Food Waste Cost Calculator
UK households bin roughly 18% of the edible food they buy, on average. Applied to your own weekly shop, that adds up to far more than most people realise. Enter your weekly shop and your best estimate of how much goes to waste to see the real cost, and what halving it could be worth.
Estimate only. This calculator gives estimates for information only, not financial advice. The invested-instead projection is illustrative, investment growth isn't guaranteed and actual returns will vary.
Enter your weekly shop
Your weekly and annual food waste cost appear here as you type.
Why food waste costs more than it looks like
Food waste rarely feels like a single big expense, it's a few browning bananas here, a forgotten yoghurt there. But applied consistently across a year, at the UK's average waste rate of around 18% of edible food bought, the total for a typical family shop lands close to £880 a year according to WRAP. Halving that waste, rather than eliminating it entirely, is usually the realistic starting point, and redirecting even that smaller saving into an investment or savings account compounds it further over time.
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