Analysis: it is estimated that every house in Ireland wastes 120kg of food each year, costing between €400 and €1000
Sustainability can mean many things when it comes to food. Sustainable for the planet based on the environmental impacts from food production. Sustainable for a country to ensure there is sufficient food to provide for the population. Sustainable for an individual, both financially and by creating eating habits you can follow long term, supporting your long-term health.
October 16th is World Food Day, a day to celebrate all aspects of our food system. It comes on the back of the first ever International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction, a bit of a mouthful but important nonetheless to show how crucial it is that we all work harder at reducing our food waste.
Having a more sustainable mindset to food can be beneficial for the planet, your health and your pocket. Sustainable eating doesn't have to be expensive or difficult, in fact quite the opposite. By following the Healthy Eating Guidelines, we will automatically eat in a more sustainable way. Currently our eating habits are not ideal for health or for the environment. Overeating in itself is a form of food waste. A key focus should be to eat more plants every day; eating more fruit and vegetables with meals and snacks, and swap animal-source protein for plant sources like lentils, beans or peas. It doesn’t mean completely cutting out meat, but reducing and swapping animal foods for more diverse, sustainable, affordable, health-promoting plant foods will have multiple benefits
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RTÉ Livestyle video on food waste
Here are six ways to reduce food waste in your home and eat more sustainably
(1) Plan, plan, plan
Failing to plan means planning to fail. Think about your week ahead. How many people will be eating in the family? How many breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks do you need? How can you add variety to these? Are you working from home with time to prepare each meal fresh, or do you need meals ready to reheat or lunches to grab and go as you travel to work, do the school run etc? Do you have exercise sessions planned in the week, which will need fuelling beforehand?
Once you've thought about everything you need, you can plan what meals you will prepare and make an ingredient list. Going to the supermarket armed with a checklist of ingredients means you won’t waste time browsing the aisles. You also won’t waste food by buying foods you won’t use and end up throwing out, and you won’t waste money on impulse purchases. It is estimated that every house in Ireland wastes 120kg of food each year, costing between €400 and €1000. What a waste of food and money.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Maggie Doyle reports on the economic impact of shopping locally
(2) Vary your veg
Healthy eating guidelines have always promoted eating lots of fruit and vegetables, something which all of us struggle to do. Eating fibre-rich plant foods packed with micronutrients give us nutrient-dense, low calorie foods to fuel our body and protect our health. The key to health is diversity, so start adding new fruits and veg to your daily meals and snacks.
In every weekly shop, buy one new vegetable and/or fruit you haven’t tried before and see how you can incorporate it into meals. We recommend making half your plate full of colourful fruit or veg at any eating occasion, so try making your shopping basket reflect this. When choosing snacks, aim to have a fruit or veg in there first, followed by something with protein like yogurt or hummus or cheese.
Add fruit to your breakfast on oats, toast or in smoothies. Having your fruit bowl front and centre in the kitchen makes you more likely to choose fruit as a snack. By increasing your intake of fruit and vegetables, you will naturally reduce the amount of "junk" foods that you eat, you will feel more full, satisfied and in control of your eating.
From RTÉ Radio 1's Countrywide, Iseult Ward from FoodCloud on food waste and supermarkets
(3) Plants for preference
To eat more sustainably for the planet and for our health, we should try to eat less meat and fewer animal products. Try to swap in plant sources of protein at a few meals, like beans, peas, lentils, soy or Quorn products. Protein is not a problem if you are eating enough food overall – data shows that we are already eating well above the recommended amounts of protein. Plant-sources of protein also provide fibre and micronutrients, so you get a lot of beneficial nutrition from these foods.
If you find it hard to switch from the traditional "meat and two veg" mind set, try slowly adding these plant-based foods to meals you already eat rather than doing a complete swap. For example, if making bolognaise, try half the amount of mince and use some lentils and chopped veg to bulk it up. You will have similar taste and texture but much more nutrition. Raising livestock for food is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and meat can be expensive, so these small changes can have a big impact on our health, our purses and the health of the planet.
(4) Make friends with the freezer
The freezer can become your best friend, saving you time, money and energy without compromising on nutrition. Frozen and tinned foods are just as nutritious as fresh foods. Fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils & peas are all readily available in tinned, frozen or dried forms. They last much longer so less food is wasted, and they are plant sources of nutrition, which are cheaper than many animal products. Even with just a small freezer space, you can store a few packs of veg to add into any meal or top your oats with frozen berries, and freeze foods that will soon expire.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today With Sarah Inerney, dietician Louise Reynolds on how to effectively use your freezer to avoid unnecessary trips to the supermarket
(5) Leftovers for lunch
Why waste time and effort cooking both lunch AND dinner when you can batch cook and reheat it for lunch? This works great for one-pot meals like stews, curries or casseroles. This can also save money by bulk buying non-perishable foods to throw in the pot. If you make too much, or get bored of eating the same thing, freeze your leftovers for another day when you are strapped for time. Everything can be repurposed and used up. Whatever you do, don’t throw out leftover food!
(6) Savour the season
If it is possible for you, try to buy some of your groceries from a local farmer or market stall. This will help support local business, reduce foods miles, and ensures you are getting fresh produce that is in season. Bord Bia have a calendar of what foods are in season in Ireland. Buying in season helps reduce food waste by preventing perishable foods from going off, and helps reduce the amount of processing needed to preserve foods or to make "exotic" foods available year round. Another option is to try to "grow your own" – it’s surprising how much can grow even in a small window box, and the taste difference is amazing!
Sustainability is a hot topic at the moment and we all want to help our planet and prevent further damage to the environment. Sustainable eating doesn’t mean completely cutting out meat and going fully vegan, but slowly increasing the amount of plant foods in our diet will naturally reduce your reliance on animal foods. Meat, fish, dairy and eggs can all fit within a plant-based sustainable diet, so local famers won’t go out of business. By choosing local sources, emphasising quality over quantity and adding more plant foods to our diet, we can work towards a good balance of sustainable eating that is good for the planet and good for our health.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
