UK food waste almost enough for a meal a day Families waste on average £700 a year in edible food stuffs thrown in the bin Bread, salad and chicken are among the most common foods wasted Families waste £60 a month by throwing the equivalent of almost a meal a day into the bin, a survey has found. More than a fifth of bread and one in five potatoes end up being thrown away, while one in ten bananas are also discarded. Experts blame our throwaway culture for the loss of more than four million tonnes of edible food. The total worth of this produce is estimated at £12.5billion. Waste culture: The average British family bin £700 worth of perfectly edible foodstuffs every year They also say shoppers are confused by sell-by dates and tempted by offers to buy more food than they need. The report, by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap), found the waste costs the average family more than £700 a year. Other items that frequently end up in the bin include more than a third of fresh salads, one in eight apples, and one in 20 pints of milk. Despite being a lunchtime favourite, 13 per cent of chicken which could have been eaten is also thrown out - the equivalent of 86 million whole chickens a year. And on a daily basis, 24 million slices of bread, 5.8 million potatoes and 5.9 million glasses of milk are wasted. Bearing no fruit: One in eight apples and ten per cent of bananas go in the bin as families waste edible products Since 2007, families have cut avoidable food waste by a fifth, although it is thought that some of the improvement has been gained by the squeeze on household budgets. Research by the watchdog Which? found that 70 per cent of consumers are worried about increasing food prices. Experts say more needs to be done to reduce unnecessary discards, with Wrap chief executive Dr Liz Goodwin saying: "Consumers are seriously worried about the cost of food and how it has increased over recent years. Yet our research shows we are still wasting millions of tonnes and billions of pounds. The UK is leading the way in tackling food waste and the 21 per cent cut is a terrific achievement by millions of people who have taken action, saved money and helped safeguard our natural resources. However, there is so much more to go for and I believe we should be going for it. If we all make a major combined effort to act now, we can save up to £45billion by 2025. It won't be easy but what a prize if we achieve it. Last month, Tesco revealed that it generated almost 30,000 tonnes of food waste in the first six months of 2013. It found that up to two-thirds of supermarket food ends up in the bin, with 68 per cent of its bagged salads, half its bakery goods and a quarter of its grapes going to waste. Signalling the end of "buy one, get one free" offers, the chain said it would no longer offer the deals on large bags of salad. It also promised to scrap confusing "display until" dates on fresh fruit and vegetables and will give customers food storage tips. Andrew Opie, from the British Retail Consortium, said: "A range of approaches, including giving clear storage advice and recipe ideas, offering a wider range of portion sizes, and developing innovative packaging that extends the shelf life of products, has helped to drive significant reductions in the amount of food and drink we throw away."