Can you avoid wasting food and money?

Over the past week or two the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has been urging consumers to stop wasting money on food that they do not need, stating that millions of households are wasting a huge amount of food each week by buying things that they do not need and then disposing of them. According to a recent report the average household in the UK throws away around £8 worth of food every week, and according to Gordon Brown the tonnes of food that is being binned by consumers is adding to the rising inflation on food products.

Many household are struggling to make ends meet as it is, with rising petrol costs, increased energy and household bills, higher borrowing costs, and the soaring cost of food. Many people have switched to shopping at discount stores such as Aldi, Netto, and Lidl rather than the supermarket giants such as Asda, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s. However, the Prime Minister still reckons that a huge amount of food – and money – is being wasted each year by the average household.

There are a number of tips that experts have offered to help people to cut back on their grocery bills, as well as to avoid waste, and officials state that it is more important than ever to heed these tips in order to bring grocery budgets down for households. Nutritionists have stated that one way to cut back on the cost of shopping is to plan family meals a week ahead, so that you know exactly what you need to buy. You should then purchase only the things that you need rather than simply heading to the stores and loading the trolley with items that you may not need and could potentially end up throwing away.

Experts have also said that buy one get one free offers are another way to save money, providing the offer is on items that you regularly use and will eat. However, many people stick buy one get one free products into their trolleys simply because the offer is there rather than because it is something that they were planning to buy anyway – there is no point buying something that you won’t use simply because you get another one for free!

As many people have found shopping at discount stores can help them to cut back on the cost of shopping, but the problem is that there is not as much choice at discount stores as there is in the big supermarkets. Therefore, you may want to consider getting whatever you can from the cheaper stores, and then heading to one of the larger supermarkets to get the remainder of your items – but do look out for special offers on the items that you have to get from the larger stores, as supermarkets are in the midst of a food price war at the moment, and this means that they could be launching special offers on certain items.

Another tip that has come from the Prime Minister is the fact that many people throw food away once it reached the best before date. Mr Brown pointed out that once food passes the best before date is may not taste quite as good but it is still safe to eat. However, foods with a use by date may not be safe after the specified date, so consumers nee to differentiate between the use by date and the best before date before they start binning products.

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