Households urged to spend Boxing Day using up Christmas leftovers

Households are set to throw away around 85,000 tonnes of edible Christmas food this festive season alone, Wrap has estimated.

Some 85,000 tonnes of edible Christmas food is expected to be thrown away this festive season (Alamy/PA)

Households have been urged to spend Boxing Day using up Christmas dinner leftovers amid figures suggesting food waste will cost a family of four an average of £1,000 this year.

Households are set to throw away around 85,000 tonnes of edible Christmas food this festive season alone, according to estimates from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) and the Office for National Statistics.

Some 16 million tonnes of CO2 are generated by UK homes from wasted consumable food and drink each year, Wrap said.

Throughout the year, almost 40% of food waste happens because it is not used in time – either because people think the product smells or looks off or it is past its date label, a study for the organisation found.

Each year, UK households threw out 480,000 tonnes of potatoes – or 41% of all potatoes bought.

Wrap has urged households to store potatoes – and all other uncut fruit and vegetables except for onions, bananas and whole pineapples – in the fridge at 5C or below.

It also reminded consumers that food past its ‘best before’ date is safe to eat for days, months or even years afterwards, and people should use their own judgment to decide if their food is edible.

However, ‘use by’ labels refer to safety, and food should not be eaten past this date.

Wrap chief executive Catherine David said: “A third of all the food we grow is wasted, and it’s so noticeable at Christmas, a time when we want to put on a feast, but at the same time household budgets are particularly stretched.

“We can make our cash go further, and protect our planet’s precious resources, this Christmas by ensuring we make the most of our leftovers and follow Love Food Hate Waste’s simple tips and tricks to ensure we love our food, hate our waste, and make sure as much food as possible goes onto people’s plates and into their tummies.”

Circular economy minister Mary Creagh said: “Over half of food waste happens in our homes so reheating extra roasties and making the traditional turkey curry can save money and cut carbon emissions.

“Together 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 not the food waste caddy.”

The focus on food waste comes as appliance brands launch built-in AI tools to help consumers use up the contents of their fridges and freezers.

Hisense’s ConnectLife app now features Dish Designer, which uses AI to create customised recipes from the contents of its fridges and freezers – a similar feature to Samsung’s Bespoke AI fridge freezers which have touchscreen displays that generate recipes, largely by scanning what is inside the fridge.

Hisense’s Dish Designer can personalise recipes depending on households’ dietary requirements, and members can add products in the fridge and cupboards to an ‘inventory’, which is used to generate recipes.

Hisense said approximately 30,000 recipes had been generated in total across Europe since Dish Designer launched in May.

Of these, around 12,000 recipes were generated in the UK.

Wrap’s leftovers recipes can be found online at 20 Tasty Recipes for Using Up Christmas Leftovers from Love Food Hate Waste.