How you can save money and the world in 1 simple step

September 2 – 8 is Zero Waste Week, an opportunity for us all to think about the food we waste in our daily lives. It’s time to consider how much we throw away, as Rachelle Strauss writes in this guest post.

Would you throw away something that you knew could save someone else’s life?

Would you carry your bags of shopping out of the supermarket and throw a third of them into the bin?

Would you take £50 from your purse and toss it out of your bedroom window?

Sounds crazy, right?

But that’s what many of us are doing week in, week out.

The average householder – that’s you, me, your family and friends – throws away £50 of food per month.

And before you think it’s not you, I’d like to challenge you on that.

How you can start saving money and wasting less

Take an honest look at what you are throwing away and do an audit. For a week record every crust, the scraping of cereal from the bowl, that half eaten snack and tot it up…

I’ve been reducing food waste for years but I still have something to throw away each week. It’s the avocado that went ripe before I could eat it, the slimy salad in the corner of the bag or that forgotten leftover shoved in the back of the fridge I promised myself I’d use tomorrow.

But there is an answer, and it’s a simple one!

This week, 2-8th September, is Zero Waste Week and this year’s theme is “Use it up!”, where you can pledge to reduce your food waste. I’d love you to sign up and write about your adventures on your blog. Go sign the pledge now.

Write about Zero Waste Week on your blog

If you’re a green blogger, did you know that 30 to 50% of food grown on this planet will never reach a human stomach? Why write about your experiences of reducing food waste?

If you’re a frugal blogger, what’s not to love about saving £50 a month? Share some recipes for a tablespoon of sweetcorn, half a tin of tuna and a couple of tomatoes.

If you’re a foodie blogger, how about shopping in your cupboards for a week to come up with some new and unusual recipes?

If you’re a gardening blogger, could you spend the week preserving your precious harvest and sharing tips with your audience?

If you’re a faith blogger, while we’re throwing away food, one in eight people in the world go to bed hungry – it’s reported that food wasted globally could feed every man, woman and child three times over.

Zero Waste Week carries a serious message, but it’s all about having fun.

And the more people we can get on board, the bigger the positive impact.

Sign up at www.zerowasteweek.co.uk and pledge to reduce your food waste.

Here are some simple ideas on what you can pledge to do:

Wise up on portion control
Resist BOGOF offers
Use up stored food
Share a zero waste recipe
Buy loose
Menu plan
Ignore best before dates
Don’t shop when hungry!
Consider ‘leftovers’ as ‘ingredients!’

Follow me on twitter (@myzerowaste) and use the hashtag #zerowasteweek to tell me about the blogs you have written.

I can’t wait to hear what you will be doing!

Rachelle Strauss is founder of MyZeroWaste.com and ZeroWasteWeek.co.uk, leading websites for helping householders reduce landfill waste. Her work has attracted media stories and engagement in documentaries, film and radio both locally and abroad. She recently appeared alongside Jeremy Irons in “Trashed”, an award-winning documentary about waste and sustainability.