Lesson video

Hello, I'm Mr. Ballam.

Thanks very much for choosing this lesson.

This lesson is all about reducing food waste.

So let's get started, shall we? So what are we going to learn by going through this lesson? Well, you're going to be able to list the different ways that you, your family and others can reduce food waste when cooking.

That's really important for us and the planet.

Let's look at some keywords that we're going to use in today's lesson, shall we? Well, the first one is food waste and that is food that is intended to be eaten, but then is wasted, it's thrown away.

The second word is home and this is the place where people live.

The third word is food storage and this is keeping food safe to eat, for example, in a cupboard, a fridge or a freezer.

And the last word is compost and this is decaying food and vegetables used for growing plants.

So these are the four words that we're gonna be focusing on today in the lesson.

So let's get started.

And the first part of the lesson is the food waste problem.

Now, food waste is a big problem across the whole world, not just in the UK.

And it's estimated around about 20% of all the food that is produced is wasted.

Imagine that, that's a huge amount of food that's thrown away.

And homes around the world waste over one billion meals every day.

That's a huge amount.

Now, how big is one billion? It's a big number, isn't it? Well, here's it written, one billion and one billion is 1000 million and this is what it looks like.

So it's a one with nine zeros.

It's a huge number and one billion meals are thrown away every day.

Now, hunger is also a big problem in the world and it's estimated around about 735 million people go hungry globally every day.

And the food wasted from homes is the same as giving those people that are hungry round about 1.

3 meals every day.

So that's something that we can all do.

Now, just to put that into context about how many people are hungry, it's the same as all the people in the UK multiplied by 10.

So imagine all the people living in the UK, but 10 of them and that's all the people in the world that are hungry today.

So let's have a quick check, shall we? So how many meals are wasted around the world each day? A, B or C? Well done, that's right, it's one billion.

One billion mils are wasted every day around the world.

Well done.

Now, food waste happens at all stages of the farm to fork chain.

So for example, food waste happens in farming.

It also happens when we process the food.

Also happens in the shops where we buy our food.

It also happens in restaurants where people cook food for us and we eat it and also, we waste food at the home.

So it starts off with the farming where the food is produced and runs all the way through to the home.

And that's food waste everywhere.

And what's interesting is that most food waste happens in the home.

Can you believe that? So in the UK, about 60% of food waste comes from just the home.

So it's a big problem that we have.

And on average, this is the same as every home throwing away eight meals every week.

It's a big problem, isn't it? Do you have food waste at home? I'm sure most of us do throw away some food, but we do need to be careful not to throw away as much as we do.

So let's have a quick check, shall we? So food waste happens mostly outside the home.

Is that true or false? Yes, that's false, isn't it? And why is that? Well, we know that food waste happens mostly in the home.

Around 60% of all the food wasted in the UK comes from our homes.

Well done if you got that correct.

So a lot of the food that we could have eaten is wasted for different reasons and those reasons might include us buying, cooking and serving too much of the food for example.

So like Sam's saying here, "We should write a shopping list," so we only buy what we need.

And a bit like Izzy's saying here, that we should only cook what we need to.

So we need to plan what we buy, what we cook and what we serve.

It also might include not eating the food itself as well and this might just be too that people don't like the food that's being served and maybe you should have asked what I like.

That's a good thing.

Or perhaps it's too much.

Perhaps somebody serves you too much food and you just can't eat it, so the food is wasted.

Another reason might be that the food isn't stored properly at home.

If you look in this fridge here, the food isn't stored very well at all.

There's all sorts of things open and it means the food won't be safe to eat.

So we need to make sure food is stored in the right place, so it's good to eat.

So let's have a quick check, shall we? I want you to pick two reasons why food is wasted in the home.

Yes, well that's one, isn't it? Cooking too much, and the other one? Yes, that's right, poor storage.

We're not storing the food correctly, so the food goes off.

Brilliant work, well done.

But reducing food waste also has other benefits.

So for example, it can save us money.

Imagine all the money that we waste by throwing away eight meals a week.

But it's also better for the planet too.

We're making better use of the food that we have and the water that we have and the resources that we have for the planet.

Plus, we should also recycle all the food packaging too.

So all the cardboard, the plastic and the glass, all of it should be recycled so we can use it again.

So here's a task for you here and I want you to match the food waste information.

So think about what's on the left-hand side and I want you to match it to the correct one on the right-hand side.

Good luck to you, I'm sure you'll do brilliantly and I'll see you very soon.

Pause the video.

Great, so let's just check how you got on, shall we? Let's do the top one first.

So 735 million, that's right, people go hungry globally.

That's a huge number, isn't it? Well done if you got that correct.

How about the next one? Around eight, yes, eight meals a week are being thrown away in each home.

The next one.

60% of food waste is in the home in the UK.

Brilliant, and the last one.

Yes, so 20% of all the food produced in the world is wasted.

Well, great work, well done.

You've done brilliantly.

So now let's move on to the second part of the lesson, which is all around reducing food waste at home.

So as we know, around 60% of food waste is in the home and there are a number of ways that are recommended where we can reduce that food waste too.

And remember, it can help us save money, as well as be better for the planet too.

So food waste can be reduced by planning ahead.

Do you remember, things like writing a shopping list and thinking about what we're going to eat? We could also store the food correctly so the food doesn't go off, it's good to eat.

And also cooking the right amount and eating everything.

So we don't cook too much rice or pasta, for example and just throw it in the bin.

And we serve just the right amount of food, so we eat everything on our plate.

And some food waste can be used for compost, such as fruit and vegetable peelings, eggshells and tea bags.

So what else can we do to reduce food waste? Well, one of the big things we can do is to plan our meals and snacks, and this helps to stop overbuying.

So we only buy what we need.

And a bit like Aisha is saying here, "We could buy loose fruits and vegetables." So rather than buying like a pack of onions that's got three or four in them and we only need one, we'll just buy one onion.

So we're not gonna waste the others.

Or we're not gonna buy a one kilogramme bag of carrots when only we need two carrots.

We could buy loose fruits and vegetables so we don't waste so much food.

So let's have a quick check, shall we? Food waste can be reduced by buying loose fruits and vegetables.

Is that true or false? Well, that's true, isn't it? And why is that? Well, buying loose fruits and vegetables means that you only buy what you need and therefore you haven't got food that's wasted afterwards.

Great work.

We can also reduce food waste by making sure that you plan to cook what people like to eat.

It makes sense, doesn't it? So we only cook what people like and sometimes it's nice to try something new, but we do need to check just so that people will eat the food and it's not wasted.

We also need to think about serving the right amount of food.

So we don't put too much on a plate.

It might be overwhelming, just too much to eat and therefore the food is thrown away.

So don't serve too much food.

It might look great, but they might just leave it.

We can also reduce food waste by being creative and just using what you have.

So we can use leftovers to make other meals for example.

So we could use leftover boiled potatoes and make a curry.

Hmm, potato curry, one of my favourites.

So it's a bit like what Jacob is saying here, he swaps ingredients in different recipes to use up leftovers.

It's a great idea.

What other ways could we use leftovers? Hmm.

If I had a leftover chicken, how could I use that? Hmm, oh yes, right, I could make chicken soup or some sandwiches or a risotto or a pasta dish.

There's so many things that we could do and we need to store the leftovers carefully so we can use 'em again in the future.

Another thing we can do is to check the date marks on food labels correctly and to make sure we know when we're gonna use it by and if we've got lots of the similar things, use the closest date first.

And if you've got lots of similar foods, make sure you use foods near their date first.

It's really important.

So for example, if I had these three different packs of cheese, which one should I use first? A, B or C? Yes, that's right, isn't it? It's B, and why B? It's because B is the nearest date, it's the earliest date, so I should use that one first.

Brilliant work, well done.

Another thing we can do is to store foods correctly, helping the foods stay safe for as long as possible.

And this might include things like putting cheese in the fridge or it might be putting cans of food in the cupboard or perhaps frozen peas in the freezer.

So we need to make sure food is stored properly so it's not wasted.

And food labels have storage instructions.

So while some of them might be obvious, we can always check the food label to see where we should store it.

And if we've got loose fruits and vegetables for example, mostly we should store them in the fridge so they're good to eat.

Now, I've already mentioned briefly that we can use food waste to make compost and we can use things like fruit and vegetables, eggshells and tea bags, but we can't use things like meat, bones or fish.

And these foods break down and decay and the compost that's left helps improve the soil and helps other plants grow.

So it's really good.

Now if you can, you should try and compost food waste at home.

You can see here there's two compost bins in a garden with all the fruit and vegetables, eggshells and tea bags, but not the meat, bones or fish.

So many homes in the UK have small food waste or compost bins.

Often, they're kept in the kitchen and these are collected with other household recycling and waste.

You can see one on the screen here.

Have you got one? Do you use it? I bet you do.

So if you have one of these in your kitchen, you should use it.

So all the fruit and vegetable peelings, eggshells and tea bags can all go in here and then they can be composted.

Let's have a quick check, shall we? So which one of these should we not compost? A, B or C? That's right, it's B, isn't it? Meat.

We should only really compost fruit and vegetable peelings, eggshells and also tea bags.

Brilliant work, you've been listening really, really well and you're working really hard.

So here's a task for you.

So what I want you to do is to write five tips for reducing food waste at home.

And I want you to explain why each tip could be helpful at home.

So in the left-hand column, put down your tip and in the next column, I want you to explain how that tip might be helpful to reduce food waste at home.

So good luck to you.

Pause the video and we'll come back and look at an example very soon.

Great, so how did you get on? I bet you did really well, didn't you? Let's look at some examples that you could have put.

I bet you've come up with some really great ideas anyway.

Well, one of the first top tips could be that we buy loose fruit and vegetables for example.

And this means that we only buy what we need so it's not wasted.

So we're not buying bags and bags of fruits and vegetables that might go off because we just don't need them.

So we're gonna buy loose vegetables.

My next top tip could be about storing the food correctly.

So this means then we can keep it so it's safe and good to eat.

So we can put cans in the cupboard.

We can put things like cheese or cooked meat in the fridge.

And we can also put frozen things, like peas, in the freezer.

So we should store food correctly and check the food labels too.

We can also use leftovers.

And why is that useful? Well, we can cook meals with leftovers or freeze things for another time and this then means that the food that's left over from a meal isn't wasted, it isn't thrown away, and we can use it to cook another day.

So we could use things like leftover chicken in curries or pasta dishes or sandwiches for example.

So we should always think about how we can use leftovers in other meals and help to reduce our food waste.

How about the next one? Ah, check the labels.

What's that one about? Why is that one helpful do you think? Yes, that's right.

So we can use foods that are near their end date first.

So we've got similar foods, we make sure we use the date that's closest to us, just so we don't have to throw it away.

And very lastly, we've got being creative, and this is all about cooking with what you have and using up the food.

So we can be creative, change the recipe and I'm sure it'll be absolutely delicious.

So let's have another quick task, shall we? So Sophia here wants to make lunch using leftovers like I've just explained.

And I want you to suggest three dishes she could make with these leftovers.

Now, you can see in the grid there are three columns running down, and I want you to pick foods from each column.

So be really creative and I want you to think about how you can use these leftovers to make three delicious meals.

Good luck to you, remember to pause the video.

Great, how did you get on? Did well, I bet.

Let's look some examples, shall we, of what Sophia could make using those leftovers.

Well, she could have made a pizza for example and she could have used the bread as the base and they could use up the tomatoes, the mushrooms and the cheese.

Hmm, oh, I bet that would be delicious.

She could make it under the grill, couldn't she? And that would be a really nice thing for lunch or a quick snack.

So she's gonna use leftovers to make a delicious pizza.

What else could have Sophia made? A stir fry, oh, delicious.

So she could have made a stir fry with noodles, chicken, mushrooms and peppers.

She can use different leftovers and she can be really creative.

How about another example? Wow, yes, a pasta salad.

A pasta salad with chickpeas, tomatoes and peppers, and maybe a little dressing too.

So here we have three different ideas how Sophia could use the leftovers she had in her house to make new delicious meals.

Brilliant work, and I'm sure you've come up with some really creative ideas too.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this lesson learning about reducing food waste and thinking about the things that you can do at home to help reduce waste, save money and help the planet too.

So let's have a quick summary of what we've learned today, shall we? Well, the first one is that we know that food waste is a really big problem around the whole world and about 20% of all the food that's produced is wasted.

That's really a big number, isn't it? Also, we've learned that 60% of the food that's wasted in the UK comes from the home.

So we really do need to do something about that.

We can use the top tips that we've learned today to help us reduce food waste.

And we can reduce that food waste by planning ahead.

Do you remember, writing a shopping list, thinking about what we're going to buy, what we're going to cook and what we're going to eat? We can also think about storing the food correctly.

So whether it's in the cupboard, the fridge or the freezer, and also checking the food labels, checking the date marks, those are really important too.

And also, we need to think about cooking and eating everything.

So we might not just eat everything at one meal, but we can use the leftovers another time.

And we also know that food waste can be used to make compost and things like fruit and vegetable peelings, eggshells and tea bags can be used.

Wow, that's brilliant work and I really hope you enjoyed this lesson all around food waste, and I'm sure you're going to do something about food waste in your home and at your school too.

So thanks ever so much for joining me and I hope you come back for another cooking and nutrition lesson very soon.

Thanks a lot, bye.