making food last longer/cutting waste

[HelloMist]

Please point me in the right direction if there is a thread like this already. (there may be some pre-Covid threads about being frugal or reducing waste too).

Can we collect some tips for making food/household products last longer? And maybe meal ideas with what random items/cupboard basics we have left if we can't buy what we normally do. I'm worried seeing the supermarkets and online deliveries struggle with stock but would like to think about what I can do in a positive way and stay calm about it.

Hoping to keep this thread free of stockpiling debates or negative news. Thank you! :)

I'll start:

• use ends of bread?
• I like coffee but am starting to use a cheaper jar when I have a 3rd or 4th cup in the day, to save my favourite for first morning cup
• varying what we eat for breakfast as we might run out of favourites (peanut butter, milk)
• before all this I already tried to freeze surplus meat etc and write a clear list with dates so hopefully I can end up using it for other meals rather than throwing away. I'm freezing things like passata when I open it too.

Look at veg and if you are unlikely to use it before it goes bad then freeze eg chop your onion and freeze in single portions.

Use cheese to make cheese scones for instance and freeze before it goes bad

Grate and stale bread and freeze to use as bread crumbs for home made nuggets/meatballs

Freeze any eggs that might go bad to use in cooking later on

My mum told me last night to take my potatoes out of the plastic they come in and put them in a pillow case. I'm trying to google around to see if this is a real thing before I ruin a good pillow case!

You can freeze roast, mashed and baked potatoes.
Make "fridge bottom" soup with any veg that's going past it's best.

Thank you for the tips! These will be useful.

Lois I often google "can I freeze X" but still wouldn't have known those. We only have a smallish freezer and it's often semi-full already but will do what I can. There might be less meat to take up all the space in the coming weeks.

I bought a few strawberry plants-had also planned to buy tomato ones but not found any yet.
Foraging? I’m not bold enough to look for mushrooms but you can eat dandelion leaves
I do intermittent fasting and on non active days I can do one meal a day if required.

@IStressheadI

Your Mum is right - you can also use a cotton bag - if you can hang them up in that somewhere fairly dark & airy (garage maybe) they will last far longer. Most veg lasts longer out of its plastic bags & if you are keeping them in the salad drawer of the fridge, a couple of bits of kitchen paper on the bottom of the drawer help to absorb any moisture.

Fridge bottom soup is known as 'summer soup' in this house - summa this & summa that

My mum still keeps her potatoes in my old PE bag from school - I'll be 35 this year!!

Keep fruit in a fruit bowl and veg like peppers, tomatoes, courgettes and aubergines in a veg rack. They last longer.

Buy veg unchopped.
Remove the plastic wrappers of veg like leeks before you put them in the fridge.

Use as much as you possibly can of foodstuff. Chop broccoli stalks and cauli leaves and add them to the food etc.

Buy veg loose, and only buy what you need.

Think of inventive ways with leftovers. Frying leftover veg usually makes it palatable.

Instead of buying a disinfectant spray I buy a bottle of zoflora. I pour one cap or whatever the instructions recommend and top a spray bottle up with water and use that. A bottle lasts ages.

Mushrooms keep fresh longer if you put them in a paper bag.

I was wondering about this too and thought a 'Ration cook book' would but be handy- if anyone has one?

• Not really the right season yet, but I've made a jam from watermelon rind before

• Scrubbed potato peels can be baked into tasty crisps

• Cuuliflower and Broccoli stems can be added to soup, or grated into cauli/broccoli cheese

• Hard cheeses like cheddar/stilton can be frozen, then used in a broccoli/stilton soup

• A whole chicken provides several meals. As a roast, next day as sandwiches/chicken ceasar and the 3rd day as a soup- chicken noodle/chicken sweetcorn/cream of chicken

@magimedi love the summer soup

Use tinned fruit to put through jelly for a quick dessert for kids - fruit portion and treat in one. I’m also using frozen veg for everything so I’m not worrying about it going off and I can just use what I actually need.

Potatoes kept in fabric bags definitely keep longer, I’m also baking a batch of potatoes and keeping them in the fridge, they can be quickly reheated when needed.

Thanks to another thread I recently saved every single bit of green from veg such as broccoli stalks, spring onion ends that kind of thing. Filled a bag eventually which I'd been keeping in the freezer and then put them in a pan with veg stock and made soup which I added Stilton to before blitzing smooth.

God it was lovely and literally made of stuff if chuck. Except for Stilton of course. I'm confident it'll be one of the last items to sell out

Oh and we got 4 big bowls out of it so that's lunch for 2 days sorted.

I've got loads more in my freezer by ditching the boxes stuff comes in and putting everything in freezer bags with the cooking instructions cut off and poked in the bag.

I've got loads more in my freezer by ditching the boxes stuff comes in and putting everything in freezer bags with the cooking instructions cut off and poked in the bag.

To make lettuce last longer, put it in a big bowl of cold water for about half an hour then drain and spin in a salad spinner, transfer to a plastic tub with a lid and keep in fridge. Works for any lettuce including bags of salad, and any leafy greens including herbs. If you have big leaves like romaine lettuce tear into 2 or 3 pieces before you put in water. Also revives any sad limp looking leaves.

If you buy bagged salad and it is past its use by date by a day or two, rinse the contents and cook it instead of spinach.

I’m tempted to make a big batch on pancakes and freeze them, for when I can’t get bread or my dairy free milk

Use up left over mash to make potato cakes, delicious with bacon or sausages or fried eggs.

Add a handful of porridge oats and a handful of lentils to any bolognese/chilli type of meal made with mine. It pads it out and you can't tell.

Use cheap fillers (if you can get flour) - dumplings, slice of bread and butter with main meal etc to bulk up a meal.

Drain off bacon fat and keep in a pot in the fridge. Really good for roasting potatoes, adds flavour and crisps them up well.

I've suggested this on another thread but long life vac packed gnocchi is an excellent potato substitute. Boils in 2 mins and can be used instead of pasta. Or toss in a little oil and oven bake for 3o mins and makes baby roasties. Cheap and freezes well.

Has chicken juices from the roasting dish are good for this too. I put into a pot and refrigerate then in the morning scrape the solidified fat off to cook with and use the lovely jelly underneath as a big "stock pot" thing like you'd buy in a little tub.

If you buy a whole chicken PLEASE PLEASE use the carcass to make a stock! So so easy and tastes amazing. I'm going to make one this week and once the stock is done, reheat with some shredded chicken meat, chopped spring onions and chilli and some noodles to make soup,

I agree about bulking out main dishes to make them go further, a spoonful of pudding rice in bolognese sauce barley in soup or casseroles are a couple of ideas.

Carbonara or pasta primavera are meals that can be made with only a small amount of ingredients, as are pasta with lemon or sardines.

I keep potatoes in the fridge and they last for several months in the plastic packaging. The only issue is finding enough space in the fridge to store them, but I usually can eventually, as we have a big fridge and it's just the two of us.

I'm planning to batch cook a load of meals and store them in the freezer - it's a good way to use up stuff that would go off otherwise and will be handy for when I have my new baby later this spring.