highest impact in reducing food waste,

Our research identified the three top behaviors with the highest impact in reducing food waste, which are also relatively easy to implement:

• Prepare a weekly meal at home that combines food needing to be used up
• Designate a shelf in the fridge or pantry for foods that need to be used up
• Before cooking a meal, check who in the household will be eating, to ensure the right amount is cooked.

Despite these actions being relatively easy, we found few Australian consumers had a "use it up" shelf in the fridge or pantry, or checked how many household members will be eating before cooking a meal. 

Experts considered a weekly "use-it-up" meal to be the most effective behavior in reducing food waste. Many consumers reported they already did this at home, but there is plenty of opportunity for others to adopt it.

Some consumers are more advanced players who have already included the above behaviors in their usual routines at home. So for those people, our research identified a further three behaviors requiring slightly more effort:

• Conduct an audit of weekly food waste and set reduction goals
• Make a shopping list and stick to it when shopping
• Make a meal plan for the next three to four days.

Our research showed a number of actions which, while worthwhile for many reasons, experts considered less effective at reducing food waste. They were also less likely to be adopted by consumers. The actions included:

• Preserving perishable foods by pickling, saucing or stewing for later use
• Making a stock of any food remains (bones and peels) and freeze for future use
• Buying food from local specialty stores (such as greengrocers and butchers) rather than large supermarkets.

Doing our bit