Next week, Sainsbury’s will present
Sainsfreeze
— a new, walk-in-freezer concept store that will show London customers how to
freeze unexpected foods, keeping surplus food from going to waste and helping
people save money.
Running in London’s Boxpark,
Shoreditch, between 27-28 September, the
first-of-its-kind, immersive installation looks like a regular Sainsbury’s store
from the outside; but once inside, visitors will be greeted with frozen
groceries that they would usually buy fresh. Upon entering, customers will be
greeted by shelves stacked with fruit and veg, dairy, meat, fish and baked goods
— but everything will be frozen, and it’s all being given away for free.
In the same vein as Hellmann’s Super Bowl
campaign
this year, which featured former NFL linebacker Jerod Mayo tackling
would-be food-wasters and offering tips for how instead to use the surplus food,
Sainsfreeze aims to offer new ideas for home cooks to preserve and utilize some
of Britain’s most-wasted foods. Items normally found on each aisle will be
frozen in innovative ways to help save space and keep food for longer, thus
reducing waste. From mixing wilting herbs with oil or water and freezing into
ice cube trays — perfect for throwing straight into soups and stews — to
portioning minced meat and freezing flat to save space, the retailer hopes the
store will help teach customers new ways to freeze food to reduce waste at
home.
The items available have been selected off the back of research that revealed
the items Brits most commonly throw away as they are about to go bad — including
milk, eggs, bread, and onions — as well as other commonly wasted items foods,
such as bananas and herbs.
“This is an excellent and unique concept from Sainsbury’s. We need to look at
our food storage and how we can ensure we waste as little as possible,” said
Catherine David, Director of Collaboration and Change at WRAP, whose 2015
study
found Brits waste the most food in all of Europe. “Sainsfreeze will certainly
help inform people about storing their food, and what unexpected items they’re
able to freeze to guarantee less food is wasted. 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.”
Sainsbury’s is committed to halving food waste across its operations by 2030.
The retailer has sent zero waste to landfill since 2013; and recently joined
fellow UK grocery giants Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Waitrose in
removing ‘best before’
dates
on 276 products. September also marks one year since Sainsbury’s started
working with
Neighbourly,
in which time it has donated over five million meals to those who need it most.
Ruth Cranston, Director of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability at
Sainsbury’s, said, “We recognise the way our customers shop and eat has benefits
for their health and the planet, too. It’s why our mission — helping everyone
eat better — supports our customers to make healthier, more sustainable choices.
“When people think about climate change, food waste often gets overlooked,” she
added. “Around a third of food produced for human
consumption is
lost or wasted and it contributes a whopping 8-10
percent
of greenhouse gas emissions globally each year. That is why we are launching
Sainsfreeze — to help customers try and combat food waste and learn handy hints
and top tips along the way. 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.”
All surplus food from Sainsfreeze will be donated to Sainsbury’s food
redistribution charity partner FareShare, ensuring
that none goes to waste.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Sep 23, 2022 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST