Did you know food waste accounts for about 40% of Australia’s household trash bins? It is estimated that each household spends $3,800 on groceries every year. One in five bags of shopping ends up in the garbage.

OzHarvest is an Australian food rescue organization that has also revealed some other amazing facts about food waste.

• Almost half of the fruit and vegetable produced is wasted.
• One-third of all food is wasted or lost – around 1.3 billion tonnes – costing the global economy $940 billion per year.
• If one-quarter of food that is currently wasted or lost could be saved, 870 million people would have enough food to eat.
• The same amount of water is wasted by throwing out one burger as it would be to take a 90-minute shower.
• Food waste is responsible for 8% of the greenhouse gases that heat up our planet.
• If food waste were a country, it would be third in the world for greenhouse gas emissions after the United States of America and China.

Food waste is not only a major cause of climate change but also costs the world economy and households large amounts of money.

Food should not be wasted or thrown away if possible. If it must be disposed of, it should instead be composted and not placed in landfills, where they will emit methane.

In previous articles, we have shared how you can compost regardless of your housing situation. This includes if your home is an apartment. Where to compost food scraps when composting at home is not possible.

This article discusses what the best-before date and use-by date actually mean. We also explain who decides whether food is fit to consume after its expiration date. What Does Expiry Mean?

This article will show you how to save food from going to waste. You can turn it into a tasty meal, snack, treat or dip.

CAN YOU REVIVE THE OLD ONE?

Ask yourself if you can use the food as usual.

Water can be used to revive vegetables. You can place them in a tea towel, a vase, or a glass of water (like with flowers) or submerge them thoroughly in water.

Put loose spinach and zucchini leaves under a tea towel. Also, you can stand broccoli, kale, and other bunches in water. Carrots are best placed in a glass container with water. After rehydrating, they should become harder or brighter.

Read more about how to store your food so that it lasts for as long as possible and no food is wasted: Plastic Free Fridge & Freezer – How To Store Food Without Plastic.

You can revive stale bread by moistening it. You can restore stale bread by:

1. The crust of the bread should be wetted, but the cut side (if any) should not be wetted too much.

2. If the inside is wet, put it in a 150degC oven for 7-12 minutes.

It will make a dry loaf of bread look brand new! The bread should be moist inside with a crusty outside.

Do not eat moldy food! Can you eat the food after removing the moldy parts? According to the CSIRO, “some mouldy food should be thrown away (ideally to compost),” but “others can be salvaged and used without exposing you to a risk”.

Research agency warns foods high in moisture, such as soft fruits and vegetables, sauces, soft cheeses, porous foods like bread and cakes, can contain invisible hyphae that grow below the surface of food and produce mycotoxins. The research agency recommends throwing out all foods with mold on their surface.

It says, however, that foods like hard cheeses and carrots with a dense structure can be preserved and eaten with minimal risk because they are less likely to show extensive hyphal development away from the visible mycelium. It suggests cutting away the mycelium to a centimeter-two depth.

14 WAYS YOU CAN EAT FOOD INSIDE OUTSTANDING WASTE.

You can still eat it if you don’t have the ability to revive it. For example, use old bananas for banana bread, ice cream, or smoothies.

Find out if it is a part that you normally don’t eat and how to prepare it.

Stop and think about it before you throw it away.

Here are a bunch of recipes that we’ve made using food that is normally thrown away or not eaten.

1. AQUAFABA MAYONNAISE AND MERINGUES

You can make meringues with the liquid left over after cooking chickpeas. Aquafaba is a liquid that can be used in many recipes, including vegan mayonnaise.

The liquid in which you cooked the dried chickpeas (not the liquid in which you soaked them; I tried it, and it didn’t work!) Use the juice from canned beans to prepare one of the recipes below, or use it as an alternative to eggs. You can freeze the liquid until you are ready to use it.

AQUAFABA MERINGUES (RECIPE FROM SBS FOOD)

• 160 ml (1 can) aquafaba (chickpea liquid)
• 1 cup brown or caster sugar

1. Whip the chickpea fluid with an electric mixer until soft peaks appear, about 15 minutes.
2. Add sugar gradually while whisking continuously, and continue whisking until the mixture becomes thick and firm.
3. Bake at 120oC for about 1.5 hours

AQUAFABA MAYONNAISE – (RECIPE FROM Minimalist BAKEr).

• 0.25 cup aquafaba (chickpea liquid)
• 0.25 tsp ground mustard
• 0.25 tsp Sea Salt
• 1.5 tsp apple cider vinegar
• Brown rice syrup 1 tbsp (or substitute stevia, maple syrup, or cane sugar to taste)
• 0.75-1 cup sunflower oil* (or avocado oil)

1. Blend the aquafaba, mustard powder, apple cider vinegar, and brown rice syrup in an immersion blender on high speed for 30 seconds until it becomes frothy.
2. Add the oil slowly over 1-2 minutes while blending
3. Add more oil if the mixture looks too thin. Move the immersion blend up and down at the end to incorporate some air.
4. If needed, add more vinegar, salt, or mustard powder.
5. VEGETABLE STOCK CRUSHERS

After making vegetable stock with kitchen scraps, you can use them for crackers!

Here we show you how to make vegetable stock using frozen scraps of vegetables and below, how to make crackers with the leftovers.