You can pick up meals for as little as £2 and help restaurants cut back on food waste.
Fancy a carvery dinner for less than £4 or a big box of sushi for £3.50?
App and social impact company Too Good To Go has partnered up with local restaurants in order to reduce food waste.
By downloading the app you can get delicious food for a fraction of the original price. At the same time, you are helping the planet and supporting local businesses.
The people at Too Good To Go have made it their personal mission to create a movement against food waste.
The app is made up of a community of over 3.2 million people finding and saving delicious food and 4,251 businesses reducing their food waste across the country.
Some Leicester establishments that have joined are Auntie Anne’s, Grove Farm, Chatime, DMU’s Food Village, Hobby Horse Farm, Yo! Sushi, Angelo’s Chippery and much more.
In Leicestershire, approximately 55,000 tonnes of food goes to waste every year. Disposing of this waste costs the County Council in excess of £4.5 million each year.
The issue has been linked to increasing living costs, poverty, poor diets as well as climate change and habitat destruction.
According to Love Food Hate Waste, which wasted a third less food during lockdown earlier this year, “reducing food waste in your household could save you up to £700 per year, and also help to combat environmental and social issues.”
They added that “food waste is thought to cost Leicestershire residents in the region of £123 million per year. That’s approximately £188 per Leicestershire resident, and it’s money better spent elsewhere.”
We have compiled a list of easy ways you can reduce waste and help keep the planet and your wallet green.
Download Too Good To Go:
Restaurants and other establishments that handle food have partnered up with the app and sell their daily leftovers for a reduced price. Simply download the app, find your favourite food and go get your magic bag of delicious food.
Plan your shopping in advance:
Having a shopping list can not only save you money but also time. Before creating your list, it’s important you plan your meals. Weekly planners can be helpful to note down the amount of food you need to buy. If packaged food comes in a bigger quantity than you desire, maybe create your next meal around those ingredients. This will make sure the food you buy doesn’t go bad. Also, be aware of temptations, only buy what you are likely to eat.
Make your food last longer:
If you realise you are probably not going to eat a certain food before it goes off, freeze it. Freezing food acts like a pause button, which allows you to enjoy it later. You can freeze almost all foods. For instance, fruit, which can rot so quickly, if frozen can then be used to make a dessert or a delicious smoothie. You can freeze meat, cheese, bread, vegetables and even potatoes.
Use what you buy:
Reusing food is not new. In times of struggle, people have come up with the most creative ways to do it. So, there are plenty of recipes online that will help reuse your leftovers and save you time and money! For example, you can use unwanted biscuits to make a pie or make mini pizzas from bread-end-crusts. By doing this, you are giving food another purpose, reducing food waste and, consequently, helping the planet meal by meal.
Give composting a go:
If you have a garden, you might want to consider composting. It’s a good way to improve the condition of your garden’s soil. It also stops your food from rotting in your bin which can produce unpleasant smells. According to Less Waste, “effective composting provides an excellent environment for a variety of life” due to the bacteria, fungi and microscopic organisms that play a part in transforming your waste into a rich soil conditioner.
Written by Francisca Quádrio
Francisca Quádrio is a recent DMU graduate. Due to her passion for the English Language, she moved to the UK from Portugal to study Creative Writing and Journalism. During her time at DMU, she created plenty of student content and was promoted to Editor-in-Chief of their student magazine.
