Food waste: Readers’ tips on keeping food fresh for longer and their most commonly binned items

We are all guilty of wasting food to some degree or another, but what most commonly finds its way into the bin instead of the plate? That is the question we took to social media to try to answer last week. The response was huge, with more than 200 people sharing their confessions with us.

“Bagged salad,” write Andy McGeady “Unless you use it pretty much instantly it just goes to mush, despite what any date on it might say.”

He was one of dozens of people who said bagged leaves were a problem.

Anne-Marie McNally had an idea for him – and for all the other people who admitted to buying bagged salad and then binning it. “When you get it home, pop it in a plastic container and cover top with sheet of kitchen roll before lidding. It’ll get you a solid extra 2/3 days. It’s the moisture in the bag that makes it go yuck.”

Pricewatch immediately took her advice and – at the time of writing at any rate – it seemed to be working!

For Seán Ó Loingsigh, the problem was bread. “We get freshly baked sourdough from local baker; amazing stuff but half the time we don’t get it finished in the few days that it lasts.”

[ Slow and steady wins the food-waste race ]

[ Food waste: Not only are we adding to the climate crisis, we are wasting money ]

Funnily enough, when Pricewatch met the chef Conor Spacey on the set of Virgin Media’s Six O’Clock Show, he was showing viewers how to manage the unused bread situation in a novel way.

Rather than binning slightly stale – but not mouldy – bread, all Seán needs to do is blitz the bread in a blender and then use the fine crumbs as a flour replacement in making a cake. We had some of Spacey’s chocolate cake made with leftover bread and can confirm it tasted pretty amazing.

Kwanghi Chan identified a slice pan as his waste weakness. But seeing as he is an excellent chef, he should have no problem whipping up Spacey’s cake, although we suppose there are only so many chocolate cakes a person can eat in any given week.

Spinach and broccoli

Liz Casey and Rachel Collins both identified spinach leaves as an issue. Luckily Anne-Marie McNally was back with advice for them. “Just pop the bag in freezer as is. Spinach leaves constantly on hand. They defrost almost instantly.”

Broccoli, said Brian Lucey.

That could be a storage issue. Broccoli left out of the fridge will be saggy in no time but if it is stored in a fridge you will easily have several days before it starts to fade on you.

“Stuff from the freezer, especially bread,” said Kelly O’Byrne. She also bins “fresh herbs. Fruit, sadly pineapple and melon we have forgotten to have, I have literally stopped buying them. Fruit flies are a cause. Sparkling water, only drink first half of the bottle.”

We admire her honesty and suspect a lot of people are like her.

The trick, we find, with fruit, is to eat it fast. Don’t buy huge amounts – it can be a very aspirational purchase when you are doing your big shop.

“This week my body is a temple and I am only going to eat fresh fruit and vegetable,” you might say as you stock up, and then for the rest of the week the fruit in the bowl stares at you as it slowly rots.

‘I sometimes think I should take it out of the shopping bag and feck it straight into the bin rather than the fridge’

Say no to that. Buy small amounts, eat it within a day or two of purchase and then, if your need to, buy more.

Oh, and just drink the fizzy water Kelly: even if it has lost some of its sparkle. It’ll be grand.

Hummus

“Hummus,” said Gemma Byrne. “I sometimes think I should take it out of the shopping bag and feck it straight into the bin rather than the fridge. Always forget to eat it.”

Hmmm, maybe you should knock the buying of hummus on the head for a while, Gemma. If you know you are not going to eat it, then just don’t buy it.

Maybe the hummus lovers out there could make their own? It is, we are told, very easy to do and you could make it in portions that you will eat in a day, saving you money and waste.

We also had a great tip from Jenny Grimes: “A few years ago I decided to stop to throwing out food. I started to keep a throw-out list as well as a shopping list. I stopped buying the items on the throw-out list unless I was using them the same day bought. Hundreds of capsicums saved” (that’s a pepper to you and me).

David Smith’s weak spot was eggs. “I buy them as a basic thing or because I want one for a recipe, then forget about them for a month instead of just making an omelette..”

‘When I have to discard bread or fruit and I do so feeling failure... and deep sadness, as if I’m saying goodbye to a friend’

Just make the omelette David. Cheap and nutritious and very tasty.

“Liberal use of the freezer means I throw out very little these days,” said Joanne Rourke “It still happens the odd time though, when I have to discard bread or fruit and I do so feeling failure... and deep sadness, as if I’m saying goodbye to a friend.”

While we are against food waste, we do think Joanne is being very hard on herself.

Oh, and she did also suggest people check out the Stop Food Waste website, stopfoodwaste.ie.

We could not agree more. The site is excellent and full of tips on how to make sure you eat the food you buy rather than binning it.