Latest news with #MarkBoulet
News.com.au
05-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- News.com.au
Simple trick to help save money on your food shop
That sad salad in your fridge may be saying more about your spending than you think. As grocery prices climb and budgets tighten, one wasteful habit is quietly draining Aussie wallets – and it's hiding in plain sight. A new survey has revealed cost of living has hit Aussies where they shop – yet food waste is still on the rise. The findings come from a survey of 2503 Australians by the Lighthouse Consumer Tracker: March 2025 Update, conducted exclusively by the News Corp Australia's Growth Intelligence Centre (GIC). The survey found Australians continue to waste food, with nearly one in two doing so in March (46 per cent up from 38 per cent in Jan) and everyday habits such as buying ingredients for a meal then ordering takeaway have doubled since January. One in four surveyed spent money on lunch instead of bringing it from home, while buying ingredients for dinner then deciding to order in/eat out rose most in the younger generations with Gen Z up to 28 per cent in March. Senior research fellow at Monash University's BehaviourWorks Australia Dr Mark Boulet said the trends aren't surprising but there are some simple fixes Aussies can implement to help. 'There's a disconnect that's happening at the moment where the food that we throw out, we still don't associate with an actual loss,' Dr Boulet said. 'And that cost of living crisis hasn't yet translated to people actually avoiding wasting food at home.' The survey also found Aussies are turning to budget brands, loyalty programs and the freezer section in order to save some cash on groceries with one in two turning to cheaper/budget brands (49 per cent), 39 per cent using loyalty programs and rewards, one in four buying frozen items (28 per cent), and the same amount of people (25 per cent) buying in bulk. 'One growing trend we're seeing in this space is home cooks are increasingly seeking out recipes that freeze well, and the good news is we're now in the peak season for it,' Content Director at Australia's #1 cooking resource Laura Simpson said. 'Freezing salad ingredients in summer is pretty much a no-no (although our food team has a clever method for freezing avocados that really does work), but freezing dishes like slow cooker stews and bakes often has the effect of making them taste even better than the day they were cooked,' Simpson said. 'The most popular dinners on right now can all be made in batches and frozen.' Simson said her top two recommendations include slow cooker braised steak and onions, which can be served with mash, in a pie, or even with a side of veg and crusty bread, and slow cooker lamb shanks, which will freeze well for up to three months. 'I'd encourage everyone to think of their freezers as an extension of their pantries,' Simpson said. 'Just be sure to keep it in order and label things well. We've all had that moment where we've gone diving down to the bottom of the freezer to find a miscellaneous meat dish of unknown origin! Use a permanent marker, and always include the date you made the dish.' Dr Boulet stressed food behaviours are largely habitual and there's strong data showing the effects of cost of living on Australian families but that an obvious 'two birds with one stone' solution could be used to help reduce food waste and stretch shopping budgets further. 'The things people are doing like buying cheaper brands, buying frozen items which is great, buying in bulk (of which there are questions as to whether or not that actually produces food waste),' he said. 'So it's interesting that the sort of stuff that they're turning to, probably in terms of bank for buck to reduce food waste, are potentially a little bit limited.' 'I always check what's in the house before I go shopping so I don't double up on things and I'm a father of a family so we always try to cook what we are going to eat. 'So that means we measure out spaghetti and rice and all those things we try and measure that out based on who will be eating so we don't cook more than we're gonna eat,' he said. Australian of the Year Local Hero in 2023 and head of the Turbans 4 Australia charity Amar Singh has seen first hand the harsh effects of cost of living. 'We have seen a sharp decline in donations up to 50 per cent, as cost of living hurts average Aussies, it's also making donors pull their hand back,' Mr Singh said. 'We have seen the demand go up by 40 per cent across Sydney and Melbourne, people are asking for personal hygiene, sanitary products more often now. Many young families are asking for food vouchers and baby food.' The Turbans 4 Australia program is seeking community and corporate sponsors in an effort to keep providing food to those who need it. 'This cost of living crisis is only getting worse day by day, on average we will get 10-15 new people reach out for assistance.'
The Guardian
07-03-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Lunchbox lessons: how to pack a school lunch that actually gets eaten
No one with school-age children is a stranger to the drudgery of the lunchbox and chances are, at some stage along the way – possibly weekly – you've found yourself at your wits' end about what to send, not to mention what comes home. Once upon a time it was socially acceptable and not even considered a health or sustainability issue to slap some Vegemite and margarine in white bread, cover it in Glad Wrap and shove it – along with a Prima and bag of Tiny Teddies – into a plastic lunchbox. Those days are gone. Most of our kids get more nutritious lunches than we ever did, and that's great. But food waste is a serious problem. You don't necessarily need to opt for the elaborate bento boxes that have become de rigueur in recent years, but it's worth considering how we pack it and what will actually get eaten. A 2019 study estimated that each year Australian students throw away 5 million sandwiches, 3 million pieces of whole fruit and 3 million items of packaged food. Mark Boulet, the study's lead researcher, says getting kids more involved in choosing and preparing the food they bring to school is a crucial step in bringing those numbers down. The first thing parents should think about is how much food they're sending to school with children. 'Everyone wants to look after their kids but that 'just in case' food often gets wasted,' he says, adding that too often 'we give them far more than they can get through in the given time at school'. It pays to be aware then of what their eating schedule looks like: when and where your child has a chance to eat and how much time they have. Ask your kid, check in with their teacher and start to develop a suitable school day menu around that. Packing things your child is familiar with and enjoys eating is obviously a good first step, but that doesn't mean hitting the chips and choccy milk aisle. Most processed and packaged food is going to be less nutritious and will produce more waste than food you can make at home and send in reusable packaging. Of course not everyone has time or inclination to prepare homemade everything, but provided the ingredients you use aren't ultra-processed, a good old-fashioned sandwich, some fresh produce and a treat should be nutritionally adequate and limit packaging waste. Who among us doesn't remember the disappointment of a soggy tomato sanga, squishy pear or damp crackers at recess? 'If it's not stored and packaged properly it can become pretty unappealing by lunchtime,' Boulet says. He reminds us it's worth investing in the right kit (cooler bags, ice blocks and containers that don't cross-contaminate) to ensure food makes it to lunchtime as something you'd be happy to eat yourself. Every parent knows their child the best, but Boulet reckons we often do more for them than is needed – and it's good to think about what they're capable of doing themselves. Boulet's study indicates that working with kids on a reasonable shopping list for lunch and taking the time to teach them how to prepare parts of it – even if that is just putting things in the cooler-bag – is empowering and can make a big difference in how interested they are in it come lunchtime. His advice: 'Start earlier than you think.' There's not much more disgusting and infuriating than unpacking a lunchbox at day's end only to find a pile of mutilated, half-eaten scraps. But Boulet says it's imperative parents don't 'go crook when food comes home uneaten'. He says some waste is inevitable and we should encourage kids to bring home any leftovers, moderate our reactions and assess the waste together so it can be used to inform future choices. 'Have that dialogue around their tastes and what they actually feel happy and comfortable eating in the confines of the school day.' Like most things with young kids, what works for lunch is not a set-and-forget thing. 'It's never static, checking in with kids every day is important,' Boulet says. Boulet, a parent himself, says he is more than sympathetic to how tedious it can be to make school lunches a focal point of your week any more than is strictly necessary. 'The food provisioning routines in most family households are pretty tightly wired, so there's always a bit of discomfort that comes with change. But we have found that if you can sit with that for even a short period of time, you will quickly see a pretty significant change in how much food is getting wasted during the school day.' What are your strategies for reducing waste in school lunches?
