Reduce food waste and make the supermarket trip easier with this downloadable weekly meal planner.
Some 157,400 tonnes of edible food waste go to our landfills each year, according to the WasteMINZ website, Love Food Hate Waste. That’s 86 kilogrammes of food per household per year at a cost of $644. This does not include food blitzed down the garbage disposal or home-composted. Food waste is such a large issue that Parliament’s Environment Committee is taking steps to see how New Zealand — and New Zealanders — can do better.

The top 10 foods New Zealanders wasted in 2018 were:
1. Bread 10%
2. Leftovers 8%
3. Oranges & mandarins 4%
4. Apples 3%
5. Bananas 3%
6. Potatoes 3%
7. Poultry 3%
8. Rice 3%
9. Lettuces 2%
10. Beef 2%

Creating a meal plan for the week, or at least a few days, makes it easier to buy only what’s needed and reduces the end-of-day mental load. Taco Tuesday? Meat-free Monday? Theme nights help planning, and kids tend to like the routine. Allow leeway to change the plan if necessary and only plan for four to five nights.

Download the Free Menu Plan Here

This is an extract from our special edition  In Your Backyard: Sustainability Through the Seasons.This 144 page guide is  filled with practical advice on self sufficiency ideas and ways for living a greener life 365 days a year. Order online here.