Households spend on average €700 a year on food that is thrown away
Do you love to cook, but hate to waste food? Does meal planning and food shopping give you a headache? Or do you find yourself binning bread, salads or meat far too often?
Today sees the launch of a series of mini-cookery programmes aiming to help guide and encourage people to plan meals more efficiently in order to prevent food waste. The mini-cookery series will air on YouTube as part of European Week of Waste Reduction 18th – 25th November, 2018 and will inspire viewers with easy-to-make, delicious recipes peppered with hints and tips to reduce food waste.
In five minutes or less, each mini-programme presents the instructions for cooking a gorgeous meal complete with a dollop of friendly advice and useful check lists on planning, shopping, food storage, leftovers and, of course, cooking. See introduction to series on https://youtu.be/nQr-IW6oJws
The series is the initiative of the four Dublin local authorities* and is part of a range of activities happening in the greater Dublin area, as part of TriFocal, an EU-wide project designed to address food waste in cities. The series features Smart Store Cooking, an economic and time efficient household food plan devised by friends Mary Louise Ward and Eimear McClusker.
“Busy juggling family and work commitments too often leads to a lack of dinner planning and surplus groceries being purchased. We love easy recipes, with interchangeable core ingredients, along with handy checklists, to avoid pointless shopping and reduce food waste” commented Mary Louise Ward, “The recipes we’ve featured in this series include Stove-Top Chicken Casserole, tasty Chilli Beef, vegetarian Sweetcorn Chowder, and almost effortless Honey-Roast Salmon. These are family favs in our houses, real comfort food.”
Hugh Coughlan, co-ordinator of the Eastern-Midlands Regional Waste Office, which is overseeing the Dublin phase of the TriFocal project commented “On average, in Ireland we waste €700 per household per annum on food. This represents not just a waste of food, but a waste of the resources, such as time, labour, water, energy and transport that go into getting that food to our kitchens. In addition, as wasted food breaks down, it releases the same gases that cause global warming, so the more food we waste as a nation, the more we contribute to climate change. But with a few small changes in how we buy, store and think about our food, we can make a big difference, reducing food waste, saving resources and money and helping to mitigate climate change”.
ENDS
For further information contact:
Dublin City Council Media Relations Office T. (01) 222 2170 M. 087 740 0277
Or Dr. Joanne Rourke, Resource Efficiency Officer, EMWRO M: 087 174 5477
Notes to the Editor:
*The four Dublin Local Authorities are Dublin City Council, South Dublin County Council, Fingal County Council and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.
EMWRO: The Eastern Midlands Waste Regional Office (EMWRO), is responsible for the implementation of the Region’s Waste Management Plan. This plan is underpinned by National and European waste legislation and this work will ensure the continued management of waste in a safe and sustainable manner. The EMWRO is managed by Dublin City Council, as the lead authority for the waste region. www.emwr.ie
TriFocal Project: TRiFOCAL London – Transforming City FOod hAbits for Life, is an initiative being led by Resource London – the partnership between WRAP and LWARB – together with Groundwork London. The organisations won a bid with the LIFE programme of the European Commission to deliver the €3.2million initiative in London, which will be a test bed for other European cities. http://trifocal.eu.com/about-trifocal/
EWWR: The European Week for Waste Reduction 18th to 25th November, 2018 is an initiative aiming to promote the implementation of awareness-raising actions about sustainable resource and waste management during a single week. It encourages a wide range of audiences (public authorities, private companies, civil society as well as citizens themselves) to get involved.
http://www.ewwr.eu/en/project/main-features
Smart Store Cooking: Mary Louise Ward and Eimear McCusker have been friends for many years and each share a passion for cooking. Busy juggling family and work commitments too often led to a lack of dinner planning and surplus groceries being purchased each week. Frustrated with the chaos and waste Mary Louise and Eimear created SMART STORE COOKING, an economic and time efficient plan for simple preparation of weekly meals. Easy recipes, with interchangeable core ingredients, along with handy checklists, avoid pointless shopping and reduce food waste.