Don't toss your cash in the trash: how to cut down on food waste

"Hunger kills more people every year than malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS combined," says the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. 

A fact made even more shocking when you learn that, according to the FAO, a third of the food produced worldwide is lost or wasted.

So this World Food Day, October 16, make a resolution to stop being a part of the problem by cutting down on the amount of food you unnecessarily toss in the bin. 

Here's how: 

AT THE SHOPS

Loading your trolley with tasty impulse buys is likely to lead to waste, so make a shopping list before you head to the supermarket and stick to it.

While writing up your list, check what leftovers are in your fridge and plan to incorporate them into your weekly meals. Over-ripe fruit, for instance, can be turned into a scrumptious crumble for dessert, while shrivelled carrots could be roasted or grated and added to a sauce or stew. 

Buying in bulk can be a great way to save cash, but it can lead to lots of waste unless you have a clear plan of what you're going to do with all that extra food. This is where your freezer comes into play.

Any vegetables with high water content (like onions and potatoes) go mushy so you can't really freeze them. But many others — carrots, corn, beans, peas, cauliflower, baby marrows and cauliflower — can be frozen successfully. Just peel and blanch them first.

IN THE KITCHEN

A lot of vegetable off-cuts are not only edible, but delicious too, said culinary expert Mary Rolph Lamontagne, author of EATS (Struik Lifestyle), in a Sunday Times interview.

Rather than throwing butternut seeds, cauliflower leaves and potato peels away, she suggests roasting them with sea salt and herbs to make a tasty snack.

"Carrot tops make a delicious pesto," adds chef Jessica Brodie. "Spinach stems are great pickled in a leftover jar of gherkin juice."

Brodie suggests that each time you cook a meal you save chicken bones and vegetable tops by popping them in a plastic bag and stashing it in the freezer. "Fill the bag over time and when it's full boil up these leftovers to make a tasty bone broth," she says.