Are you FoodWise?

Foodwise is a new campaign that has recently been launched by the group 'Do Something' to draw Australia's attention to the huge amount of food that we waste.

Did you know?

• Australians spend $5 billion a year on food that we buy and then end up throwing away


• Each Australian throws away the equivalent of 145kg of food, adding up to a massive total of 3 billion tonnes every year


• Approximately 20% of the food we buy at the supermarket ends up in our bins

These figures are staggering, particularly when you consider the huge number of people across the world who go to sleep each night without enough food. Perhaps it's time we went back to basics to place a real value on our food and just how precious it really is.

The Foodwise Campaign offers simple and practical tips and ideas to save on food wastage including:

• Write a list before you go shopping and plan to buy only what you need.


• Check the best before and use by dates of products that you buy, and products at home. Make sure you use your older stock up first.


• Avoid processed foods. Often these foods are very energy and water intensive and have usually been shipped long distances, adding to the hidden costs of your food.


• Buy products that are in season and buy locally wherever this is possible.


• Be smart about your cooking and use your leftovers creatively, for example use leftover cooked meat as the basis of a pasta dish or casserole the following night.


• Freeze leftovers for quick meals at a later date.

Visit the Foodwise site for tips, information, resources and, if you submit your own tip before May 15, you can go in the running to win a Tupperware prize pack. What are your tips and suggestions for cutting back on food wastage?