The year Australians got back to basics to appreciate food security and embrace home cooking has also produced a disturbing kitchen setback.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The thriving cook-at-home "meal kit" trend and other home delivered food buying habits during the coronavirus pandemic resulted in households actually wasting almost 13 per cent of food and groceries they bought.
According to Rabobank research, nearly a quarter of all homes increased spending on food this year, some of which was stockpiled in the pantry. But record amounts were left uneaten and tossed out.
Until the pandemic Australians had managed to reverse previous food waste trends, with annual wastage dropping almost two percentage points to 11.1 per cent in the 12 months to February 2020.
However, by September wastefulness had jumped to 12.7 per cent, taking this year's national annual household food waste bill to $10.3 billion - up from $8.6 billion in 2019.
The reason was partly due to a surge in food being prepared at home during months of coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions.
IN THE NEWS:
About 46 per cent of the almost 2400 respondents to Rabobank's twice-yearly survey believed they were throwing away more food because they had cooked at home more often, while 37 per cent were "experimenting more" with different recipes and different baking options - which clearly didn't always taste so good.
Alarmingly, individuals who used food delivery services such as home delivered takeaways or cook-at-home kits reported throwing out twice as much as those who did not rely on pre-cooked or semi-prepared menus.
Meal kit usage jumped from 28 per cent prior to the pandemic to 36 per cent by September, while the number of respondents getting any sort of meal deliveries at least once a week shot up from 9 per cent to 25 per cent.
The overall average household value of wasted food subsequently hit an all-time high of $1043.
Mr Wealands said while it was no big surprise food waste was "de-prioritised during a stressful year" when attention was on other urgent issues, Australians needed to understand the impact of minimising waste across the entire food chain was far greater than just hip pocket savings.
Although 78 per cent of respondents were annoyed when they saw food wasted, he said less than a quarter of respondents were concerned with the connection between such waste and wider environmental impacts such as water shortages, pollution or climate change.
"Our research shows consumers are working harder than ever to keep their finances in check, so it's especially important for those ordering pre-prepared meals to be mindful that unless you're using these services wisely it's bad for your wallet and bad for reducing food waste.
"If we all do our bit, we can have a huge impact on the amount of food wasted and a more sustainable future."
For faster access to the latest Newcastle news download our NEWCASTLE HERALD APP and sign up for breaking news, sport and what's on sent directly to your email.
Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
