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lifestyle

Dualit's Top Tips for Fighting Food Waste

Do you know that the UK throws away around 9.5 million tonnes of food waste in a single year? That's despite 8.4 million people in the UK being in food poverty. Whether it's buying too much food at the supermarket, forgetting about that lonely lettuce head at the back of the fridge, or even just plating up a bit too much food that is left uneaten, unfortunately, food waste is a bad habit that many of us have fallen into. Not only is it damaging the planet, with it contributing to climate change and increased greenhouse gas emissions, it also packs a negative punch to our wallets; the average UK family spends £470 per year on food that's binned and not eaten! At Dualit, sustainability and ethically sourced products are at the heart of what we do. We're passionate about supporting our customers to make better, more eco-friendly choices, so we'd love to share our top five tips for cutting down on food waste.

Dualit's Top Tips for Fighting Food Waste
Misshapen Carrot
1. Choose misshapen or bruised fruits and vegetables

Oddly-shaped or marked fruits and vegetables are often thrown away because they don't meet specific retailer aesthetic standards. Despite their different appearance, the taste and nutritional content is exactly the same.

In fact, choosing mature fruits and vegetables can make smoothies and juices - hopefully made with your Dualit VortecS® Blender! - taste even more flavourful! With a powerful 1000W motor, this blender blast the ingredients to breakdown skin, seeds, nuts and pulp in seconds, releasing the nutrition inside and leaving you with a smooth blend - regardless of whether your fruit and vegetables are perfect or wonky-looking.

2. Plan ahead to avoid over buying

While it's tempting to stock up the fridge, all too often this leads to food piling up in the bin. Plan ahead by taking a fridge 'shelfie' before you head to the shops for you to refer back to.

Meal planning is also a smart way to save on food waste and money. If you're searching for meal plan inspiration, check out our delicious recipe page to get started. We particularly love this warming Chicken Curry, and this yummy Leftovers Frittata. Additionally, there's a perfect recipe round-up called Clean Out Your Fridge Recipes that might just help you get started. We also love the 'FIFO' method, where you organise food at home by 'first in, first out'. Try it out by putting food closest to the use-by date at the front of your fridge or cupboard.

Food Waste
Meal Prep
3. Get cooking-savvy

Warming soups and nourishing broths are a great way to use up leftover vegetables. However, if it's the faff of cooking, rather than planning, that's holding you back from making the most use of your food, why not invest in key kitchen pieces that make chopping, blending, whisking, and pureeing a breeze?

Dualit's Food Prep range makes light work of cooking, especially our multi-tasking 700W Hand Blender. Its patented anti-suction wand, 0.6 litre chopping bowl, whisk, and non-drip1 litre blending jug, mean that you'll be effortlessly whipping up your next meal in no time.

4. Make the most of your freezer

Batch-cooking is great way to maximise your food shop. Freezing your made-ahead meals is a perfect way to save time, money and food waste.

We love recipes that can be grabbed from the freezer when we're in a pinch. These savoury Cheese & Tomato Muffins, made in Dualit's counter top Mini Oven, are easy to make and perfect for a snack, or as part of a lunchbox.

While some fruit and vegetables lose their texture when frozen, this can be easily dealt with by freezing them pureed or stewed. Tomatoes can be used as sauces for pasta dishes or pizza, strawberries make delicious smoothies or dessert jus and stewed apples are a fabulous addition to porridge, muesli, or as the base for apple crumble.

Food Waste Baking
Home Composting
5. Consider home composting

What if we told you that your food scraps, stems, leaves and peel could have a second-life? Put these to good use by creating a compost heap at home and watch as they turn into nutrient rich fertiliser. If you don't have a garden or space for composting, you can still do your part by using a food caddy, providing that your local authorities run a food waste program.

Even coffee grounds and tea leaves can be added to your compost heap. Dualit are proud to be pioneering eco-friendly options for coffee and tea drinkers. By creating our Home Compostable Coffee Capsules, we're offering customers an alternative to sending millions of plastic capsules to landfill each day.