Let's get flexible: Exploring adaptable consumption toward reducing household food waste in the Netherlands

Food waste remains a critical global challenge, undermining sustainability and straining food systems. This study investigates adaptable consumption as a transformative strategy for reducing household food waste, emphasising its role in enhancing resilience within food systems. Adaptability of consumption empowers households to adjust food-related behaviours in response to changes in food availability, household needs, and other disruptions. Through cultural probes and semi-structured interviews with 11 Dutch households (43 participants), this study identifies five actionable opportunities for supporting consumers in more adaptability toward food waste reduction: 1) supporting flexible meal moments, 2) reclaiming food edibility, 3) reintegrating food into routines, 4) integrating feedback loops, and 5) playing into life-changing moments. These opportunities represent critical moments in time, behavioural routines, or dynamics where food waste-reducing behaviours can be successfully introduced and fostered. The study identifies practical recommendations within each opportunity, including implementing sensory-driven food labels to guide safe consumption decisions, introducing storage tools to minimise waste, and leveraging digital tools to provide actionable feedback, which can support households in adopting sustainable and waste-reducing practices. By integrating such interventions, stakeholders can enable households to adopt concrete, sustainable practices that align with systemic goals for food waste reduction and resilience.