Cook and Nourish
MasterChef finalist, Claire Syrenne invites you into her kitchen where the cook matters more than what's for dinner. This is a place where home cooks are celebrated for being flippin' amazing and getting people fed no matter what else life throws at them. Each week Claire shares ways to make your cooking life easier, simple recipes for real meals and kitchen stories to make you smile. If you're feeding people then pull up a chair and feel the love.
Cook and Nourish
Food Waste is Hurting Your Wallet
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Food waste is one of those problems that feels abstract until you realise it is happening in your own kitchen, every single week. With food prices rising and budgets stretched, we wanted practical, immediate fixes that help you keep more of what you buy and throw away less without turning meal times into a project.
I'm joined by Sam Hubble from Love Food Hate Waste, a UK campaign delivered by WRAP, to put real numbers on the issue and then turn that insight into action. We talk about how much food UK homes waste, the items that most often end up in the bin (including a few surprises), and why tracking matters. Sam explains how a simple food waste diary can reveal the true causes, from overbuying to poor storage, and why some waste is hidden when it goes down the sink.
Then we get into the kitchen-level tips you can try today: from where to store potatoes, where not to store bread and and how to handle leftover rice for the next day and beyond. We also cover fruit and veg storage (with key exceptions like bananas, onions, and whole pineapples), plus the fridge habits that make the biggest difference. Sam also points you to the Love Food Hate Waste “Chill Your Fridge Out” tool for brand-specific guidance.
If you want to reduce food waste, save money on your weekly shop, and make your fridge work harder for you, press play. Subscribe, share this with a fellow home cook, and leave a review with the one tip you’re going to try first.
Welcome And Why Food Waste Matters
SPEAKER_01Hello, lovely cooks, and welcome back to Cook and Nourish, where we are celebrating and fortifying the home cook with ideas to make your time in the kitchen easier and a lot less stressful. I'm your host, Claire Serene, and like most households, my single biggest weekly cost is food. And right now, that cost is frighteningly unpredictable. So anything that reduces the cost is worth doing. Today is my first interview, and it's a two-part episode with Sam Hubble from Love Food Hate Waste, because Sam has got tons of ways we can save money by reducing our food waste. And some of those changes you can make today, and they will make a difference. So I'm very excited to introduce Sam. I just can't wait to learn all about the kind of things we can do to reduce waste and improve our shopping behaviours at home. So tell me, tell me, for those people who don't know, tell me all about Love Food Hate Waste.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, thanks for having me, Claire. I'm delighted to be here. Uh Love Food Hate Waste is a campaign and it's delivered by RAP, which is an environmental international NGO. And we work with all stakeholders across the food system, so governments, businesses, and other stakeholders to tackle food waste. And our Love Food Hate Waste campaign aims to inspire people and provide them with the knowledge, motivation, and tools to reduce the amount of food and money that they're throwing away.
UK Food Waste In Shocking Numbers
SPEAKER_01So tell me some of the scale of some of the waste that we create in the UK.
SPEAKER_00So in the UK, each year we generate about 10.2 million tonnes of food waste. And of that, nearly 60% of that comes from our homes. So we waste from our homes six million tonnes each year. And of that six million tonnes, 4.4 million tons of that is food which could have been eaten. And then the rest of it is inedible parts.
SPEAKER_01Just that though, just that statistic alone is mind-boggling, isn't it? That we could have eaten that. If we'd have caught it sooner, if we'd have known what to do with it, that was food that could have been eaten.
SPEAKER_00About 17 billion pounds. So it's it's not an insignificant amount of money that we're throwing away. And it would fill Wembley Stadium eight times to put that into kind of a physical volume scale.
SPEAKER_01And when we're looking at food banks, when we're looking at the cost of living, this is somewhere we can make an immediate difference in terms of not wasting this food. What a difference it would make to your family immediately.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, on average, a household of four throws away about a thousand pounds worth of food that could have been eaten each year. Um and on average, each person in the UK is wasting the equivalent of three meals per week. So again, it's in in the kind of current context, it's it's a big, a big issue.
What We Throw Away Most
SPEAKER_01So what sort of foods do people regularly throw out and not realize?
SPEAKER_00Number one, we've got fresh potato, and then moving down the list, we've got kind of composite meals. So whether that's home made homemade meals or pre-prepared meals. In third place, we've got bread, followed by milk. Um, and then five is mixed food from multiple categories.
SPEAKER_01That sounds really appealing. What would you like for dinner? I'd like mixed food from multiple categories, please.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then number six is mixed vegetables. Um, seven is poultry, specifically chicken, turkey, and duck. Eight, possibly an unexpected one, carbonated soft drinks, nine, and this uh is a personal bugbear because it's my favorite food, but all cakes and desserts. And then in number 10, we've got potatoes again, but processed. So, you know, chips and anything that's already been processed before it enters the home.
SPEAKER_01Wow. So I mean the bread and it doesn't surprise me, but what's really surprised me is the fizzy drinks was not expecting fizzy drinks on that list.
SPEAKER_00Well, so we we measure this and research team who every few years update the food waste stats for the UK. Um they use a combination of something called waste composition analysis. It's perpetually going through people's bins and then identifying and weighing everything. And that's why some things, when you're going through bins, some food is really obvious what it is, and other things you kind of give it a category. And then so that approach, the waste composition analysis, is also combined with food waste diaries. And these are actually really important because when we're getting people to track their waste through diaries, we can also ask around the reasons why it wasn't eaten so we can understand those key reasons. And also for things like milk and fizzy drinks and any other things that might end up down the sink, that's not going to show up in people's bins. So using a kind of combination of both of those approaches enables us to get a fairly good up good picture of what we're wasting and why.
SPEAKER_01I love that tip for a food diary, food waste diary to keep just a note and it would make us more aware of what we're wasting. But like you say, why? Why are we wasting it? Are we wasting it because my family just doesn't eat it, because I forget to buy it, because I store it in the wrong place and I totally forget it's in there. Um, I think the why is so important. So a food waste diary is a really good idea.
Potato Storage Myths And Fixes
SPEAKER_01The potatoes thing really surprised me. I like that it was book-ended with fresh and processed potatoes your list. Why potatoes? Why do we waste so many?
SPEAKER_00I think one of the key reasons, so 180,000 tonnes of potatoes, fresh potatoes each year are thrown away because we don't use them in time. So they spoil before we get the chance to eat them. And so that might be we're buying too many in the first place, but it might also be that we're not storing them in the best way. It used to be thought that storing potatoes in the fridge would make it unsafe for when you came to cook it. Um, but the Food Standards Agency now, based on updated research, has updated its guidance and says it's completely safe to store potatoes in the fridge, which then makes it easier to make sure that it lasts long enough for you to use it before it spoils.
SPEAKER_01So that huge number of potatoes we're wasting, dispelling that mist, keep them in the fridge, and we have a chance then to reduce that number simply by shifting where we keep them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it will buy you more time.
SPEAKER_01One easy move. Shift your potatoes out of the cupboard, pop them in the fridge, and we could literally reduce the waste for ourselves and for the planet in that one easy move. Are there any other mists that we should just abandon? They're not helping us.
SPEAKER_00Many people think that you can't use leftover rice.
SPEAKER_01Leftover rice is so good for you.
SPEAKER_00So you can use it, but you do have to make sure that you cool it down quickly after cooking it, and then you put it in the fridge within an hour or two of cooking. Only keep it for 24 hours and then make sure that it's fully reheated and piping hot. So as long as you you do that, it's fine. You can also freeze rice. So again, if you cool it down quickly, portion it out and then freeze it, and then you can defrost it in the fridge and again fully reheat it when you come to eating it.
SPEAKER_01Brilliant. I don't think people realise you can freeze cooked rice and you're essentially making your own packets from the supermarket of instant rice. It's more starch resistant once it's cooled down, so it's better for you. It makes the best fried rice. And so keeping leftover rice and eating it either within 24 hours or freezing it is a brilliant tip.
Bread Storage That Actually Works
SPEAKER_01What about bread? There was, I mean, bread we know we waste a lot of it. What can we do to reduce our bread waste?
SPEAKER_00Well, one thing you shouldn't do is store it in the fridge because it dries it out. Many people think it will make it last longer, but actually it will dry it out. So instead, keep it in a bread bin or an airtight container and then make sure that the bag is sealed. And you can also freeze bread. So if you're not going to get through a whole loaf, freeze part of it before it goes stale. And then you can either defrost it and use it in sandwiches, or it works great just popping it straight in the toaster.
SPEAKER_01Learning that I can keep bread products in the freezer changed my life as a family cook because I get lots of ends of things and then I feel terrible. I haven't got enough to feed four of us. There's only two. But what I realized was things like tortillas I can put into the freezer and take them out, peel them out as I need them, pop them in some sheets of grease proof, and they're just ready. They defrost by the time I've got the fillings out of the fridge to put inside the tortilla. So bread products in the freezer, great friends. Is there anything else we shouldn't keep in the fridge, Sam? You were saying we shouldn't keep our bread in the fridge. We should keep our potatoes there. Any other tips on what should and shouldn't go in the fridge?
SPEAKER_00All fresh
Fridge Rules For Fruit And Veg
SPEAKER_00fruit and vegetables, with the exception of three items bananas, onions, and whole pineapples. Once pineapples have been cut, they should then go in the fridge. But when they're still whole, store them on the sides. Other than those three items, bananas, onions, and whole pineapples, all other fruit and veg, from the perspective of preventing food waste. Yeah. Some people might have different views on taste, or you know, some people don't like cold fruits. They would like to eat it at room temperature. So quite often, if people want to have a fruit bowl, I'll suggest, well, why not store the fruit bowl in the fridge? Or you can maybe kind of decamped fruit from the fridge into it. It's a bit more hassle, but it can be really important. Like apples alone, if you store them in the fridge, they can last 70 days longer than at room temperature. So, you know, it's it's not an insignificant extension to shelf life and things. So it's it's it's worth doing it.
SPEAKER_01That's massive. I would say I always keep my tomatoes on the surface because I like tomatoes that are too cold, they lose their flavour, but we go through them at the rate of knots. I don't chuck out tomatoes ever because even if they've gone a bit wrinkly, they're going to become a source for me. For our fridges, Sam, fridges we take for granted, but they are an incredible piece of equipment. Is there anything we should be doing in terms of taking care of our fridges?
SPEAKER_00Well, one thing I would encourage your listeners to do, if they only do one thing differently after this, would be to check the temperature of their fridge. So is one of the most important and one of the quickest steps you can take. Domestic fridges should be set to between zero and five degrees Celsius. But we know that in the UK, the average fridge temperature is roughly seven degrees C. So, in short, our fridges are too warm, and then that means that our food is spoiling faster than it should be. Right. But it can be quite tricky to understand fridges and know how to change a fridge temperature. You might have one fridge and you turn the dial one way, and then the bigger number means that it gets colder, and you might see a different fridge, and the bigger number means that it gets warmer. But we've got your covers. If you check out the chill your fridge out tool on the Love Food Hate Waste website, so lovefoodhate waste.com.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And then there's a chill your fridge out tool, and then that has guidance that is specific to all of the main UK fridge brands, and it will tell you like these are the dials that you can expect to see on your fridge. This is how you can change it and set it to the right temperature. Fantastic. It's one immediate simple tip and act, but it kind of gives ongoing impact and makes it easier for you to get through your food before it spoils just from a one-off thing that you've done.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I love that. Just a simple once, every now and again, check the temperature, alter it once, benefit from it day after day after day, and then go to your tool which speaks fridge, and it will tell you which way to turn your dial. And we can just make sure that in that one action we can reduce the amount of waste by keeping our food fresher for longer in the fridge.
Fridge Habits That Prevent Spoilage
SPEAKER_01I know there's a lot of etiquette around fridges, like the glass door fridges where you can see through them. The reason for that is to reduce waste, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um there's there's loads of things you can do as well. The first one, it's fairly obvious, but just try to keep the fridge door closed as much as possible. So when you're making a cup of tea or something, just close it in between. Don't just leave it open while you're making it. So we're just keeping that cool air in as much as possible. One that is quite important, but don't keep your milk in the fridge door. That's the warmest part of the fridge. Um, so instead, maybe store jars and sauces there.
SPEAKER_01And that would reduce our milk spoiling because the milk was really high on that list. So if we can move the milk to a different part of the fridge, it stands a chance of lasting longer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Brilliant. I would also say just try and get into the habit of checking what you've got of your fridge and getting to the point where if you find something that is coming close to the point of it needing to be thrown away, use it at that point rather than leaving your audit too late and then suddenly it's destined for the bin.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a really good idea for getting into the habit of maybe once a week, even once a month, just going through and saying, Do I know what's in here? So it's one of those cases where you do need to physically go in, check what's there, and it could instantly save you from wasting something just by looking.
SPEAKER_00A way that can help with that as well is consider having a use up shelf or a portion of the fridge where when you know something is coming close to the date or whatever, and then you can just move it there.
SPEAKER_01Brilliant.
Part Two Teaser And Goodbye
SPEAKER_01We'll be back for a bonus episode next week with the concluding part of Sam's interview, which has some surprising ways to make your food last longer. Every subscribe helps me reach more people, so thank you to everyone hitting the subscribe button. I'll be back with more tips. So until next time, happy cooking.