It’s Food Waste Action Week and the theme is Win Don’t Bin, encouraging you to make the most out of the food you buy.

Take the quiz to make your food go further

Food Waste Action Week organisers, Love Food Hate Waste, are hosting a quiz to give you the chance to win a Panasonic microwave or one of 50 Hellmann’s food hampers. The quiz will give you tailored advice to help your food go further, saving you time and money.

This week is Food Waste Action Week and the theme this year is ‘Win. Don’t Bin.’, encouraging residents to make the most out of the food they buy before recycling it, helping to save time and money.

The average household in Bracknell Forest throws away 2.4kg of food a week. Almost half of this food is binned before even being prepared. Wasting food is a habit that can be easily broken. By only buying what we need and using up leftovers, we can make sure that we are getting the most out of our food before we recycle it.

Throughout the week, the council will be sharing tips on the Bracknell Forest Council social media channels, including information on correct food storage to help reduce food waste. Food Waste Action Week organisers, Love Food Hate Waste, are also hosting a quiz to giving entrants the chance to win a Panasonic microwave or one of fifty Hellmann’s Food Hampers. The quiz will give tailored advice to help food go further and save people time and money.

Cllr Mrs Dorothy Hayes MBE, executive member for environment, said: “Our food waste recycling service has been a fantastic success with over 80 per cent of houses taking part in the borough.

“However, putting the food waste in the recycling caddy should be a last resort. We should be making the most of our ingredients and there is no better time than Food Waste Action Week. Get creative with your meals, freeze leftovers where possible and why not think about composting?

“These are simple steps we can take, let’s pull together and see how much time and money we can save by wasting less food.”

For more information on food waste recycling and reducing waste, visit the reduce and recycle page.

Eyes too big for your belly?

4.5 million tonnes of edible food is thrown away each year by UK households. Shockingly, 25 per cent of this wasted food is due to cooking, preparing or serving too much.

We can all be guilty of this, so why not use the Love Food Hate Waste portion calculator to help cook the right amount of food?

Top tip: two handfuls of dried pasta is enough for one adult. 

Keeping your fridge cool

When was the last time you checked your fridge temperature?

The average UK fridge is set to at least two degrees too warm! The ideal temperature is between 0 – five degrees.

Adjusting the temperature of your fridge could help keep your food fresh for three days longer.

Use the Love Food Hate Waste fridge temperature checker.

Turn your peelings into compost

Our food waste recycling service should be a last resort when it comes to recycling food waste. Things like vegetable peelings and eggshells are perfect for composting.

Bracknell Forest residents get access to composters, water butts and wormeries at competitive prices from Get Composting.

For more information, read our composting page.

re3grow compost now on sale re3grow is a peat-free compost which is made from residents’ recycled garden waste. You can purchase it directly from the meet and greet teams at your local recycling centre for a competitive price of £4.20 per single 40l bag, or three bags for £12. Don’t forget to make a booking before visiting the recycling centres.

Make the most of your freezer

Have you planned dinner then decided to eat out instead?

Don’t worry, an easy solution is to freeze it instead and save it for another day.

Freezing your food acts like a pause button, locking in freshness and preserving quality and flavour.

Follow the Love Food Hate Waste guide on freezing and defrosting meat, as well as seven foods you never knew you could freeze.