How Much Food Does the Average Household Waste? The Numbers by Country

Most of us don't think of ourselves as big food wasters. A few wilted herbs here, a forgotten tub of leftovers there. It doesn't feel like much.

But add it up across a year, and across every home, and the numbers are startling. Here's what the latest research says about household food waste around the world, what it costs the average home, and what you can actually do about it.

The global picture

The UN Environment Programme's Food Waste Index Report 2024 is the most widely cited global estimate. As reported by UN News:

• 1.05 billion tonnes of food went to waste in 2022.
• Households were responsible for around 60% of it, about 631 million tonnes.
• That works out to roughly 79 kg of food per person, per year, wasted at home.
• Around 19% of the food available to consumers was wasted across retail, food service and households.

One finding stands out: household food waste isn't just a problem in wealthy countries. The report found that high-income, upper-middle-income and lower-middle-income countries differ by only about seven kilograms per person per year. In other words, this is something almost every kitchen in the world has in common.

United Kingdom

UK charity WRAP published new figures in March 2026. According to WRAP:

• Food waste costs UK households £17 billion a year, or about £1,000 a year for an average household of four.
• 4.4 million tonnes of edible food is thrown away from UK homes every year.
• On average, each person wastes the equivalent of 3 meals a week.
• It's often the cheap staples, like bread, potatoes and carrots, that get wasted most, rather than pricier foods such as pork or fresh chicken.

Perhaps the most telling statistic: 80% of people surveyed believed they waste less food than the national average. Which, mathematically, can't all be true.

Australia

OzHarvest's Half Eaten research, which surveyed more than 3,000 Australian households, gives a detailed picture. According to its summary infographic:

• Households with under-35s discard A$1,500 or more worth of food a year.
• The average household cost varies by state, from just under A$1,000 to around A$1,255 a year.
• Vegetables and herbs are the most commonly wasted foods, followed by leftovers, fruit, bakery items and dairy.
• 45% of households waste leftovers, mostly home-cooked.
• 47% of high-wasting households throw food away based on use-by or best-before dates.

The research also found that high-wasting households are less likely to meal plan, and it names shopping without a list and not checking what's at home before shopping as common causes. Those are encouraging findings, because they're all habits you can change.

United States

ReFED, a US non-profit that tracks food waste across the whole food system, publishes detailed data by sector. Its residential fact sheet, based on 2024 data, reports that:

• 23.5 million tons of surplus food were generated in US homes, about 33% of the national total.
• Consumers spent $141 billion on food that went uneaten, equivalent to 13% of food-at-home spending.
• Produce was the biggest category of household food waste, at 10.5 million tons, followed by dry goods and then dairy and eggs.

That 13% figure is worth sitting with. It means that for roughly every eight dollars spent on groceries to eat at home, about one dollar's worth ends up uneaten.

European Union

According to Eurostat, the EU generated around 58 million tonnes of food waste in 2024, about 129 kg per inhabitant. Households were the biggest source, generating 53% of it, or about 69 kg per person.

The EU has now made reducing that number a legal obligation. A 2025 amendment to the Waste Framework Directive sets binding targets for member states to achieve by 2030:

• A 10% reduction in food waste from processing and manufacturing.
• A 30% per-person reduction, jointly across retail and consumption, which includes restaurants, food services and households.

Those reductions are measured against the annual average for 2021 to 2023. Governments can set targets, but a big share of the change has to happen in home kitchens.

Why it happens

Across the research, the same reasons come up again and again:

• Buying more than we need, often without a list.
• Not checking what's already at home before shopping.
• Confusion about date labels.
• Forgetting about food at the back of the fridge.
• Cooking too much and not using the leftovers.

None of these come from carelessness. They're the natural result of busy lives and fridges that don't tell you what's inside them. Which is good news, because each one has a simple fix.

7 practical ways to waste less food

1. Check before you shop

Before writing a shopping list, take two minutes to look in the fridge, freezer and cupboards. Plan at least one meal around what's already there. It's the single habit most directly tied to the causes above.

2. Plan your meals (even loosely)

You don't need a rigid seven-day menu. Even planning three or four dinners and leaving the rest flexible means you buy with a purpose. OzHarvest's research found that high-wasting households are less likely to meal plan.

3. Learn the difference between use-by and best-before

Use-by dates are about safety. Best-before dates are about quality, and food is usually still safe to eat after them. Getting this right could stop a lot of perfectly good food going in the bin. We've written a full guide on tracking food expiry dates if you'd like to go deeper.

4. Make a "use it up" shelf

Give the food that needs eating soon its own spot in the fridge. When you're deciding what to cook, look there first. OzHarvest recommends exactly this idea in its research summary.

5. Freeze before it's too late

Bread, cooked rice, meat, fish and many leftovers freeze well. WRAP suggests putting products like meat and fish with use-by dates into the freezer, where they'll keep, rather than letting them go past their date.

6. Have a weekly fridge night

WRAP's suggestion of a weekly "fridge freestyle" night is a good one: one dinner a week where the rule is to cook only from what you already have. If you need inspiration, try our guide to cooking with what's in your fridge.

7. Give leftovers a plan

Leftovers are among the most commonly wasted foods. Decide when you cook whether the extra is tomorrow's lunch or a freezer meal, and label it with the date. A planned leftover is a meal you don't have to cook.

Small changes, real savings

The numbers are big, but the solutions are small and familiar: check, plan, store well, and eat what you've got. Do those consistently and you'll likely see the difference in your grocery bill as well as your bin.

If you'd like a little help keeping track, Pantry Bliss gives your household a shared pantry with expiry dates, a daily reminder about what's expiring, "Use it up" recipe ideas, and a weekly meal planner that builds your shopping list for you. There's a free plan for iPhone and iPad if you want to give it a go.