Simple tricks to slash your weekly grocery bills

HOUSEHOLDS are throwing away thousands of dollars a year on food wastage but there’s some easy ways to putting a stop to this.

HOUSEHOLDS are throwing away thousands of dollars a year in food waste by being disorganised, not using leftovers or storing food incorrectly.

Recent figures from the Department of Environment’s National Food Waste Strategy Report revealed Australians are throwing away a massive 3.1 million tonnes of edible food annually.

And it’s leaving a hole in our pockets - converting to wastage of up to $72 per week per household, about $3800 over a year.

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Zita Singh-Gosai’s household consists of seven people including her two young children Shenali, 1, and Nevaan, 3, and her grocery bills set her back about $200 to $300 per week.

“We usually do one big grocery shop every two weeks and in between those my husband goes to some farms near his work to buy fresh vegies,” she said.

“We try and stock up things that are on special.”
To minimise food waste Ms Singh-Gosai said she used leftovers for lunch the next day and also gave scraps to her two dogs.

They also bought food in bulk.

Zita Singh-Gosai with her daughter Shenali, 1, and son Nevaan, 3, getting dinner ready at their home.

Love Food Hate Waste Program expert Amanda Kane blamed general food wastage on people “buying too much and cooking too much.”

“Then we are not eating the leftovers,” she said.

“If you are cooking too much then think about what you can do with it, use it up for another meal or have it for lunch tomorrow.

“Menu planning is by far the single best thing you can do, so work out what you are going to eat for the next four or five days.

Food-rescue charity OzHarvest’s founder, Ronni Kahn, said households should stick with a simple approach: “look, buy, store and cook”.

“The biggest and simplest way we could save is by making a shopping list before we go shopping,” she said.

“Look what is in your pantry, on your shelves and don’t duplicate.”

This comes amid renewed focus on Australian eating habits, with the launch of the 2018 Great Aussie Eating Survey at taste.com.au. It takes just 15 minutes to do and participants get a personalised food report - plus a chance to win $10,000.

@sophieelsworth

SAVE CASH

• Write a shopping list.

• Plan your meals for at least a few days in a row.

• Use leftovers for lunch or in other meals.

• Store food correctly so it doesn’t go off.

• Freeze unused food.

• You are less likely to waste food if you shop more frequently.

• Grow your own herbs.

• Understand use-by dates.