Young adults are the group that wastes the most food. And despite climate anxiety and rising food prices, a lot of food is still wasted, according to a new survey conducted by Norstat on behalf of Findus.

Food waste is a major environmental problem in Swedish households and according to the Swedish National Food Agency we throw away food worth SEK 1,330/person per year. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, for its part, reports a downward trend in food waste, but at the same time 26 percent of our food waste is food waste, i.e. food that is still edible.
– Reducing food waste is an important contribution to the climate and everyone can make a difference here. A large part of food waste consists of food that has gone stale or is not eaten. Here, frozen food can be the unexpected hero
for households in the fight against food waste. But our survey shows that there are several different reasons that stop more people from buying frozen goods or freezing leftover food from meals, says Henrik von Lowzow, Cluster Marketing Director at Findus Norden.

The survey found that one in ten 18-29 year-olds throw away food that has passed its best-before date without smelling or tasting it first. This can be compared to older Swedes, where only two percent of those over 65 do the same. Nine percent of young adults also say they never freeze food. This can be compared to the age group, 50-64 years old, where only three percent say they never freeze leftover food. Many young adults also believe that frozen food is less healthy and few consider the possibility of replacing fresh food with frozen alternatives for economic reasons. Among all Swedes, an average of ten percent never freeze leftover food, and of those who always do so, there is a relatively even distribution across ages and gender, with around a quarter of Swedes answering that they always freeze leftover food.

Frozen food is not the solution to everything, but it is one of several important solutions in the fight against food waste. With a long shelf life, the possibility of easier portioning and better preserved nutritional values, frozen food is a sustainable and tasty alternative, says Henrik von Lowzow, Cluster Marketing Director at Findus Norden.
Young adults feel the most shame and anxiety about throwing away food, while at the same time not understanding the health benefits of frozen food.