• Plan your meals for the week before heading to the supermarket. You’ll avoid overbuying, and save on impulse buys.

• Visit the Hamilton Farmers Market on Sundays for fresh, local produce.

• Try shopping at reduced-to-clear stores like Reduced to Clear on Greenwood Street or Value Mart for short-dated but still perfectly good food.

• Donate non-perishables to local food pantries or Kaivolution, which rescues surplus food and delivers it to local charities.

• Ask your whānau or flatmates before chucking out leftovers-- someone else might want them.

• Keep your fridge below 4°C and freezer below -18°C to prevent food from spoiling early.

• Use your freezer!! Leftover bread, chopped veggies, or even ripe bananas can be frozen and used later. If you know you might not be able to use an item soon, freeze it so it doesn’t go off.

• Buy “imperfect” fruit and veg at farm gate stalls or The Produce Shed on Cambridge Road. They taste just as good!

• Shop for secondhand or low-waste groceries at places like Bin Inn Dinsdale or WholeHeart on Grey Street (bring your own containers!).

• “Best Before” is about quality! You can usually eat it after this date. Give it a quick check, smell, and taste. If it seems alright, use it!

• “Use By” is about safety! Don’t eat it after this date unless frozen beforehand.

• If you have a garden, start a compost bin or worm farm. You can get discounted composting gear through Hamilton City Council’s “Love Food Hate Waste” program.

• No space? Ask a neighbour, kura, or community garden. For example, there is GoEco on Kent Street which also supports sustainable initiatives and sometimes has composting workshops.

If you’re keen to start composting but don’t quite know where to start, check out this link: https://lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz/composting-101/