With the cost of living rising all the time, we know that a lot of families are looking for ways to cut down how much they spend during this festive period. If you’re wondering how to save money on your festive meals, you’ve come to the right place.
We’ve pulled together a few tips to help you freeze your festive food bills and make sure you’re not wasting food this Christmas:
Did you know the average UK household bins more than half the food bought for Christmas? The top five festive foods we’re most likely to waste are cheese, biscuits, chocolate, vegetables and mince pies.
It can be difficult to calculate the food you’ll need. But wasting food wastes money. It’s as simple as that. So only buy what you’ll eat this Christmas.
Don’t worry – festive meal planning is what you need to do to keep your bills on budget while enjoying the festive period fully.
The planning involves knowing the number of guests for your meals, their dietary requirements and estimated portions, look for ingredients you already have at home, and more. Head to Love Food Hate Waste for more details on meals planning.
After buying all the food you need for the festive meals, make sure you know how to keep them so they’ll last as long as possible. Use your freezer to extend your food’s shelf life throughout Christmas – most of the festive foods can be frozen including vegetables, cheese, milk, cranberries and cakes.
Learn how to store different kinds of food from Love Food Hate Waste.
Need some inspirations to spice up your festive menus? You can find recipes for Christmas and Hanukkah on BBC Food.
If there are leftovers, remember to store them properly to keep them fresh. Make use of the leftovers to create delicious meals over the holidays such as turkey curry, vegetable pies, warming soups, and many more – check out more ideas from Hubbub.
You can also split the leftovers with your family, friends, or even share with neighbours – let’s spread the joy and help reduce food waste this festive period.
And finally, if you’re dealing with non-avoidable food waste, please recycle them in your food caddy or food and garden bin at home. They will be turned into compost in Greater Manchester – find out more about what happens to your food and garden waste.
You can also learn more general tips on reducing your food waste from our Buy Keep Eat Repeat campaign.
C’mon Greater Manchester, it’s time to get #InTheLoopGM ♾️ Liz has been doing her bit for years. Every time she recycles a steel can, she knows it’ll be back in someone’s hands in no time Get in the loop - youtube.com/watch?v=7chq4I… pic.twitter.com/u1uzBd3LOX
