How To Cut Down Your Kitchen Waste

Cutting down on waste, including uneaten food and plastics, is a hot topic at the moment...and for good reason! Did you know that, according to OzHarvest, Australians throw out about four million tonnes of food each year, and that about a third of food produced globally gets lost or wasted? But fear not, there are so many simple things you can do to cut back on waste (and help save the environment and money at the same time)! Wanna know how? Here are my top suggestions!

My handmade keep cup from Pottery For The Planet (in love with it...so beautiful and environmentally friendly!)

Savour your Scraps
Don’t throw away your veggie scraps! Instead, put them in a container and keep it in the freezer. When you’ve collected enough, make a veggie stock out of them. This can include all sorts of things – carrot tops, onion skins, ends of beans, parsley stalks, corn cobs, beet greens, capsicum seeds…anything!

Love your Leftovers
Keep leftovers front and centre in the fridge so that you remember they’re there to eat. Make a point of using them and other food that's getting old. Here are just a few ideas – add leftover roast veggies to a soup, throw leftover chicken or quinoa into a stir fry, chop up overripe fruit and put it in the freezer to use in smoothies or baking, make an omelette out of eggs that are nearing their expiry, and much more!

Make Icecube Trays your Best Friend
Do you often find it hard to get through a container of milk or stock, or maybe a can of tomatoes, before it goes off? Try this little trick – pour the leftovers into an icecube tray in the freezer, then use them whenever you need!

Use A Keep Cup
The name says it all…it’s a cup that you actually keep instead of throwing away after one use (apparently Australian's throw out about 50,000 every thirty minutes according to War on Waste). Take your keep cup with you to work, uni or wherever your day takes you. Added bonus - there are so many fun and beautiful keep cups around too! My two favourites are my beautiful handmade ceramic cup from Pottery for Planet and my bamboo tea flask from Fressko.

Ditch the Cling Wrap
Instead of cling wrap, invest in some beeswax wraps. They’re excellent for placing over a bowl of leftovers, for wrapping things up like nuts and sandwiches, for storing large leafy greens and other fresh produce to keep them nice and fresh, and much more! P.S. if you don't have a beeswax wrap handy, simply place a plate over a bowl of leftovers instead.

Say Yes to Reusable Shopping Bags
Take these babies with you whenever you go shopping. There are all sorts of styles easily available from all sorts of stores these days, so there's no excuse not to use them! Silk shopping bags are one of my favourite options, they fold up nice and small so are perfect to keep in your bag at all times in case you need one.

Let me Introduce you to Mesh Bags
Mesh bags, like these from Onya, are excellent to take shopping for loose produce, like green beans, nuts, grains or legumes. They're lightweight, fold up really easily and you can also use them to store produce in at home. In fact, they even double up as nut milk bags and laundry bags! Top tip - if you're at the grocery store and find yourself without a mesh bag and a bunch of loose beans in your hands, use one of the paper bags available for mushrooms instead of plastic.