LONDON, June 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- As Food Waste Awareness Week Starts, Ocado Reveals That Brits Throw Away Enough Food at Dinnertime to Feed 19 million.

The kitchen is the heart of the home but over-enthusiastic Brits are cooking up enough food at mealtimes to lay an extra place at the table in every one of the nation's homes(1). This waste food could feed the British Army 51 times over(2).

Much of the food waste is borne from a renewed passion for cooking, discovers Ocado, the independent online grocer, at the start of its inaugural Food Waste Awareness Week. A key reason identified for the waste is a lack of leftover know-how. Almost half of people (46%) enjoy satisfying foodie fantasies but more unusual ingredients - or 'one meal wonders' - like thai spices, pak choi and mangoes, are the most typical ingredients to end up in the bin instead of gracing the table. Brits seem to be stuck for clever ways to extend the usability of exotic, and sometimes expensive, fresh food.

Britain's throw-away food culture was highlighted by WRAP as producing a phenomenal GBP10bn of food waste each year. Ocado's own research published today supports this with 39% of people confessing they cook too much food at home.

Other reasons for food waste highlighted by the research are:

- people not checking what they already have in the cupboard/fridge (27%) - buying in much more food than is needed (19%) - forgetting to check when a product needs to be used by so it goes off before it can be cooked with (19%) - failing to plan meals in advance (11%) - one in 10 never makes a list before food shopping

Food Waste Awareness Week highlights easy and speedy ways to reduce excess food waste in the home. To assist people in planning their food consumption, Ocado has introduced a new-look receipt which lists all fresh food - from single ingredients to chilled ready meals - by best before date. This means that shoppers can quickly see what needs to be used and when. Arthur Potts Dawson, the acclaimed eco chef who founded sustainable restaurant Acorn House, has also come on board to support the campaign and offer useful cooking and meal preparation advice to customers.

Brits do have a food waste conscience with one third (36%) 'waste worrying' about the amount of food they throw away at home and two in five (39%) people put off experimenting in the kitchen in case they can't think of inventive ways to use up more unusual ingredients.

More than a third (37%) of people throw away food as soon as it has passed its best before date as a matter of course. More than one in 10 do so even when the product still looks fresh.

Awareness of food waste is low with 56% of people estimating they chuck away under GBP100 a year (when the Government estimates it's closer to GBP400 per household).

Ocado's new receipt is being released on a trial basis from next month and means no more rummaging through the fridge to read labels and, the company hopes, a reduction in food waste.

Food Waste Awareness Week

To assist shoppers in thinking up smarter ways to plan their weekly meals and minimise food waste Ocado has joined forces with the leading sustainable chef Arthur Potts-Dawson who has developed a series of solutions to help shoppers meal plan.

Arthur founded the celebrated restaurant Acorn House which works with green-minded suppliers and produces zero food waste, ensuring it composts every scrap of food and feeds its roof top garden with the home made soil.

About Ocado:

Ocado's unique home delivery model does not rely upon hundreds of stores but instead fulfils orders from one distribution centre, shortening the supply chain, minimizing energy use and reducing consumer traffic, with each Ocado van keeping 40 cars off the road every day.

Independent assessment has shown that shopping with Ocado is greener than walking to the supermarket

(1) Based on 36% of respondents admitting to having food left after meals and a 1.64 average family size as per the ONS

(2) Based on stats of there being 429,500 personnel in the reserve and regular British Army forces

For more information, images and videos please call Frank PR +44(0)207-693-6999 or Ocado@frankpr.it

For more information, images and videos please call Frank PR, +44(0)207-693-6999 or Ocado@frankpr.it