Newcastle Project Aims To Cut Food Waste

A new community cooking project is aiming to save families in Newcastle up to £700 a year by cutting food waste.

The Love Food Hate Waste project has found the equivalent of around nine bath tubs of mince pies are thrown away by English households during the Christmas period alone

They're now trying to tackle what is a massive, year-round problem for the environment and for people’s purses Wrap’s free Love Food Hate Waste cooking classes launch in the Newcastle area in the new year, run by the Children’s Food Trust Let's Get Cooking team and funded by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme). As well as learning how to cook healthy meals from scratch, local people will develop skills such as making the most of left over ingredients, portioning and storing food efficiently and shopping smarter. With 5,000 clubs, the Children’s Food Trust’s Let’s Get Cooking programme is the largest national network of cooking clubs in the country. The Love Food Hate Waste cookery classes will involve existing Let’s Get Cooking clubs, other community cooking clubs as well as new clubs in Newcastle. Maggie Sims, Children’s Food Trust Head of Let’s Get Cooking, said: “Cooking is a core life skill and we believe everyone should have the opportunity to learn to cook and enjoy good food. If properly supervised, this can start even with very young children. “These cookery clubs are about sharing practical skills in a fun and supportive way which will help everyone reduce the amount of food they waste and make their food budgets go much further.” The UK throws away 7 million tonnes of food and drink each year which works out at an average of 260 kilograms per household. That’s the equivalent of £700 of food thrown in the bin every year for the average household with children. Emma Marsh, Head of Love Food Hate Waste at WRAP said: “Food waste is a major problem and costs the average person £200 a year, rising to £700 for a family at a time when household budgets remain really tight. This project, as part of the wider ’10 cities’ campaign, will benefit people’s health, teach new vital skills, save families money, and benefit the environment.” A similar project in the North West of England found... • 85% of families planned meals more efficiently by creating a list before shopping • 78% chilled or froze leftovers to eat later instead of throwing away • 70% avoided waste by checking the ‘use-by’ dates on packets and buying foods which aren’t about to go out of date • Every family said they had reduced the overall amount of food wasted by their family since their involvement with the project The Children’s Food Trust’s Let’s Get Cooking team is recruiting around 20 club coordinators across Newcastle. They will train them to plan and deliver effective cooking sessions and teaching skills such as meal planning, portion sizes, food storage, using leftovers and understanding date labels.