Sainsbury’s is opening a pop-up store called ‘Sainsfreeze’ designed to show customers new ways to reduce food waste by freezing food.
The food will be given away for free at the store, which will be open from 10am to 6pm on 27-28 September in Shoreditch.
Everything in the store is frozen, including fruit and vegetables, dairy, meat and baked goods.
“When people think about climate change, food waste often gets overlooked,” said Sainsbury’s director of corporate responsibility and sustainability Ruth Cranston.
“Innovative freezing not only allows us to save food we would otherwise have thrown away, but also to buy reduced food close to its use by date, saving even more money on the weekly grocery bill.”
Items in the store are selected based on research showing which foods people commonly throw away. These include milk, eggs, bread, onions, bananas and herbs.
Innovative storage methods showcased in the store include eggs in ice cube trays and portioned minced meat frozen flat.
“This is an excellent and unique concept from Sainsbury’s,” said Wrap director of collaboration and change Catherine David. “We need to look at our food storage and how we can ensure we waste as little as possible.
“With food waste costing the average household with children around £730 a year, and particularly in the current climate as we’re all looking for ways to save money wherever we can, this is really going to help our food last longer.
“It would be great to see more of these rolled out across the country and reach more people.”
The pop-up is part of a move by Sainsbury’s to halve food waste across its operations by 2030. The retailer has sent zero waste to landfill since 2013, and has recently removed the best before dates from 276 products in the hopes of reducing food waste.
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