How To Cut Food Waste and Save Money
Recipes to Help You Use Up Leftovers and Cut Wastage
Aug 27, 2009
The BBC has reported that 3.6 million tonnes of food are thrown away every year in the UK. With global food shortages and a current recession, our attitudes to our food have to change to ensure there continues to be enough to go around. Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, has enlisted celebrity chefs including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Gary Rhodes to help create new recipes for using up our leftovers, as reported in The Daily Mirror (12/08/2009).
Marco Pierre White, speaking about the WRAP campaign in 2007 to cut food waste said “There’s a use for everything. We should show a little more respect for Mother Nature”.
The tide is beginning to turn, but what can people do at home to cut food waste and save money? The answer lies in a few easy recipes that can be adapted to suit whatever spare ingredients you have in the cupboards and fridge. Here are some tasty ideas to help use up those leftovers and result in a few less trips to the supermarket.
Ideas For Using Up Leftover Meats
For families of earlier generations, a Sunday Roast used to be just that. Meat was bought and roasted with vegetables, eaten on a Sunday and then this provided pickings to use up in the week alongside other meals. Ideas for using up your leftover chicken, pork, beef or lamb include the following:
- Sandwiches and salads – use up leftover meat in sandwiches for packed lunches in the week, or mix with lettuce, tomatoes and radishes for a tasty salad.
- Add to stir-fries, soups and risottos – just ensure the meat is reheated thoroughly. Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup is amazingly quick to prepare, and is nutritious and comforting after a long day. Add cooled, cooked rice to your stir-fry and pour in some soy sauce, add a pinch of Five Spice powder and some spring onions and you have delicious oriental fried rice.
- Make stock or broth – after all the meat has been removed from a roast chicken, place the bones in a large pan with some water and boil. This will make a very basic and simple light stock that can be used in risottos, soups, and stews and is healthier than stock cubes.
- Use in Curries- make up a curry using leftover meats such as pork, lamb and chicken. Armed with not much more than a curry paste, some vegetables and a splash of water, you can make a nutritious curry that you can then freeze and bring out when needed.
- Make pies – pie making can be daunting for some, but just use frozen shortcrust or puff pastry, ready made and in some cases, ready-rolled. All you have to do is make a pasty by enclosing the filling in a circle of pastry. Or a pie by placing the filling in a pie dish and then covering with the rolled out pastry. Leftover meats can go dry on reheating so it may benefit from some extra gravy or sauce.
- Ham and smoked meats are fantastic used in pasta dishes – leftover ham chopped and stirred into a cheese sauce and then mixed with pasta and chopped spinach is delicious. Or try baking in a savoury muffin for ham and cheese muffins.
Suggestions for Using Up Leftover Vegetables and Fruit
Vegetables can be used in all the ways suggested above for meats, and made into curries, stir-fries or pies. Vegetable filled pasties work very well with a pinch of curry powder for a spicy twist. These pasties can then be frozen and then reheated before they are eaten or taken in a packed lunch. Fruits that may be past their best can be used in desserts in many different ways. Some other uses for leftover vegetables and fruit include:
- Bubble and Squeak – fry leftover cooked cabbage and cooked potatoes together, along with some chopped onions until it is and heated through and crisp. Delicious for breakfast or any time of the day.
- Fruit Crumbles – peel, core and slice any apples or pears that look as if they have passed their best in the fruit bowl. Place in an ovenproof dish and top with a crumble topping. Blackberries, plums, gooseberries and rhurbarb are all good in crumbles.
- Baking – bananas, apples, pears and berries are all good in cakes.
- Make jam – buy preserving or jam sugar and with some fruits, you could have some home-made jam in minutes!
- Smoothies – bananas and berries can be good blended together with a little apple juice to make a fruit smoothie that children will love too.
- Place some butter in a frying pan and cook sliced apples and pears with some sugar until bubbling and soft. The fruity juices will leak out and make a sticky sauce of their own, although add a splash of water if you think they need a little help. Add a pinch or two of cinnamon or throw in a vanilla pod and serve with ice cream for a delicious dessert.
Make the Most of Our Leftovers
As highlighted recently in the press, it is important for us to start to waste less food and make the most of our leftovers. With these basic recipes and ideas, there is less excuse to throw food in the bin and add to the 3.6 million tonnes a year.
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