Cookbook to cut waste

Waipa’s Rangi Paraha and her 10-year old daughter Hinerangi. They’ve trialled Easy Choice Family Kai and give it the thumbs up.

Waipa District Council has jumped on board with a national initiative to reduce food waste going to landfill.

In Waipa around 26 per cent of what’s in household rubbish bags is food scraps.  Those bags – and the food –  ends up being dumped.

Council’s waste minimisation officer Sally Fraser said given the cost of food, people were literally “throwing money away”.  And because of waste collection costs people were being hit twice.

“With just a bit of planning we can reduce the amount of food we buy. That cuts back on want we don’t eat and what eventually gets thrown out. That saves waste going to landfill and can make a big difference to household budgets.”
This week Waipa joined other councils and the national LoveFoodHateWaste organisation in launching a seasonal cookbook – Easy Choice Family Kai – which provides a month’s worth of non-waste recipes on a budget.  Each week’s ingredients cost around $60 for a family of six and all recipes are nutritionally balanced with plenty of healthy ingredients.

Council helped fund the cookbook through the waste levy funding it receives from the Ministry for the Environment, and that support means the cookbook can be downloaded free from Waipa’s website with limited free hard copies also available from council offices.  When LoveFoodHateWaste launched its autumn edition in April this year, the cookbook was downloaded more than 18,000 times.

Already Waipa community health worker Rangi Paraha has trialled the cookbook and says it works.

“Yes, the recipes did feed the whānau. The shopping list is very accurate, with no food waste, which is what we were aiming for.  The meals were really nice and it’s really affordable, too.”

Sally said if the cookbooks proves popular, Waipa will look at supporting other seasonal editions.

More Recent News

News ….. in brief

Olympic champs Olympic champs: Olympic champion Lucy Spoors has been taking a well-deserved break after winning a Gold medal in Paris, spending time with 2 year old son Rupert and also tying the knot. However,…

Kiwi exports rise

The number of kiwi raised at Maungatautari in Waipā and sent to new homes has reached almost 350. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the re-introduction of kiwi on Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari – four…

Hospice shop busy

When customers of a certain age wander into Cambridge Hospice Waikato Shop and into the retro section, their eyes rise longingly at the posters and memorabilia on the wall. “They’re not for sale,” manager Justine…

Tapping into Waipā

Waipā’s northern neighbours are wooing the council in an apparent effort to get the local authority to join their water services company. Discussions were held behind closed doors in Te Awamutu yesterday (Wednesday) between Hamilton,…