How To Make Your Food Last Longer | Top Tips and Tricks

Dani Venn shares her tips to get the most out of your shop, and stop wasting money or contributing to food waste.

Find yourself in the supermarket (or these days on the Coles/Woolies website) just randomly picking up fruits, veggies and other perishable items in the hope they'll just magically form a recipe once you're home?

You're living life on the edge, without a shopping list and dedicated plan.

While this is perfectly normal, in fact one GLAD study found that 30% of Aussies do this, it's no surprise that it leads to more food waste, which is a major problem for both the planet and our wallets.

The reality is, there are many ways you can preserve your food to give it a longer life. Some of our most common food items have other uses, so no part of a fruit or vegetable should have to go in the bin! Everything from orange peels and potato skins to fish heads and even used coffee grounds has a second life.

To help you start making some positive changes to your food waste habits (and help give the planet and your savings a boost in the meantime), here are some of my top tips and tricks:

#1 Don't throw away your stale bread; revive it

It may seem like a simple tip, but so many people tend to forget that your stale bread doesn't have to go straight to the bin. You can revive it with a simple ingredient, water! If you find your bread's shelf life is almost up, try running water on it and pop it in the oven for 6-10minutes. You'll soon have fresh bread to enjoy!

You can also maximise the duration of your bread by popping any leftover slices you have into a reseal bag (Glad have 50% plant based ones, which are recyclable through REDcycle) in the freezer to keep them fresher for longer.

#2 Growing your own herbs

You can significantly reduce the amount of food you waste and save some money by growing your own herbs in your backyard or the kitchen. Naturally, herbs make any dish tastier, but they can be expensive to buy, and a lot of the time, you may only use half of what you initially purchased.

Growing your own herbs means you will have fresh ingredients to use on hand and can snip as much as you need for your dish and reduce any excess waste.

#3 Reduce food waste with a sustainable shopping list

Now and then, we have all been impulse purchasers. To reduce food waste, you can prepare a sustainable shopping list by planning your meals, checking what you have in your cupboards/fridge and only buy the ingredients you need.

By creating a sustainable shopping list, this will help you reduce food waste by only buying the essential ingredients and ultimately decreasing how much food you throw away.

#4 Preserve seasonal produce

As new seasons start, it is exciting to cook with fresh and unique produce; however, it can be challenging to use up all excess ingredients before they go off.

One way you can reduce wasting your seasonal produce is by preserving them. A great way to enhance the flavour of your in-season fruits and vegetables is simply adding a pinch of salt, vinegar, or spices. This allows you to enjoy your favourite foods all year round.

#5 Love your leftovers

Last night's dinner can seem boring, making you feel like you've been there/done that already, but what is so great about your leftovers is that they can make quick, easy, and delicious meals.

By adding a simple staple ingredient like rice or pasta to your leftovers, you can create an entirely new meal that excites your taste buds.

#6 Restore your wilted lettuce with water

Lettuce usually wilts once it loses its moisture and becomes dry. You can bring your lettuce back to life and have it lasting a little longer is by soaking the leaves in ice water for 30 minutes.

This will revive your gorgeous greens and give you crunchy, fresh salad! This trick also works really well with cut veggies and carrot sticks!

#7 Store your potatoes and onions in ventilated bags

Ingredients such as potatoes, onions or winter squashes should be kept out of the fridge and store only in a cool, dry, and well-ventilated space like the pantry.

If you don’t have enough room in your pantry, you can keep them in their original packaging as this will help them last longer. Often you will find when you purchase your potatoes or onions, they will be stored in bags that have holes which prevents them from spoiling. Whatever you do, store your onions and potatoes away from each other; as the gas from the onions will make the potatoes sprout and spoil faster.

These tips and hacks are a great way to preserve your ingredients, reduce the amount of food you waste at home, and, most importantly, help protect our environment! If you enjoyed some of my easy tips and tricks, you can find further ways to reduce food waste by visiting the GLAD® tips and tricks hub on their website.

Dani Venn is a mum of two and is a lover of cooking where; she enjoys sharing her simple tips and wholesome recipes to share how you can feed your family with nourishing, tasty food. Dani Venn was also a former contestant on MasterChef for two seasons.