“I was walking around the supermarket and I saw all the food that was being thrown away, and I just thought it was disgusting,” says Nikki Barrett.
The mum, from Trent Vale, was so appalled she decided to do something about all that wasted food, which would still be perfectly good to eat.
Last month, she opened Affordable Foods, in Blurton, selling budget food which is past its sell-by date, but still within its use-by date. Her new shop has already proved popular with hard-up families who need to save a few pounds on their weekly food shop.
The surplus food she sells would otherwise be wasted. But millions of tons of food is still being thrown away in the UK every year – at a time when many families are forced to go to a food bank in order to put bread on the table.
According to the Food Standards Agency (FSA), 7.2 million tons of food and drink is thrown away in the UK every year – the majority of which would still be good to eat.
At the same time, the Trussell Trust estimates some 590,000 people used its foodbanks.
Around two million tons of food is thrown away from people’s homes. In fact, the FSA says the average household spends £470-a-year on food and drink, which ends up being thrown in the bin, either because families have bought too much, or have not used it in time.
Individual households can take action by being more stringent with shopping lists, or trying to make sure food is either eaten, cooked or frozen with the use-by date. There are also recipes available on the FSA’s website to help people find ways to use up food before it spoils.
Surplus food could also be donated to a foodbank.
But research also shows that the UK manufacturing and retail sector wastes 1.9 million tons of food and drink a year – 1.1 million tons of which is avoidable, according to the FSA.
That could include supermarkets disposing of unsold food that has gone past its sell-by date, or manufacturers producing more than can be sold.
It was the food she saw going to waste in a supermarket which prompted Nikki, aged 37, to set up Affordable Food.
She said: “I saw one of the staff was putting all of this out-of-date food in a box. I asked what was going to happen to it and I couldn’t believe it when she told me it was going into the bin.
“I just thought it was disgusting. When you look at how much food is going to waste every year, it is just terrible. People could use that to feed their families. As a mum, I look for reduced price food, because there’s nothing wrong with it.
“Me and my husband have always worked but, like a lot of people, we sometimes struggle. Unexpected things happen that cost money, like your washing machine breaks down. Then you have a choice between putting petrol in your car to get to work, or feeding your kids.”
Justine Nevett, aged 35, from Newcastle, said: “It is terrible to see so much food being wasted. If it can be sold at a cheap price at somewhere like Affordable Foods, that saves it from going to waste.”
Sheila Evans, aged 50, from Blurton, said: “It’s a crime to think of all that food going to waste. If it is still good to eat, it should be given to a foodbank instead of going in the bin. It is such a shame when so many people are struggling to feed their families.”
According to a report produced by Dr David Moon, of food waste experts WRAP, a target of preventing 185,000 tons of food being wasted by 2025 would save the UK economy almost £300 million-a-year.
Dr Moon has also estimated that redistributing surplus food could provide the equivalent of 360 million meals each year.