Together against food waste!

When you eat with us, you can both save money and contribute to a more sustainable student life. We work actively to reduce food waste – and you can be part of the team!

• Choose for yourself and avoid food waste

In our cafeterias, you pick your own food from our lunch buffet. The food is sold by weight, so you get exactly as much as you need. When you choose both the food and the portion size yourself, there's a good chance the food will be eaten – so you avoid wasting both food and money.

• Be a food saver and save money!

At Grut coffee bar, we sell yesterday’s dishes and baked goods at half price. And food produced in the cafeterias that isn’t sold within a reasonable time is offered at a reduced price in our staffed and unstaffed outlets. We also use Too Good To Go at the MIX kiosk in Tromsø.

Remember that products labeled with 'best before' are often perfectly fine long after the stated date. Look, smell, and taste!

Fun fact: Since we started using Too Good To Go in May 2023, students on campus have saved 1,188 meals from being thrown away and prevented more than 3 tons of CO₂ emissions!

We save what we can

We rescue food items and leftovers every single day:

• Salad bar leftovers are used in hot dishes the next day
• Bread leftovers become croutons or breadcrumbs
• Cheese scraps are used in lasagna or pizza
• Porridge leftovers go into waffle batter or cold breakfast porridge
• Surplus fruit is used in cakes and smoothies

Most things can be eaten! Our chefs are experts at using the whole ingredient; vegetable stalks are baked and seasoned, vegetable trimmings are vacuum-packed and used in sauces. Broccoli stems are often used in salads or as a side for hot dishes.

Good planning is key
In the kitchen, we work continuously to avoid waste. We refill the buffet little and often instead of all at once. Products are rotated between cafeterias to avoid expiration, and our lunch offerings are adapted to the shelf life of ingredients. We constantly test new methods to use ingredients nearing their expiration date to avoid food waste, and we focus on pure ingredients that tolerate more heat treatment and can be used in more ways than ultra-processed food.

We measure and improve
How much food waste do we actually have? To find out, we’ve started weighing food waste at several of our dining locations. This gives us valuable insights that we use to develop new initiatives. We also register products discarded due to shelf life or packaging damage. In the first half of 2025, this accounted for only 0.8% of total sales – but we aim even lower.

Together we reach the goal
Samskipnaden has a clear goal: to reduce food waste by 10% by 2025 compared to 2024 levels. Through our participation in the project KuttMatsvinn Servering in collaboration with Matvett, we contribute to reaching the national goal of halving food waste by 2030. Reducing food waste is part of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production.

When you finish the food you’ve bought, pick up a Too Good To Go bag, or buy food at a reduced price, you help us reach our goals.

• Samskipnaden aims to reduce food waste by 10% by 2025 compared to 2024 levels.
• Over 5,500 items were sold at a reduced price during the first half of 2025 (1.4% of total sales).
• 3,283 food and kiosk items were discarded during the same period (0.8% of total sales).
• Food waste is now being weighed at four dining locations, and this will be implemented in all staffed cafeterias.
• Too Good To Go at the MIX kiosk in Tromsø has saved more than 1,000 meals since its launch in 2023, and helped prevent over 3 tons of CO₂ emissions.