We all love food but we throw too much food away. On average, Australians are tossing one in five bags of edible food in the bin.

Penrith Council has tips on how you can save money, reduce food waste and reduce negative impacts on our environment at the same time.

Save money

NSW homes throw out on average $3,805 worth of food each year. Collectively, $10 billion worth of food is thrown away annually, which could feed over 3.5 million families a year. When this food is wasted, all of the resources that went into growing, manufacturing, storing and transporting that food is also wasted. 

We are all guilty of it sometimes. If we come together as a community and make little changes to how we handle our food waste, we can make a difference and save money.

Reduce food waste

Freeze almost anything!

Did you know you can freeze almost anything? It's a great way to save food that's otherwise heading straight for the bin. 

Top tip: Next time you're cooking, think about blanching and freezing any leftover diced veggies. It only takes a few minutes, reduces your food waste and can be used for extra flavour later!

 

Store it right!

A lot of food goes off before we are ready to use it. If it’s stored correctly, it will last longer, and it won’t have to go straight in the FOGO bin, which is your green-lidded organics bin.

Top tip: To stop spuds from sprouting, put them in a paper bag, add an apple and store them in the dark!

Meal planning

Start by planning your meals. It can be fun to sit down as a household and think about what you'll eat for the week. This is a top money-saving tip, too – shopping with a list will help you stick to what you've planned so food doesn’t expire if you haven’t used it in time.

Top tip: Check what you have at home before going to the supermarket and take into consideration your meal portions.

 

Liven your lunches with leftovers

As part of Penrith's community mission to help reduce food waste, we encourage you to liven up your lunches with leftovers.

Top tip: Experiment with combinations of leftover meats, cheeses, salad and vegetables and you might just find your new favourite sambo style!

 

Turn open packs into snacks

When you’re cleaning out your pantry, don’t throw the ends of packets away. Instead, use them up!

Top tips: Use the last bit of oats in a smoothie or shake. Crush up the last bits of cereal and use in place of crumble.

Other resources to help you reduce food waste at home:

• Love Food Hate Waste 
• Reducing Your Household Waste with Love Food Hate Waste 
• Love Food Hate Waste Facebook 

Protect our local environment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If food waste is disposed of in the red-lidded residual bin (the landfill bin), when food breaks down, it releases methane gas which is a huge negative impact on the environment.

Penrith Council provides a Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) service to all residents on the 3-bin system, which includes the green-lidded bin organics and kitchen caddy bin.   

All organic food items can go in the organics bin. Organic items include:

• Meat
• Bones
• Fish
• Dairy
• Grass clippings
• Garden trimmings

The FOGO bin can take a greater variety of food items than the home compost. The best part of the FOGO service is that once it has been turned in to compost, Council then uses it on local sports ground and parks.