Coleraine Borough Council recently ran a FREE “Love Food Hate Waste” cookery demonstration in Coleraine.
The demonstration was part of the Department of the Environment’s Rethink Waste campaign in Northern Ireland and aimed to help people find out how to save up to £50 a month on food.
Every month, the average family throws out £50 worth of food. That is around one third of all the food we buy and most of it could have been eaten. Coleraine Borough Council is always keen to help everyone reduce, reuse and recycle as much of your rubbish as possible.
Fiona Watters, Waste & Recycling Officer with Coleraine Borough Council explained, “The amount of food we throw out is staggering. One out of every three bags of shopping ends up in the bin. Until I really started looking in my own bin, I wouldn’t have believed how much I was throwing out – albeit in the compost bin. Wherever it ends up, it is still a waste of money and food. In my house we are guilty of binning the last few slices of bread, yoghurt, lettuce, fruit and potatoes.
“The good news is that there are a few quick and easy things we can all do to reduce the amount of food we throw away – planning ahead, buying less in the first place and freezing food until you need it. Using leftovers really is a handy way to make the next meal.”
Professional chef, Emmet McCourt, cooked up a variety of delicious meals with lots of recipe ideas to help us reduce food waste by making good use of those leftovers which might otherwise be thrown away. People had a chance to sample Emmet’s cooking and take away recipe cards to try it out at home.
The Love Food Hate Waste campaign aims to raise awareness of food waste and therefore reduce the amount of food waste we send to landfill. In the UK £12 billion is spent every year buying and then throwing away good food which costs the average family £680 a year equating to around £50 per month. The campaign shows that by doing some easy practical everyday things in the home we can all waste less food, which will ultimately benefit our purses and the environment too.
For tips on food planning and storage and over 170 delicious recipes using typical leftovers check out www.lovefoodhatewasteni.org or come along to see the cookery demonstrations for yourself.
For additional tips and ideas on how you can reduce, reuse and recycle log on to www.rethinkwasteni.org. The Love Food Hate Waste NI campaign is supported by the Waste and Resources Action Programme NI (WRAP).
Photo caption: “Mayor of Coleraine Borough Council, Alderman Maurice Bradley, pictured with chef Emmett McCourt and member of the public, Ronnie Hopkins, at the Coleraine Love Food Hate Waste Cookery Demonstration funded by Rethink Waste N.I.”
