The staggering cost of food waste for Edinburgh families

Edinburgh families are throwing hundreds of pounds straight into the bin every year after being named among the worst offenders in the UK for wasting food – although they are still saving more cash than people in Glasgow.

A new nationwide survey reveals that parents in the Capital estimate they are wasting an average of £291 annually on meals that go uneaten by their children.

This significant financial loss places Edinburgh well above the UK national average, which currently sits at £283.

However, city residents can take a small crumb of comfort in the fact that they are not quite as wasteful as their friends on the opposite side of the M8.

Glasgow was identified as the ultimate food waste hotspot in the UK. Households in the city topped the national charts, estimating they throw away a staggering £369 on average every single year due to uneaten dinners and rejected snacks.

The comprehensive research, carried out by Censuswide in May on behalf of Bernard Matthews, surveyed more than 2,000 UK parents of children aged between four and 12.

It laid bare the daily struggle many families face at the dinner table, finding that 60% of parents reported their children refuse to eat a meal they are served at least once a week.

With household budgets remaining under persistent pressure, the financial cost of fussy eating is adding up to a hefty annual bill for families across the central belt and the rest of the country.

Looking beyond Scotland, Liverpool was identified as another major food waste hotspot. Families there are typically wasting an estimated £316 annually on rejected food.

In Nottingham, the average annual food waste bill was found to be £315. Meanwhile, in London and Belfast, families were also found to be losing a significant amount of cash, wasting an average of £312 and £306 per year respectively.

At the other end of the spectrum, families in Bristol proved to be the most efficient when it came to clearing their plates. Parents there estimated they were wasting just £198 per year typically, making them the most frugal city surveyed.

In a bid to reduce the pressure at mealtimes and cut down on the amount of expensive food ending up in the bin, half (50%) of the parents surveyed felt that encouraging their child to play with their food would actually help the situation.

Laurence Hinton, head of marketing at Bernard Matthews, suggested that adopting a more relaxed approach could pay dividends for frustrated parents trying to save money.

He said: “Parents agree that playing with your food can take some of the pressure out of mealtimes, encouraging children to engage positively with food and ultimately making family meals more enjoyable and less wasteful.”