It's all a bit of a vicious circle: food waste is a big environmental problem and costing consumers extra money. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday that significant money could be saved and a food crisis possibly averted if people didn't throw away so much food. One viable solution say consumer groups and government officials, is to eliminate buy-one-get-one-free sales at supermarkets. However consumers feeling the effects of rising food prices often rely on such sales to stretch their dollar a little further and stay within their grocery budget.

Kath Dalmeny, policy director of food and farming alliance Sustain, said: 'Supermarkets bombard shoppers with messages to buy more and eat more. Shoppers end up buying products that they did not plan to and a lot of that food goes to waste."

This is amid allegations of profiteering by some supermarket chains in the UK, who have made hundreds of millions of dollars in profit from higher food prices. The stores deny this and claim they're trying to help out shoppers, citing recent price reductions as evidence.

So will ending these sales reduce grocery bills by encouraging shoppers to think before they buy or will it add strain to individuals and families who look for deals and clip coupons to save some money? It is certainly a gray area with no one seemingly clear right answer. Perhaps a fair compromise would be to encourage retailers to eliminate buy-one-get-one deals only on perishable items. Consumers may exercise more restraint when purchasing such food while still being able to take advantage of deals on items that are less likely to end up in a landfill.

» Mail Online