A KILOGRAM of meat can cost as little as $5, but few people realise the true ''paddock-to-plate'' cost of their food, say the creators of a new website designed to boost the nation's food IQ.
Foodwise.com.au, which launches today, offers practical ways to reduce the country's $600 million annual food waste bill.
One of the website's creators and the founder of Planet Ark, Jon Dee, said people were lazy in the way they shop.
''We buy stuff we already have at home and we end up throwing [it] away.''
He said simple steps such as writing a shopping list and equipping the home to cope with surplus food could dramatically reduce waste. A growing appetite for out-of-season produce also increases ''food miles'' - the distance food travels from producer to consumer.
The president of Slow Food Australia, Nick Padol, said the obsession with processed foods created a sea of packaging waste.
''It takes an enormous amount of energy and natural resources to get [food] processed, packaged and into the home to cook,'' he said.
The CSIRO says it takes 50,000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of beef and 1550 litres to produce a kilogram of white rice.
Email a friend