Too Good To Go, the social impact company behind the world’s largest marketplace for surplus food, is sharing some top tips on how to reduce your environmental impact and making sure you get the most from your grocery shop.
Since its launch in Ireland in 2022, Too Good To Go has made a significant impact in the fight against food waste, garnering a user base of 530,491. The app successfully saved 511,817 bags of food in 2023 in Ireland alone and an additional 953 new partners came on board, including Aldi and Supervalu, bringing the current number of retailers, bakeries, cafés, and restaurants to 1,800. The most active counties using the app are Dublin and Galway.
Sophie Trueman - Country Director of the world’s largest surplus food app Too Good To Go – has put together top tips to save food from going to waste:
Put a damp tea towel in with greens, like spinach or salad leaves - The moisture-wicking material stops excess moisture from causing the spinach to deteriorate prematurely.
Store carrots and celery in water - The water keeps the water content of carrots high, ensuring they stay crisp and fresh.
Be mindful of which foods you store together - Certain produce items release chemicals which can speed up the ripening for other fruits and veggies. For example, the moisture and gases released by onions cause potatoes to speed up their sprouting process, so while both veggies should be stored in the same conditions (room-temperature, dark, ventilated areas ), they should be stored as far apart as possible.
Remove the tops straight away - Sometimes, root vegetables like carrots or beetroots come with the top still attached. These draw away moisture from the root part of the vegetable, causing it to wrinkle and wilt more quickly. As soon as you get the veggies home, remove the leafy tops and set them aside to be chopped into a salad, boiled into a stock, or whizzed into a pesto or smoothie.
Store raw vegetables in water to keep their crunch - Certain vegetables like carrots, celery or cucumber can go soft if left for a while. To avoid this, simply chop into sticks and place in a jar of cold water in your fridge (make sure it’s airtight ). Just remember to change the water every day or so to maintain the freshness. Top tip: this hack also works to revive vegetables that have already softened.
Too Good To Go shares eight ways to reduce waste at home:
Plan ahead so you only buy what you need - Plan your meals for the week in advance so you know exactly what you need to buy. Write a shopping list and then stick to it when you’re in the supermarket - try not to be sucked in by impulse buying.
Explore your options - Food-saving apps like Too Good To Go are a great way to enjoy meals from favourites in your area all at a lower price, as they are saved from going to waste! Simply download Too Good To Go and choose your location to see what variety of food options are available.
Make use of the whole ingredient - Embrace the chance to explore new ways of working with ingredients. Why not have a go at making a broccoli pesto using the broccoli stalks that you’d usually throw away, or keeping the peel on your potatoes when you’re mashing them? Little changes like these really can make all the difference.
Don’t discount fruit and veg based on how it looks - Don’t judge food by its appearance. Oddly shaped or bruised fruits and vegetables are often thrown away because they don’t look ‘perfect’ but in reality, they taste exactly the same. Even those more mature fruit and vegetables are perfect for smoothies or juices.
Check your fridge temperature - Keeping your fridge at the correct temperature is also key for keeping your food fresh. Setting it at below 5°C is ideal for extending the life of perishable foods like milk or yoghurts.
Understand date labels and trust your senses with ‘best before’ dates - There’s a big difference between ‘best before’ and ‘use-by’ dates. Often food is still safe to eat after the ‘best before’ date, whereas it’s the ‘use-by’ date that indicates when it’s no longer safe to eat. Before throwing out food that’s past its ‘best before’ date, make sure you use your senses to look, smell and taste whether it’s actually gone off.
Take care with your portion sizes - Previous research carried out by Too Good To Go found that 23% of us throw away food at home because there is too little left to save on their plates. To counteract this, try to find your own hacks for measuring food so that your portion sizes work for you. For example, a standard builder’s mug of rice is usually enough to serve four adults when cooked.
When in doubt, freeze - The oldest trick in the book! Virtually anything can be frozen if you don’t think you’re going to be able to eat it in time. Batch-cooking meals to keep in the freezer for a later date is a great way to make sure your fresh ingredients can still get used while they’re at their best.
