Waste Not: Hisense Shows You How to Cut Costs and Food Waste.

Love Food Hate Waste projects that the average family of four can save just over £60 each month[i] by reducing food waste – which is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

At Hisense, we’ve been working closely with the team at Love Food Hate Waste to launch the first ever Food Waste Action Week (1st – 7th March 2021) and have produced some handy hacks and tips for avoiding preparing too much food!

Love Food Hate Waste has also found that avoidable food waste from UK households currently adds up to around 4.5 million tonnes a year. Why the waste? Because our home cooks simply prepare and serve too much food.

According to our research[ii] which also uncovered the nations’ favourite dishes, the most common reason we make too much food is because 1 in 5 (20%) of us prefer making too much rather than too little, with a further 23% saying that it was either too difficult to know how much to cook, or that they were trying to use up food before it had gone bad.

Hisense uncovers the UK’s top five favourite meals:

• - Roast Dinner
• - Spaghetti Bolognese
• - Fish & Chips
• - Shepherd’s Pie
• - Tikka Masala

Carbohydrates are the most difficult to apportion and as such are some of the most wasted foods – with the humble potato leading the way. Fresh potatoes are the number one culprit for food waste in the UK, with 120,000 tonnes of usable potatoes going to waste each year[iii]. Pasta and spaghetti were similarly difficult to apportion.

To add to the challenge, composite meals take fourth place for wastage nationally. Composite meals are dishes that include ingredients prepped from a number of food groups, including fan favourites curry and Bolognese. Over half the food waste generated from the UK’s composite meals was because we cooked too much.

How to measure out the trickiest foods:

• - Potatoes: Adults need the equivalent of two egg-sized potatoes. Cooked potatoes can be
•   frozen – you can roast boiled potatoes straight from the freezer!
• - Rice: A mug of dried rice is enough for four adults and contrary to popular belief, can
•   be stored safely if cooled quickly under cold water and reheated until piping hot.
• - Pasta: Dried spaghetti can be measured out per adult as the size of a 1p piece for the
•   perfect portion. For pasta, allow around 75g per person and once you’ve weighed out
•   one portion, pop it in a bowl or container you frequently use so you can accurately measure
•   the portions easily next time.
• - Composite meals (e.g. Bolognese, curry) – for best results, batch cook composite meals
•   to use up the  ingredients and avoid unnecessary wastage. Find a scoop or spoon that
•   measures out what you need to feed your household, then cool extra portions in
•   containers and you can freeze them for later!

Beating Unnecessary Food Waste

Arun Bhatoye, Head of Marketing at Hisense UK says:

“When it comes to calling time on food waste, we really can use our appliances to make sure we avoid unnecessary waste. Most leftovers – of composite meals as well as meat and other foods – can be frozen for another time after being left to cool to room temperature.

“Investing in innovative technology is always worth considering – our PureFlat range boasts flexible cooling features, which can extend your refrigeration or freezing compartments as and when you need them. This means there’s always a home for those leftovers until you need them!”

To find out more about our PureFlat Fridge Freezers, click here.

Source:

[i] Love Food Hate Waste https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/why-save-food

[ii] Hisense & Censuswide, October 2020

[iii] WRAP https://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Household_food_and_drink_waste_in_the_UK_-_report.pdf