Data also confirmed by a recent study conducted by the IO Institute Polls for Too Good To Go – an app that fights against food waste by allowing establishments to sell their daily surplus food and that users can save that quality food at a reduced price -, which indicates that 31% of Spaniards acknowledge that they waste more food in summer.
In this sense, for 42% of the people surveyed, in summer it is more difficult to control than not over food, for different reasons: 91% point to heat as the main cause, 66% comment that with good weather they go out more to eating out and the food spoils, 55% say they do not know what to do with the leftover food and 51% admit that they do not know how to better preserve food. Regarding the foods that suffer the most from the consequences of summer, 45% throw away fruits more, followed by vegetables in 41% of cases, sauces and dressings (19%), dairy (18%) and meat and sausages (16%).
How to avoid wasting food in summer
For this reason, and to help prevent it, Too Good To Go wanted to offer a series of practical tips to reduce food waste this summer:
- Optimize the purchase by designing the menu and the food that is needed for the next few days. Thus, when shopping at the supermarket for the usual home or vacation home, we will know what ingredients we need.
- Before buying, check what’s in the fridge and pantry and make a shopping list to avoid taking things in duplicate or that already were and were not needed.
- Make sustainable purchases by acquiring seasonal products or using apps like Too Good To Go to buy the daily surplus of thousands of restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets, among other businesses, at reduced prices and help that the food that is left over in these businesses is not wasted at the end of the day.
- Organize the pantry and fridge placing at the bottom what has been bought new and leaving in view what has been stored the longest or that is about to reach its best before date or expiration date, to consume them before they spoil. Remember that the best before date is only an indicator of quality, and if it has already expired we can use the senses – see, smell and taste – to know if the food is still suitable to consume and avoid waste.
- The fridge will always be the best ally to keep food fresh and for longer, especially in summer.
- Use the freezer to store food that we are not going to consume soon and thus extend their useful life or be able to consume them later, putting a label with the freezing date and freezing in individual servings in order to defrost only the amount we need.
- Cook always calculating the quantities, making smaller portions and giving the option to repeat in order to avoid excess food on the plates.
- Take advantage of the leftovers or what is too ripe or about to spoil to make new recipes. For example, fruits and vegetables can be used very easily in summer to make very fresh recipes such as gazpachos, salmorejos, smoothies or ice creams.
- In the hotel buffet you must always remember to calculate the amount of food to serve on the plate and get up as many times as necessary to avoid putting too much food that later will not be able to finish.
- In the restaurants, ask the waiter to put the food that we have not been able to finish in a container to take away.
Qualification
In summer more food is wasted. Tips to avoid it
Description
Food waste grows in summer. According to data from the Ministry, between the spring and summer months, more than 650 million kilos of food were wasted in the domestic sphere, representing an increase of 7 million kilos compared to the autumn and winter season.
Author
Gastronomy Journal