I promised to write this blog 10 days ago, and am hoping that the \u2018better late than never\u2019 adage still applies.<\/p>\n
Food waste is a huge issue across the globe.\u00a0 Farmers, supermarkets and families all contribute to the massive amount of food waste in the UK.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t one solution that\u2019s going to solve all that waste in one hit, but there are things we can do on a personal level to avoid our own waste food mountains.\u00a0 When the average household wastes \u00a3460 of food a year the value soon ramps up. It\u2019s the equivalent of 1 in 5 shopping bags being ditched. \u00a37 million per annum across the UK. \u00a0So, imagine if you\u2019re not wasting food how much you can save.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to change our mindset and remember that food is not rubbish, it\u2019s a valuable resource. \u00a0The less we can throw away, the better.\u00a0 If you compost food, at least it\u2019s getting another life, rather than going into landfill, but it\u2019s surely better to make use of the food we have.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve already posted an infographic on 6 steps you can take to reduce the amount of food that you throw away.\u00a0 Even if you follow all that, the chances are, from time to time, you will still have leftover items.\u00a0 The most commonly wasted foods are<\/p>\n
I\u2019d be here all year if I gave you recipes for every item, but here are some tips for avoiding wasting some of these products, which I hope will be helpful.<\/p>\n
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Bread<\/strong> is an easy one to avoid wasting.\u00a0 My top tip is to buy your bread from a local artisan baker when you can \u2013 I would say that, of course.\u00a0 You\u2019ll pay more for it and there won\u2019t be lots of additives and preservatives in it, which is a good thing as it means it\u2019s more likely to go stale and dry out than go blue and mouldy.\u00a0 A decent loaf is also more likely to be eaten rather than being left to fester in the bread bin.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t eat a lot of bread consider cutting a loaf in half and slicing it up for the freezer, that way you can take a slice or two as and when you need it.\u00a0 If you do have older bread leftover you can always toast it or make it into breadcrumbs or croutons, both of which can be frozen.\u00a0 Other options are to make a dessert, such as bread and butter pudding, or Queen of Puddings or a savoury pudding similar to bread and butter pudding but with a savoury custard and perhaps some cheese and a veg \u2013 lots of things would work, but mushrooms are a particular favourite.<\/p>\n If you have to buy bagged salad<\/strong> try and use it soon after purchase.\u00a0 It\u2019s been washed and it\u2019s keeping qualities will not be great.\u00a0 A much better option is to buy a whole lettuce as they keep much better.\u00a0 If you do have some salad left that\u2019s looking a bit limp you can add it to a smoothie, a soup, or make a pesto with it.\u00a0 Add some parsley or basil, oil, nuts, seasoning and blitz.\u00a0 No one will know it\u2019s your leftover leaves!<\/p>\n Fresh vegetables<\/strong>, if stored well, will keep for quite a few days and root veg, onions, cabbage and potatoes for considerably longer.\u00a0 Ignore any best before dates and use your eyes and nose to determine whether something can be used or needs to be composted. Old mushrooms might smell a bit fishy, but unless they\u2019re black and slimy, they\u2019re perfectly OK to cook with.\u00a0 Have you got a rubbery carrot, a leftover bit of pepper?\u00a0 Make a filling frittata.\u00a0 You can chop all sorts of leftovers veg and put them in.\u00a0 A soup will also use a multitude of leftover veg.\u00a0 The judicious use of herbs and spices will perk up the less than at their best leftover veg. A rice jumble will give you similar options.\u00a0 Cook rice with onions and any number of leftover veg, herbs and spices, maybe a few nuts, and you have a nutritious and interesting meal.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have enough leftover to make something how about blitzing them up with some pulses such as black beans or chickpeas to make some tasty vegetable patties?\u00a0 Add some seasoning and some chilli, or other spices, and you\u2019ll have some tasty morsels. The possibilities are endless and in \u2018the cookbook\u2019 I have a few suggestions for using up leftover veg.<\/p>\n Cooked leftovers<\/strong> need to be cooled quickly and then refrigerated or frozen.\u00a0 I deliberately make leftovers so that I can have homemade ready meals in the freezer when required.\u00a0 Depending on what the meal is, you could also re-purpose it.\u00a0 For example, a stew can make a good pie or pasty filling.\u00a0 You can make arancini with leftover rice, gnocchi or tattie scones with leftover potato.\u00a0 If inspiration totally deserts you, simply reheat it for lunch or tea another day!\u00a0 Make sure you label any leftovers you keep in the fridge or freezer with a date and what they are so you remember to use them up (3\/4 days for leftover veg in the fridge; I\u2019d be more careful with meat) it\u2019s surprising how similar everything looks once it\u2019s been frozen!<\/p>\n Fresh fruit<\/strong> leftovers can be pureed into smoothies, stewed into compotes and added to cakes, made into crumbles or even ice lollies. Some things work better in certain dishes, so check out a few recipes in line for the ingredients you have.<\/p>\n Milk<\/strong> can also be frozen.\u00a0 If you\u2019re buying large quantities you could split them so a litre is in the fridge and a litre in the freezer. If you do find yourself with leftover milk that\u2019s past its best there are a number of things you can do with it.<\/p>\n You can make a soft cheese, like the Indian paneer which is as simple as putting it on to heat, adding some lemon juice\/yoghurt, and straining the resultant liquid from the curds.\u00a0 Use the liquid you strain off to add to scones or bread. Use that leftover fruit and leftover milk to make a leftovers smoothie.\u00a0 As you will gather, I\u2019m a strong proponent of the smoothie! You can make pancakes, a cheese sauce or a milk pudding.\u00a0 You can even make yoghurt.<\/p>\n Eggs<\/strong> keep for quite a while.\u00a0 Do the egg test, so long as it doesn\u2019t float, you can still use it.\u00a0 Cakes are good for using up eggs, but eggs can be boiled and used in other dishes like fish pie or veg and egg pie.\u00a0 A mayonnaise strong with garlic or a sauce or soup that uses eggs would also work well. Make a thin omelette and cut it into strips to use as a pasta substitute \u2013 great for a gluten free meal.\u00a0 An eggy bread, a.k.a. French toast or an egg in your use-it-up rice and veg jumble would also work well.<\/p>\n Leftover cheese.\u00a0 As a cheeseaholic, I can\u2019t really imagine having leftover cheese.\u00a0 We always have cheese in the fridge.\u00a0 It keeps for ages.\u00a0 I re-package it once it\u2019s open, so never know what the date original date on it was.\u00a0 I have a hard goats cheese from my holiday in Lanzarote last year in October, which I\u2019m still using.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing wrong with it!\u00a0 Soft, young, fresh cheeses will keep less well than hard aged cheese and you can use these up in cheesecakes, cakes, bread and sauces.\u00a0 I\u2019ve also been known to use them up in quiches and flans and various dips.\u00a0 Hard cheeses will also work in most of the above, except the cheesecakes!\u00a0 Most things are improved, in my opinion, with a grating of cheese; think cheese and breadcrumbs on top of a macaroni cheese, or a baked vegetable dish.\u00a0 There\u2019s really no reason to be throwing away cheese!<\/p>\n Meat <\/strong>is one thing that should be used by is best before date, although I would still use the sight and smell test as a lot of meat will smell or oxidise (change colour in the air) when it is off.\u00a0 As long as you heat meat to the correct temperature (82\u00b0C in Scotland) it will kill any bacteria.\u00a0 I don\u2019t eat meat and don\u2019t buy much meat (other family members do eat it), but I would be tempted to buy very small quantities of high welfare local meat and portion and freeze it if I didn\u2019t have an immediate use for it.\u00a0 Buying less meat of a higher quality is good for you, the animals, local producers and the planet, so consider if you might be able to do this.\u00a0 If you do have leftover meat you need to use up, you can\u2019t beat pies, curries and chillies.\u00a0 Once cooked it can be frozen, even if the meat was frozen before.<\/p>\n Fish is another product which needs to be used fresh and within a short timescale.\u00a0 Again, if you\u2019re not going to use fish immediately, package well and make use of your freezer.\u00a0 If you do have leftovers, a fish pie is always a good use for little bits of fish, giving you a better variety.\u00a0 Fishcakes are an obvious use for leftovers and you can use that leftover potato too!\u00a0 A fish soup can be a tasty thing and is enhanced by a decent fish stock –\u00a0 I use langoustine shells to make mine. If you don\u2019t fancy any of the above, how about a fish hash or jumble?\u00a0 This is a ubiquitous leftover dish of ingredients from a leftover roast dinner thrown in a pan and fried.\u00a0 Fish would go well with cabbage and potatoes fried with a generous amount of olive oil and some seasoning.\u00a0 A great brunch or lunch dish!<\/p>\n Although I\u2019ve not been able to give recipes for each leftover ingredient, due to time constraints, I hope that this has given you some ideas and inspiration for using up your leftover food.\u00a0 Get creative.\u00a0 Leftovers have lots of exciting possibilities and using them up will make you a better and more sustainable cook.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You can find more ideas for using up leftovers in my cookbook too.<\/p>\n https:\/\/highlandhomecook.square.site\/product\/highland-home-cook-the-cook-book\/24?cs=true<\/p>\n <\/p>\n