Join New Zealand’s First Zero Food Waste Challenge, sponsored by Countdown, by implementing these easy food-saving tips into your daily life.
Kim Crossman
“Use all your veggies that need to be eaten and make a soup or a vegetable scramble. This is my go-to when I have neglected some of the items in the fridge and don’t want to have any waste. If it doesn’t taste too flash I tend to add copious amounts of hot sauce on top!”
Antonia Prebble
“I recently purchased a “The Swag” bag, which helps to keep your veggies fresher for longer in the fridge. It really works so I would totally recommend that (I’m not at all connected to the company, just a happy customer!)
I also look at whatever fresh food I’ve got and google recipes with those ingredients. So if there’s an eggplant and some tofu languishing in the fridge, I’ll see what ‘eggplant and tofu’ recipes Google has to offer me. It’s a great way to avoid having to throw out items that have gone too far, and also discover some new dishes and combinations of ingredients that you might not necessarily have thought of”
Megan Papas
“Use the skins of your fruit! I love my indoor plants, and banana water is great for them. Just soak the skins in water for 24 hours and pour it on your plants! Then the soaked bananas can just be dug into your garden.”
“Also save all your citrus rinds, you can infuse oils with them, or dry them out and blitz them to make a yummy dried zest powder you can use in cooking, smoothies or with yoghurt! The zest is so delicious in cooking and baking, I literally never throw them out!”
Meg Mansell
“We plan all our meals for the weekend – breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks on Sunday and buy everything. It takes time to sit down and do, but it saves us a lot of money and we have far less food waste as I plan for the meals to use up everything by the next Sunday!”
Jaquie Brown
“I love my food to shapeshift, so I often make a big batch of tomato sauce at the beginning of the week and chuck in any old vegetables I have lying around. This stays in the fridge and can be used in many different ways. Over pasta, in a lasagne, in a bolognese or on a pizza.
My second tip is whenever we have a chicken and have eaten all the meat, I boil the bones and make a stock. Then I can use that stock and all its chickeny goodness as a base for a soup – or if I can be bothered and am feeling fancy – a risotto.”
Erin Wells
“My top tip is saving fruit before it goes off! If those bananas are getting a little mushy, chop them up and chuck them in the freezer! They’re perfect for my favourite peanut butter and banana smoothie – and they keep the smoothie cold! Win-win!”