TODAY we like to think that we live in a recyclable society but is that really the case?

How many of us have chucked out food from the fridge because the “Best Before” or “Use By” date has come and gone and we’ve panicked about poisoning our family? Or looked at slightly browning bananas and refused to eat them?

Well, that’s most of us then. Because we fail to understand how fresh food really works, and because we’ve lost that connection with how food is created, we’ve become too picky and unable to employ simple commonsense about food “going off”.

Chef and food expert Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is trying to get everyone to take a fresh look at food and go back to basics. His new BBC One series Hugh’s War on Waste highlights how we all – and especially supermarkets – needlessly throw away huge amounts of food every week.

He wants us to stop wasting the millions of tonnes of food lost to us and for supermarkets to take responsibility for the waste, and relax their cosmetic standards for produce so that we are happy to buy over-bendy bananas or wonky-looking vegs.

Hugh is also calling on Britain’s food industry to make “strenuous and visible efforts to redistribute all their surplus food to those in need.”

His message to all of us, really, is to stop wasting food, employ smarter shopping and storage, use up leftovers and be vigilant about recycling.

It only takes minor adjustments to fix, and if we all did it, we would not only cut those mountains of waste but find more realistic ways of helping feed families who currently struggle to put food on the table.

Hugh’s advice is all based around simple ideas: don’t leave mushrooms in plastic packaging as they rot but transfer them to a paper or cloth bag before refrigerating. Store spuds in paper, cloth or netting, in a dark cool place but not the fridge. Don’t bin vegetable skins but make them into tasty vegetable crisps and freeze your hard cheese – and the same applies to butter, cream and milk – to defrost when you need it.

These are all basic ploys worth trying to cut domestic bills and preserve food for everyone. That’s something we can do at home – now if only the supermarkets could take notice of Hugh there would be hope for us all.