When good food is thrown away, it’s not just bad for our budgets, it’s bad for our planet too because the resources and energy used to grow, make and distribute the food is wasted. Food waste has a significant impact on our environment and climate, in fact currently if food waste was a country it would be the third biggest source of Green House Gases (GHGs)2.
Being more resourceful with food is a small step we can all take to improve the health of the planet, but it’s not always that easy. No one ever sets out with the intention of throwing good food in the bin, but life gets in the way. Plans change. Food that was meant to be eaten on Saturday is still sitting there on Thursday, and many people don’t know how to turn seemingly unrelated ingredients left in their fridge into a tasty meal.
That’s why our Hellmann’s team are on a longstanding mission to reduce food waste by inspiring a love for leftovers and helping people to understand the action they can take to be more resourceful with their food.
Cook Clever, Waste Less
Our Hellmann’s team has partnered with Channel 4 to commission a new food waste series ‘Cook Clever, Waste Less’, the first branded sustainability focused entertainment show of its kind, bringing Hellmann’s and their food waste mission to the homes of millions of people across the UK. The series will help raise nationwide awareness of the impact food waste has on our planet as well as inspiring the behaviour change and action needed to tackle the issue at scale.
Each episode will follow a family’s journey from Food Wasters to Food Warriors. Britain’s best loved cooks, Prue Leith and Dr Rupy Aujla, will work with a family each week to understand how food is wasted in their household and teach them easy-to-make recipes which use kitchen cupboard staples and a budget friendly approach.
Fikerte Woldegiorgis, Marketing Director, Foods Unilever UK & Ireland, said, "At Hellmann’s, we believe food is simply too good to waste which is why we wanted to get involved with ‘Cook Clever, Waste Less with Prue & Rupy’. We’ve been on a mission to help households across the UK cut down on food waste by providing them with simple hacks and tips to get the most out of what’s in their kitchen cupboards, and this show helps us do that in an entertaining way that resonates with people.”
Find out more about the ‘Cook Clever Waste Less’ series and how you can watch it here on the Hellmann’s website.
Food Waste Hacks
A recent study by Hellmann’s has found tackling food waste at home doesn’t require people to make big changes to long-held habits in terms of how they buy, store and cook food. It can be done with small, simple steps that involve very little time, skill and effort.
To help more people kickstart their own food waste mission, Hellmann’s has created a free ‘Food Waste Hacks’ handbook. The handbook includes the basics for reducing food waste as well as some easy kitchen hacks, such as batch cooking and meal planning tips, with some exclusive recipes developed by Dr Rupy Aujla which use Hellmann’s mayonnaise to transform the most wasted foods in the UK into delicious meals.
Our Food Waste Ambitions
As well as using the reach of our brands, such as Hellmann’s, to help people reduce food waste in their homes, we’ve been working hard to reduce food waste in our direct operations too. In our recent Future Foods announcement, Unilever committed to halving the food waste across our operations from factory to shelf by 2025.
In the UK & Ireland, we’ve significantly reduced our food waste through redistribution to charities and re-using food waste in energy conversion, as well as helping the food industry to reduce food waste in hospitality kitchens across the UK too.