Planetary Health

All about that waste

Food waste is now widely recognised as a large contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. As consumers, the way we plan our meals and use our leftovers can have a huge overall impact on these emissions and therefore climate change.

Developed countries are the largest contributors to consumption emissions worldwide, but how can we reduce our food waste at home?

• Try to plan weekly meals – if this seems like a daunting task, start by planning just a couple of meals and work from there
• Check what you have in your fridge and freezer before you shop
• Write a shopping list – and stick to it
• Don’t buy more than you need
• Love your leftovers – freezing any leftovers and making a point of using the leftovers on the days you don’t have time to cook is great not only for busy people but also for budgets
• Don’t make impulse purchases – especially if it means you will not use food you already have at home
• Freeze meat on the day of purchase – if you don’t know the exact day you intend to use it. You can then allow it to defrost in the fridge for 24hours before you use it or place it on slow defrost in the microwave when you need it
• Free up space in your freezer – make sure you use the food in your freezer because it is so easy to pop something in the there and forget about it. Try to use frozen foods within three months of freezing, that way you will continually create more space for your leftovers
• Use leftover meat in other meals such as sandwiches and soups – It’s not my favourite job but, whenever I roast a chicken, I pick all of the meat off the chicken that day and freeze it in individual portions. The chicken then gets used in sweet chilli chicken wraps, chicken and stuffing sandwiches, chicken soup, pasta dishes and pies.

Small swaps

Reducing your meat and dairy consumption will greatly reduce your carbon footprint, but not everyone finds this easy to do or knows how to start.

One of the simplest things you can do is continue to cook your normal meals but swap out some of the ingredients for plant based equivalents e.g.

• Milk – where you would usually use 100% dairy, try using 50% dairy and 50% unsweetened plant milk
• Minced meat – when making something like a bolognese or shepherd’s pie, swap half of the meat for lentils (tinned green lentils are the easiest swap as you won’t need to increase cooking time or the amount of liquid needed)
• Add more veggies – introducing more vegetables into sauces and meals in general will make the animal products stretch further
• Burgers – Try some of the new veggie burgers on the market, they have improved considerably in recent years. My current favourites are Beyond Meat and Naked Glory Burgers.
• Meat free Monday – swap all of your meals one day for vegetarian meals
• Swap a red meat meal for a white meat meal – Beef and lamb have far greater negative impacts on the climate than meats such as chicken and turkey, which means swapping red meat for white meat is much better for the planet.

Understand how your food choices affect the rest of the world

When it comes to carbon emissions and the impacts on our home, not all foods are created equal. Meat and dairy production comes with a hefty price tag when it comes to carbon emissions and land and water use. See below.

The foods we eat now will determine whether or not our planet is capable of growing food for our children and our grandchildren in the not too distant future. Supporting plant agriculture (eating more plants) saves on emissions and land and water use. This, in turn, slows global warming and gives everyone a better chance of having enough food going forward.