Value Your Food

It’s worth it

It takes seeds, soil, water, love, labour, protection and patience to create the supply of food that is essential for health and nourishment. Food has value beyond the price tag. When food gets wasted it is not only money getting thrown away but also the natural resources and work that went into the production.

In partnership with Beef + Lamb New Zealand we created this video, Value Your Food watch it below or click the link.

Each day we can Love Food, Hate Waste and take action to value our food. So what can these actions look like? These are some of our tips!

Eat the whole food including the stalks and skins and Compleat it.

Have fun with the food you have and get creative. Try  harvesting your fridge. Gather all those little odds and ends that you have and turn them into a meal – no trip to the supermarket required!

Leftover pastry? With a tiny amount of time and a couple of extra ingredients you can turn uninspiring scraps into delicious treats.

What about rice? We often throw away leftover rice because we are worried about how to reheat it properly. While rice is a higher-risk food, it is safe to eat leftover rice.

Makeover your leftovers and turn them into a new meal. Try making a hearty pasta bake, or a quick stir fry with bits of leftover cooked meats and vegetables, add some noodles or leftover rice if you have some handy and make a completely new meal. Or freezer small portions of leftover and on a Sunday night bring them all out to have a “choose your own” meal where each member of the meal gets the leftover they like best!

Some waste is unavoidable, but we can still show love to them.  Have you heard about the food waste hierarchy? Read about that and tips on what you can do with non-avoidable food waste here.

Find recipes from our catalogue here.

And remember getting creative and having fun with the food you are making and reinventing is the most important thing!

We’d love to see how you value your food on social media, show us your creative fridge harvests, or your favourite ways to use up a whole ingredient, or your top tips and tricks!  Share them with us as a video or picture, and make sure to tag us @lovefoodhatewastenz on Facebook or Instagram.

Have fun with it. We can’t wait to see them!