I didn't know that today was the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste ... gosh what a mouthful ... and I wonder who decides on these days?
Anyway as I am about to head home to Wales for a couple of days, before I had even found out about today's 'title' I had already set too this morning to turn all the bits of food left over in the fridge into things that will keep better until my return, which has turned out to be very in-keeping with todays ethos.
An onion, a bunch of spring onions, some garlic, a sad lonely carrot and about half a lettuce went into the soup make along with some water, a good grind of black pepper and some stock powder. Thirty minutes later I had over a litre of soup. I'll have some for lunch and maybe see if I can squeeze some into the freezer ready for my return.
Currently in the oven is this tray of onions, tomatoes and peppers, along with a few cloves of garlic, a dash of oil and some dried herbs. This, once it's roasted long and slow, will be whizzed into a nice pasta sauce. Although as there is no room in the freezer it might have to travel with me tomorrow.
While I had the garlic out I decided to break up all the bulbs and put the cloves into a bag to go in the freezer. It lasts ages in the freezer and the good thing about doing this apart from there being no mouldy old garlic to throw away, is that when you get a clove or two out to use, the skins slip off so easily.
I hate the very thought of food waste and I can honestly say that I rarely waste food ... perhaps just one or two items a year, and even then I kick myself for it.
What would your top tip be for avoiding food waste?
Sue xx
Whenever I have leftover cooked vegetables from a meal I bag them all together and freeze them.
ReplyDeleteAt a later date they are unearthed and made into soup. This is especially useful when we have visitors staying and I don't have time to deal with the leftovers straight away.
Sue
I guess my tip would be to regularly check fresh foods in the fridge and larder. This morning I found half a jar of pesto sauce that had been pushed right to the back of the fridge, and a whole swede hidden and forgotten in a box in the utility room. The swede was wrinkled and soft, but will be fine cooked into a soup or stew, the pesto had gone mouldy though so had to be chucked - I could have kicked myself.
ReplyDeleteI suppose every day should be awareness of food loss and waste, I try hard but don't always succeed, I cook far too much then eat too much so that I don't waste it and as a result I am far too fat, well that's part of the reason, a liking for chips may to be blame too, especially in a butty.There are so many of these " days", don't drink, don't smoke,bake cakes,smile at everybody,think of others, most of these things we should do when we can and when we want to, it they bring out a no loo roll day, I am not joining in ! I think my favourite leftover meal is bubble and squeak.
ReplyDeleteThis made me smile - snap! - my order from Tesco came this morning so I emptied the fridge and washed it out, emptied the vegetable drawers, chopped up everything and put it in my soup maker - it smell delicious and I intend to have it in about an hour. Waste not wnt not.
ReplyDeleteI check the fridge before I shop, I try to make a meal plan. Like you I have a bottom of the fridge day were I either chop up and freeze the bits or make into soups and sauces.
ReplyDeleteMy top tip for avoiding food waste is... just don't do it. :-) We don't waste much food. Oh, once in awhile something will be in the back of the 'frig that I missed but not too often. My husband's grandmother grew up on a farm and she brought those habits into town when she moved. Farm days were lean, at best, so everything had to be eaten. I remember her making a whole day's worth of meals out of one piece of chicken. She's fry the chicken and use the skin for a Chicken Skin Sandwich for lunch... and then have the meat for supper. I think truly the only thing that makes people not waste food is hunger. ~Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteI think I make my best meals from left overs and enjoy them all the more.
ReplyDeleteMy most success in avoiding waste is when I decide to spend £10 per week until I can clear at least two shelves in the freezer - works like a treat, nothing gets thrown away and it is pretty hard to clear two crammed shelves so sometimes I have a very inexpensive month. Buying less also means I know what I have and all the marvellous home made meals loitering in the freezer actually get eaten. I am currently freezing pints and pints of roast tomato soup to see me through the winter - I love the smell of summer tomatoes in January just at the point winter feels endless.
ReplyDeleteSoup can be made of almost any leftover.
ReplyDeleteI rarely throw anything away. I watch the frig pretty closely and a meal is made of anything that needs used up.
I keep a small container in both the fridge and freezer for things that need to be used first - that way nothing falls to the back and gets lost. Now that it's getting cooler any veg past their best will be going into the soup pot or roasted and then stored in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteMy one area of frugal fail is often salad greens - most weeks I get through everything but occasionally the last of the leaves or the bag of coleslaw will get any from me and once it reaches the sludge and smelly stage it is beyond rescue.
I usually just buy what we are going to eat in the next couple of weeks. I don't stock up a lot because I will lose track of the expiration dates. There are just 2 of us at home now so we don't need too much. You must be good at saving food as you did so well on the challenges!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the hint about the garlic. I am going to give that a try next time. I seem to always be grinding it up to make garlic powder.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I love pot luck soups and stews. They are invariably delicious.
ReplyDeleteI regularly throw all the fridge rubble into a pot to use it all up and any extra portions go into the freezer for another time.
xx
I love soup and it's such an easy way to use up those leftovers. There is very little food wasted here. I shop carefully and always take a list. That's a great tip about the garlic. I will definitely freeze some in future. X
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about garlic freezing well. I bought some organic garlic recently and planted some in the garden for next year and its already popped up so fingers crossed. I will now go and freeze some! x
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