Case Study - Annette Richards

She has transformed her shopping habits and now always makes a shopping list, which takes into account a rough idea of what dish they are going to eat each evening during the week.  She also now buys fruit twice a week, rather than buying in bulk once a week, so that they don’t end up being left with fruit that has gone off at the end of the week.  Annette has noticed that since the WRAP research took place, her supermarket shopping bill is now less than it was before.

Annette has established a routine for the family, both in terms of shopping and also cooking.  She buys enough food for five meals at the supermarket and then one night they order a takeaway and the other night they create a meal from whatever is left in the fridge – an omelette, for example.

She says that keeping a kitchen waste diary made them focus on how much food they were throwing away.  She is also conscious of portion sizes: "At the end of meals now, the plates are always completely empty.  We’ve even commented on the fact that if we had a dog, we’d have a problem because there’d be nothing left for him to eat!"

Annette celebrated her 50^th birthday earlier this year and the steps that she has taken to reduce her family’s carbon footprint by reducing food waste tied in with her determination "not to be a fat and frumpy 50-year old!"  This year has therefore seen her making a concerted effort to eat healthier food, and her husband and son now have the same mentality.  She has therefore been able to change her lifestyle, simultaneously buying healthy, fresh food and reducing her food waste.