Sainsbury’s has announced it will be opening a walk-in freezer store which will be giving away free grocery products in a bid to reduce food waste.
The ‘Sainsfreeze’ store will feature a range of frozen items such as fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy, fish and baked goods following research that these are some of the items most commonly binned by Brits.
The pop-up shop at Boxpark, Shoreditch is set to run from 27 to 28 September between 10am and 6pm, adding to Sainsbury’s commitment to halve food waste across its operations by 2030.
Looking to save space and keep food for longer, products within the store will be frozen in innovative ways such as wilted herbs mixed with oil or water which will be frozen into ice cube trays for later use in soups or stews.
This also looks at helping shoppers to take incentive in reducing their own food waste at home and to save money amid the cost-of-living crisis.
Any food left over after the Sainsfreeze event will be donated to the Big 4 grocer‘s charity partner, food distributor FareShare.
“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,” Sainsbury’s director of corporate responsibility and sustainability, Ruth Cranston said.
“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.”
WRAP director of collaboration and change, Catherine David added: “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.
“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”.
This comes as Sainsbury’s is looking to its colleagues and customers to help limit water wastage as it aims to hit its goal of being water neutral by 2040.
