Households have been urged to spend Boxing Day making use of Christmas dinner leftovers amid figures suggesting food waste will cost a family of four an average of £1,000 this year.
Households are expected to throw away around 85,000 tonnes of edible Christmas food this festive season alone, according to estimates from the Waste and Resources Action Program (Wrap) and the Office for National Statistics.
Every year, UK households generate around 16 million tonnes of CO2 from consumable food and drink waste, Wrap said.
Throughout the year, almost 40% of food waste is due to not being used on time, either because people think the product smells bad, looks bad or because it has passed its expiration date, according to a study by the organization.
Every year, UK households throw away 480,000 tonnes of potatoes, or 41% of all potatoes purchased.
Wrap has urged households to store potatoes (and all other uncut fruits and vegetables, except onions, bananas and whole pineapples) in the refrigerator at 5°C or lower.
It also reminded consumers that foods past their best-before date are safe to eat for days, months or even years afterward, and that people should use their own judgment to decide whether their food is edible.
However, “sell by” labels refer to safety and foods should not be consumed after this date.
Wrap chief executive Catherine David said: “A third of all the food we grow is wasted, and this is especially noticeable at Christmas, a time when we want to throw a feast, but at the same time household budgets are especially tight.
“We can make our money go further and protect our planet's precious resources this Christmas by making sure we make the most of our leftovers and follow Love Food Hate Waste's simple tips and tricks to make sure we love our food, hate our waste and ensure that as much food as possible ends up on people's plates and in their stomachs.”
Circular Economy Minister Mary Creagh said: “More than half of food waste happens in our homes, so reheating more roasts and preparing traditional turkey curry can save money and reduce carbon emissions.
“Along with the Government's £13.5 million grants to food charities to redistribute 19,000 tonnes of surplus food from farms, small changes can make the Christmas food shop go further and end up in the freezer and not the food waste bin.”
The focus on food waste comes as appliance brands launch built-in artificial intelligence tools to help consumers use the contents of their refrigerators and freezers.
Hisense's ConnectLife app now features Dish Designer, which uses AI to create personalized recipes from the contents of your refrigerators and freezers, a feature similar to Samsung's Bespoke AI refrigerator-freezers that have touchscreens that generate recipes, largely by scanning what's inside the refrigerator.
Hisense's Dish Designer can customize recipes based on households' dietary needs, and members can add products in the refrigerator and cupboards to an “inventory,” which is used to generate recipes.
Hisense said approximately 30,000 recipes in total had been generated across Europe since the launch of Dish Designer in May.
Of these, around 12,000 recipes were generated in the United Kingdom.
Wrap recipes for leftovers can be found online at 20 Tasty Recipes to Use Up Holiday Leftovers from Love Food Hate Waste.
