COVID-19 has impacted every aspect of our lives, including our relationship with food. Spending more time at home has seen an influx of bread baking, veggie patches coming to life and the sharing of many meals around the dining room table. Our relationship with food is changing – and for the better.  

More Australians are shopping consciously and purposefully, and making what they’ve got go further. From checking the pantry and fridge before shopping, to planning meals and writing a list and asking where the food has come from. One thing is clear – people are thinking more about food. This is great news for food waste, as when we value our food, we are much less likely to waste it!    

During the height of the pandemic, our social feeds were flooded with handmade pasta, freshly baked sourdough and trial and error dumpling efforts. When we experiment with food, we learn new skills and recipes and create greater confidence in the kitchen, which is crucial for reducing our food waste! 

Food connects us all and these challenging times have taught us how special it is to share a meal and draw happiness from it. Sharing meals with loved ones makes us value food and the special moments it creates.

Whilst this is great news, there is still a long way to go before we solve the issue of food waste. We are still wasting over 7.3 million tonnes of food each year, costing our economy $20 billion. Let’s take the silver linings from the pandemic by reinforcing our new food habits and embed what we have learnt into our everyday lives, to tackle household food waste.

We are all part of the solution.

To find out more, head to www.fightfoodwaste.org.