimism.
3. Set up a 'use first' box or shelf at eye level.Anything approaching its date goes there. Out of sight is the main reason food is wasted.
4. Store things correctly, especially vegetables and herbs.Correct storage often doubles usable life at no cost. See the vegetable storage guide.
5. Learn the difference between use-by and best-before.Use-by is a safety date. Best-before is about quality — judge those by look and smell rather than by the printed date.
6. Freeze anything you won't eat in time, on the day you realise it.Bread, milk, cheese, cooked meals, herbs and chopped vegetables all freeze usefully.
7. Have two or three 'clear the fridge' meals you can make from anything.Soup, frittata, fried rice and a traybake between them absorb almost any leftover ingredient.
8. Serve smaller portions and go back for more.Food left on plates can't be saved. Food left in the pan can.

Tips

• Bread freezes perfectly, and you can toast it from frozen. Half a loaf in the freezer is the easiest single win.
• Wilting vegetables are almost always fine cooked, even when they've gone past salad-quality. Soup and stock absorb everything.
• Freeze vegetable trimmings — onion skins, carrot ends, celery tops, herb stalks — in a bag and make stock when the bag is full.
• Overripe fruit is better than fresh in baking, smoothies and compotes. Freeze bananas whole and peeled once they're spotty.

Common mistakes

• Shopping without checking what's at home — Duplication is a large share of what's eventually thrown away.
• Throwing out food on the best-before date — Best-before is a quality indicator, not a safety one. Look, smell and judge.
• Storing food where it can't be seen — The back of the fridge is where food goes to be forgotten.
• Cooking more than you'll eat without a plan for the rest — Batch cooking works, but only if the surplus gets portioned and stored immediately.

Questions people ask