With our membership scheme now launched and our community growing we wanted to explain to you exactly how it all works and how, by being a member of Bwyd Da Mon, you’re helping to reduce food waste. And what better week to start than Food Waste Action Week?

Did you know that globally we’re throwing away 17% of the food we have available to us, whether that’s from supermarkets, restaurants or at home? Food thrown away in households alone averages at 74kg per person a year globally, which is the equivalent of 493 bananas each!

Throwing this amount of food away every year is madness. Not only is it damaging the environment, but it is also sending nutritious food to landfill that could otherwise be used to make a tasty meal. This is where we come in…

Each week we collect a variety of food from local suppliers: from bread to yoghurt, from meat to fresh fruit. We aren’t collecting the last vegetable at the supermarket that nobody wants, we’re collecting a wide range of food that’s getting close to its expiry date and would otherwise be wasted unnecessarily. For some of the trickier ingredients we’ve collected, we’ve worked with a local Chef at Catch 22 on Anglesey to create delicious meals and puddings that are ready to eat once you get them home. Food3.jpg

If this isn’t sounding good enough already, the best part is that for a membership fee of £5 a week you’re getting over £20 of food every week. You’re able to live more sustainably whilst also saving yourself money.

If you’d like to become a member it’s really simple. You sign up through the website and book yourself a slot online. By booking a slot it means we’re able to keep people socially distanced and stopping you having to wait too long outside in the very unpredictable weather!

During your slot in store you’re able to pick from the food we have on the day. For anyone who’s vegetarian or vegan you can make sure you pick items that suit your diet- we want to make sure as many people as possible can be involved and help reduce food waste. There will be our lovely team of volunteers on hand to help with any questions too. Food1.jpg

With it being Food Waste Action week there is no better time to start doing what you can to help reduce food waste. We’d love you to become a member but thought we could also share some really helpful tips so you can start to make some small changes at home too.

  1. Plan your weekly meals- before you head to the supermarket have your meal plan in mind to help you avoid buying food that you won’t use. You don’t need to avoid your favourite snacks, just have an idea of the quantities you’ll need for your main meals

  2. Keep your leftovers for lunch- not only will keeping your leftovers help to reduce waste, but will also mean you have a tasty lunch (make sure any meals are stored in the fridge and reheated safely)

  3. Regrow your vegetable scraps- did you know you can regrow your avocado seed or spring onion off cuts? All you need is a cup of water (and some toothpicks for your avocado seed)

  4. The freezer is your best friend- for most foods that are reaching the end of their shelf life you can put them in the freezer to keep them for longer. You can freeze pretty much anything. Milk, meat, bread, roast potatoes, you name it you can probably freeze it. Just make sure you defrost it safely and it’s ready to cook.

We’d love to hear if there’s anything you’re doing at home to help save food waste too!

Bwyd Da Mon x