MY TOP 5 TIPS FOR REDUCING FOOD WASTE
Oct 16, 2019It’s National Nutrition Week this week and not only are we raising awareness about Try for 5 (getting 5 serves of veggies in per day) but this year there is also a focus on embracing your veg waste instead of throwing it out. So here are my top 5 tips to accomplish this:
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Use up your stalks and leaves. For example, last night we had stir fry and when cutting up the broccoli I kept the leaves to add in and also diced up the stalk. Like wise when I roast cauliflower I often roast it whole or add the stalk to the tray too. When I use green beans I rarely cut the tips off, unless they seem particularly woody/hard - we’re not a fine dining restaurant after all!
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Wash don’t peel. Instead of peeling your carrots, beetroots, apples, pears, pumpkin, potatoes etc just give them a wash instead of peeling them. Buying organic can help to reduce toxin exposure so there’s even less reason to peel but even if not organic a simple wash can remove a lot of the chemical residue.
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Keep a container in the freezer for adding bits and bobs to. Whenever you have off cuts of veggies (carrots, celery, pumpkin, onion) or herbs add them to this container and when full use it to make a stock or soup.
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Zest your lemon/limes/oranges before using. You can freeze zest so keep some small bags in the freezer and every time you need to use the juice from the citrus, zest it first to keep in the freezer. This is a small saving but worth the effort to always have zest on hand!
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Make veggie bread or muffins. Most of the time we waste veggies because we leave them in the fridge too long and they start to spoil. This isn’t that appealing for salads and fresh cooked meals but is great for to turn into veggie bread (using this recipe) or muffins (using this recipe). You can simply replace the veggies used in these recipes for the ones you have on hand.
Composting, eating leftovers and adding scraps to yours dog/pets food are some other helpful habits to reduce your food waste. Storing food correctly will also help with this so have a read of my article here to ensure you are storing your fruit and veg correctly.
