Food wastage is a growing problem in Nigeria, would you believe that we waste enough food to feed more than a billion people? The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development disclosed last year that Nigeria loses $8.9 billion annually to post-harvest wastage. When we throw away food, we are not only throwing away our money we are throwing away everything it took for it to get to our plates.
Food wastage is something we are all guilty of. Remember that rice you couldn’t finish at that wedding? Or the vegetables you left to spoil? That loaf bread you let go bad? Think back to the last time you cleaned out your fridge, how many items did you throw away?
So how do you avoid wasting food and money? Here are our five best tips, and they are easy so there’s no excuse 😉
- Plan ahead and shop smart
Before you go grocery shopping, sit down and plan your meals for the week. Then make a list based on these meals, that way you avoid buying on impulse. Buy exactly what you need, if the recipe calls for 1 cup of egusi, buy exactly 1 cup of egusi, buy items only when you plan to use them and wait till all your perishables are used up before buying more.
Prepare meals ahead and freeze them. Meals like soup, stew, sauces can be frozen and reheated as needed.
Don’t throw away uneaten food, put them in reusable containers and keep in the fridge, make sure you label them so you know how long they’ve been in your fridge so you can eat them when you want or make it to another meal or just bag it up for lunch the next day.
Keep a log of all the food items you throw away, that way you’ll be able to spot patterns in the type of food you throw away and will know when to buy less of a certain food item. It’ll also make you mindful of just how much food you waste.
When unpacking your groceries move the older products to the front and the new products behind so you can use the old products up before they go bad.
