British families throw away £700 worth of food a year amid the food waste crisis, according to Laura Tobin

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Good Morning Britain star Laura Tobin has revealed that the average British family household throws away £700 worth of food every year and an average of six full meals a week

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GMB: Laura Tobin breaks down in tears over climate change

Laura Tobin has released a series of shocking statistics on food waste in the UK as she revealed that the average British family throws away an average of six full meals a week.

The British Good Morning star, 40, shared the worrying numbers in her brand new book on climate change – Every Day Ways To Save Our Planet.

In recent years, the ITV star has been a huge advocate for green and sustainable living.

Throughout the pages of her informative new book, Laura has shared hundreds of hacks and tips to encourage others to make small changes in their daily life routines to help save the planet.

And one of their biggest concerns is food waste – and the detrimental impact it is having on the entire planet.

“Frighteningly, British households throw away an average of six meals a week,” explains Laura in her book.

“Yes, part of that is peel and leftovers, but a lot is food that’s past its prime, food we don’t like, and leftovers we don’t want.

“Food waste alone accounts for more than 10% of all global greenhouse gas emissions (that’s four times more than flying). Because when food ends up in a landfill, it releases harmful methane gas into the environment, which not many of us think about when we scrape food off our plates.

“But it’s not just the greenhouse gas emissions from rotting food that we need to think about here – throwing away all that food is a waste of all the resources needed to grow, transport, pack and prepare it.”

Laura went on to encourage families to really think about what goes into food production and the chain of events that lead up to the produce ending up in the fridge.

The GMB host wrote: “Think of the whole process. Our food is planted or born, then fed and watered as it grows, before being harvested or slaughtered, usually using machines. They are then shipped to storage before being bagged and shipped back to grocery stores.

“In stores it may need to be refrigerated, then we travel to buy the food, take it home and keep it in our fridges.

“If the food spoils before we even use it, ALL the energy (greenhouse gases) and resources have been wasted. It’s really sad when you think about it. And if we cook it (and use more energy) and then throw it away because we made too much or didn’t like it, we can add even more emissions to the pile.”

In her book, Laura shares a range of shocking statistics on food waste in the UK, including the statistic that 9.5 million tonnes of edible food is thrown away by UK households every year.

And over the course of a year, the average British family will throw away £700 worth of groceries.

Laura says if we all stopped wasting food that could have been eaten it would have the same carbon impact as removing one in four cars from the UK’s roads.

To combat the problem, Laura suggests families across the UK plan their weekly meals to reduce food waste.

The GMB star also warns against shopping hungry to avoid buying more groceries than you normally would.

Finally, Laura recommends freezing leftovers before they spoil and using accordingly.

Laura shares frugal lifehacks as part of her new book Everyday Ways To Save Our Planet published by Mirror Books.

On the pages, Laura also offers many tips and tricks to help people save the planet by making small daily changes to their routines – including recycling and reducing the use of plastic.

Laura Tobin: Everyday ways to save our planetRRP £14.99, out April 7th and published by Mirror Books.