Food Waste

[chelsearobinson]

Hello!

I am looking into starting a food blog aiming to reduce food waste. Being a keen environmentalist and food fanatic, I thought it would be a good thing all round to provide recipes based around commonly thrown out leftovers and food items. So this is my initial 'market research' - my question is:

What food items/leftovers do you find yourself throwing out most often?

I'm hoping this will give me a few ideas for some starting recipes!

Thanks for your help

Almost all my food waste is waste, in the last week I've thrown away used tea leaves and coffee grounds, onion skin, potato peel, flour I had used for coating meat, cherry stones, eggshells and seeds from a chilli. I doubt if anything could have been used.

It's a good idea for a blog though. One thing I do is forget the odd chicken breast thrown into the freezer, or the singleton chop.

We throw away very little - the main thing we chuck is cream, as we'll buy it on a weekend for a fancy recipe if friends are over, then won't eat the rest so it goes in the bin! Oh that and oranges/lemons i buy to zest for baking, then no one eats them.

My husband does the cooking and is great with not wasting food. He will save the smallest nub of cheese instead of 'oh i'll whack it all on the sandwich' and use it to make white cheese sauce or something for DS, or sprinkle on something. a well stocked cupboard of herbs and spices saves a lot of waste i find!

Rolls and bread and sprouty potatoes tend to be our biggest food waste items. We have a food waste bin that gets collected by the council so at least it goes to some use

I don't really waste anything, haven't always been that way though, I learnt to reduce it through proper meal planning and only buying what we need.

The only thing that can end up in the bin is bagged salad in the summer when I'm being lazy.

I'd say little bits of veg eg. Half an onion or sometimes fruit. We don't waste a lot though.

Oh, sometimes things like curry paste that have been in the fridge a while.

Fruit

We have a compost bin so all veg peelings etc goes in there. We very rarely waste any food - bread gets turned into breadcrumbs and put in the freezer, cheese always gets finished and the rinds get used in Minestrone, veg becomes soup, leftovers get used for lunch or snacks...

And did you know you can freeze eggs? Crack them individually into ice cube trays and freeze. To use, you thaw and use as normal.

Leftover citrus - slice and freeze and put in gin and tonic or vodka etc.

Lots of things can be frozen to prevent wastage. Salad is probably one of the few things that can't.

Bits of veg - make soup.

Bananas. I do stick them in the freezer when they start going brown, but I'd love more ideas on what to do with them.

Sliced white bread.

Lettuce and spinach.

Banana bread

It always seems to be bread or salad things like cucumber.

Definitely banana bread or muffins for leftover bananas.

With bread that's gone stale, I either make croutons or breadcrumbs and freeze. Chicken parmo is a staple in our house.

Cream and spinach often go into a curry here.

We have a lot of protein shakes so spinach also works well in them.

We do struggle with salady bits. Our local supermarkets here aren't known for having good use by dates - normally it's within the next day or two.

Bananas & custard a firm favourite with my DC & DH.

We chuck out very little & what we do goes in our green recycling bin not the black landfill bin. The main things that end up in it are bagged salad & that 1 potato that always seens to roll to the back of the cupboard.

When I have an odd chicken breast that needs using I'll usually cook it then shred it or make chicken nuggets & freeze for a quick meal.

If anyone ends up throwing potatoes, do what I now do; peel, chop and par-boil as if making roasties, spread out on a clean tray and freeze when cool. When frozen, tip into a freezer bag and keep until needed. When needed, tip into the roasting tin and cook (from frozen) as you would with normal roast potatoes. You can do this with only one or two at a time if you only have a few left each time, then you can use them straight from freezer for kiddie portions or save them up and keep adding to the bag.

This is also how you make life easier on Xmas day; pre-freezing roasties!

Hmmm, problem is I don't really like banana bread or muffins, and we'd end up with leftover banana bread!

I don't waste much. If I think there is a lot of veg hanging around I will make a soup. Bung everything in there.

Milk gets wastedhere. We don't use regular milk - but if we are expecting visitors will buy it in for their teas and coffees. Generally end up swilling the chunks of it down the sink a few days later.

I have learnt to freeze veggies too. Whether because we have a glut, or out of ease of cooking again later. The last time I went away and left DS home alone I did prep carrots/cabbage and freeze into portions for him to just reheat. I think they lose a bit of crunch - but he seemed happy not to have to peel and chop.

Herbs are good for freezing - if adding to curries, stews later on.

No composting bin here as we don't really have a garden.

Oranges, hard to have the right number in house.
We just dont' buy much cucumber because it's too easy to waste.

Pagetta If you whip that cream you can freeze it for another time

This sounds like a great idea. I find that yoghurt and leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale are what we end up wasting in our house. We just can't use the quantity that we buy quick enough.

Have you heard of the Olio app? It's a new food sharing app aiming to reduce food waste. There's only a few items in each city at the moment because its relatively new. It's pretty big in the london area though. You can swap all your food before it goes bad. Here's a review of it here: listsforlifeblog.com/2016/02/02/awkward-my-first-experience-using-the-olio-app/

We do a weekly food plan and I only buy food for that, so we rarely throw out food now. If we do its fruit that's gone passed its best before we get to it.