Do you love food but hate wasting it? The principle is good since wasted food is wasted resources, money and effort all round, but it can be hard to get on top of this. Here are three ideas to help you tune into your growing family’s food consumption.

Plan your shopping
Planning your meals and shopping is key to cutting down on your food waste. Whether you prefer shopping once a week or every few days, plan your meals until the next time you intend going to the supermarket. Simply by writing a meal plan and shopping list before you hit the supermarket you can prevent buying unwanted and possibly wasted food - and you’re more likely to cut down your grocery bill!

Make a shopping list before you go to the supermarket and stick to it – you’ll be able to do it in aisle order after a few weeks. With planning you should see less wastage, less need for emergency meals and your supermarket shopping will take you less time.

Use your supermarket circular or go online to newworld.co.nz to identify the specials. You can even sign up to 'my New World" and get regular updates on hot offers. This can help your menu planning too as you’ll get ideas and inspiration from the deals on offer.

Storing fruit & vegetables
A fruit bowl looks good and encourages the family to eat more fruit as it’s on hand and readily available. Fill your bowl with one day of fruit portions for each member of the family, but keep the rest in the recommended storage conditions. This will stop the fruit ripening too quickly and ensure the best eating quality. Top up the bowl from the stored fruit to keep the appropriate amount ready for eating.

Bananas and kiwifruit are great for ripening other fruits as they produce the gas ethylene that promotes ripening. If you want to ripen other fruit like peaches, plums or avocadoes, place them in a bag with some bananas or kiwifruit.  To avoid other fruit in the fruit bowl ripening too quickly remember to place your bananas and kiwifruit away from the bowl.

A wide range of fruit and vegetables such as apples, broccoli, carrots and grapes will keep fresher for longer when refrigerated in a plastic bag or their original packaging.

• Mushrooms should be kept in the fridge in a paper bag (not a plastic bag).
• Potatoes and onions should be stored in a cool dry place away from sunlight.
• Store bananas, tomatoes, mango, papaya and pineapple in a cool place but don’t refrigerate them.

Leftovers
With the best will in the world, you'll still have leftovers, but you can plan your meals around these. For example, when cooking rice cook a double quantity and use the rest the next day for fried rice, or when cooking mashed potatoes use the leftovers to make fishcakes or shepherd’s pie.

You’ll also have fresh products that don’t get used as planned – here the freezer is your best friend! Grate the end of blocks of cheese and freeze ready for toppings or add to mashed potato; whiz up stale bread to breadcrumbs and freeze ready for crumbing fish or putting in burgers and meatloaf; freeze herbs or leftover wine in ice cube trays and add to stews and casseroles.

Leftovers are a great incentive to get creative in the kitchen. For example, use the leftover chicken meat from a roast chicken in risotto or sandwiches the next day; use over ripe fruit in baking or smoothies or cook it up and add to your breakfast cereal. If you like these ideas, there are plenty more at http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/

New World encourages customers to always remember basic food safety rules:

• Cool down hot food by covering and placing on the bench to cool slightly then put it in the fridge (putting a saucepan of really hot food in the fridge will raise the temperature of your fridge).
• Do not re-freeze previously frozen foods.
• When reheating food ensure it’s piping hot.
• Remember the 4 C’s - cook, chill, cover and clean.

Be careful how long you store leftovers in the fridge for. For guidance visit the New Zealand Food Safety Authority website nzfsa.govt.nz or call 0800 NZFSA1 (0800 693 721).

Endorsed by our New World Nutritionist  ||   Proudly Partnering with Parents Centre

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