I'm looking forward to Hughs War on Waste programme this evening. Of course many of you already do your bit to reuse recycle and reduce waste, but I will put my hand up and say I could probably do more. I only recently learned from Jack Monroe that you could pickle left over bits of veg, just stick them in a jar in the fridge and they will last another month. I had never thought of that but will be trying it with any leftover veg I find at the back of the fridge. They usually get shoved into a soup or stew but this opens up a whole new world of flavour. Of course I will never manage to get my waste for a year to fit into a jar as the family in zero waste home have achieved but I try to do my bit. A lot of it is achieved with very little effort on my part, bottles, cans, milk cartons, newspaper and cardboard among other things are put in the recycling bags to be taken away for recycling by the council. Clothing either goes to the charity shop or is cut up for quilts or rag rugs. Uncooked kitchen scraps go in the compost bin, while leftover cooked food is made into another meal that is just as tasty. Yesterdays roast is todays curried bubble and squeak with home grown tomatoes.
While the blackberries picked from the hedgerow which would have gone to waste as nobody around here seems to bother to pick them anymore, were taken out of the freezer and made into a delicious blackberry and apple crumble for our dessert yesterday. Over ripe bananas were mashed up and mixed with oats, seeds, melted honey, coconut oil and peanut butter to make healthier flapjacks.
So what are your favourite ways to fight a war on waste?
Chickpea xx
I'm with you on waste, my mother threw nothing away. We try and recycle everything and free-cycle all the time, there is always someone who will come and take what you no longer require. I am pleased we don't get so many carrier bags, I have a couple of cotton cloth bags.
ReplyDeleteFreegle is a great way of passing on things you don't want, we recently gave away our old bikes, it was lovely seeing them go to new homes
DeleteI welcome the carrier bag charge too - in fact I think it should be 20 per single use bag and apply to every retailer! There seem to be a lot of people out there who really do need to get a grip from what I've overheard recently in shops! I've been using my own jute or reusable bags in shops since I was 20ish (that's about 12 years!) so it's not a knew thing and I don't know why some people find it so offensive that they have to pay 5p for the privilege of killing wildlife and clogging the oceans with plastic! I'd better stop before I join you on the soapbox ;)
ReplyDeleteOh you are welcome on my soapbox Louise, it gets a bit lonely up here sometimes.
DeleteThe free carrier bag ended in Wales a few years ago, it took us a bit of getting use to but now its second nature to take a shopping bag to the shops, We will be watching Hugh tonight, our waste reduced when we moved here and now have very little, your meal looks lovely :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you it tasted good, I love leftovers :)
DeleteOoh they look yummy! We do as everyone else. Not eating much meat means less waste too. I am fanatic about using everything. We used to say that it had to fulfil its destiny and if it wasn't eaten by humans or animals, we had failed in our purpose! I shall watch Nigella, then tune into Hugh - that's my evening sorted.
ReplyDeleteFulfil its destiny - I like that!
DeleteI am with you all the way, I was brought up to waste nothing. I learnt my lessons so well that they became ingrained, we have recycling bags from the council for just about everything. we also get a food waste bin, very little goes in that Raw veg and fruit peelings go in the compost, leftover cooked food gets turned into something else, any bones are boiled up for stock and from them only the chicken bones get thrown, Ben has the rest. I have always made bags so the charge has not affected me at all.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to having a dog, our cat is too fussy to eat any meat the bearded one leaves.
DeleteYou are so right. I try to buy just the right amount of food that we'll use in the week so that there isn't any waste, you can easily get carried away buying things that you won't eat. I asked the farm where I pick my veg whether they grow things for shops but they tried it one year but the shops only wanted the strawberries one size which made the experience a right palaver. Let's hope Hugh sorts it out. Thanks for your messages btw. :-)
ReplyDeleteMakes me so angry, perfectly good food thrown away because it is the wrong size!!
DeleteI watched Hugh's programme last night. The amount of waste is shameful - those poor farmers having to dispose of mountains of perfectly good parsnips, just because they didn't conform to the supermarket's desired shape and size. I for one wouldn't mind knobbly fruit or veg; let's hope that he manages to get the supermarkets to rethink. Your bubble and squeak looks delish. xx
ReplyDeleteHeartbreaking for them after all that work!
DeleteExcellent post! Waste is a huge concern for Dan and me too. I have figured out that the only waste we have is from things we buy! All that packaging, breaking parts, and products that need replacing; there is little use for any of it. Everything we produce at home is used somewhere or fed to one or the other of our critters if we haven't eaten it ourselves. It is a learning process though, because our culture teaches us to throw things away. My current pet peeve is laundry baskets. They are only made out of plastic and if I'm lucky, last about a year. My current one has broken handles but I refuse to buy another. I need an alternative for carrying laundry to and from the clothesline!
ReplyDeleteA good willow basket will last for years Leigh, I hope to make one when I have the time
DeleteThe program was excellent and it should be compulsory to show this program in schools and his next weeks program. If people really do chuck one third of all food in the bin it shows that either food is far too cheap ( which is my view) or that people have too much money. Supermarkets have far too much power, both over their producers and their customers. There also needs to be a big government backed campaign drumming into people what 'Use Buy' and 'Best Before' actually means. Of course the best way to avoid waste is to produce your own food as Leigh has said, but not everyone is able to do this. We are a zero food waste household because we dig what we need for that days meal, if we dig or pick too much to us that is wasted time that we spent growing it in the fist place.
ReplyDeleteI hate the way supermarkets drive prices down, it is the farmers who take the hit, not them!
DeleteI have to confess to throwing out a fair bit of food. I still seem to have a hard time adjusting to the fact there are only two of us to feed now, after years of feeding so many people. I've been tempted to order his new cookbook about using leftovers. have you seen it? I'm wondering if it's any good.
ReplyDeleteHi Kristie, no I haven't seen it yet, I will be having a peek when I'm next in town and let you know
DeleteAgree with you entirely! The charge for carrier bags is far too low but better than nothing, as for the bags for life.............Pah! What is wrong with the good old fashioned shopping basket? Or any other bag made from natural materials.
ReplyDeleteLeftovers often make the tastiest meals.
The best thing would be to get rid of all the sell by and use by dates on packaging and let people develop their common sense.
If you cook for six when there is only two of you, tub up ready meals for the freezer. Make soups and curries.
Shop in small shops and in the markets, and of course in farm shops. Don't put money and power into the hands of the supermarkets,. Give your respect and loyalty to the producers or we will lose most of them.
To waste food, particularly meat, but all food is showing a disregard of and contempt for life. All life!
Sorry for soapbox but had to be said.
Haha don't worry about the soapbox, I'm on it quite often. I get a weekly veg box that only sources the produce from farms in Cornwall and pay the farmers a fair price. The veg are all sizes and shapes and taste far better than things shipped half way across the country or even world. I also get milk eggs and meat from them as they know the farms and check the welfare standards of their suppliers.
DeleteI can't abide waste, I reuse, recyle, repurpose just about anything and certainly wouldn't throw away food, I do exactly the same as you with any leftover veg. People seem to be so lazy now and can't be bothered.
ReplyDeleteI think people are frightened of best before dates, they really think the food will make them ill and throw it away just in case. The cookery programmes are all about making things with fresh produce, more education about what we can do with leftovers may give people the confidence to use leftovers. I was lucky to have a mum who knew what to do with leftovers. Even frying leftover pasties, though leftover pasties were very rare!
DeleteI work in a supermarket, and it has been surprising how quickly people have adapted, mostly bringing their own bags with them. The very small minority have the attitude of 'its only 5p' and still buy bags every time, and crossed fingers, I have only seen one person rant about the charge. People seem to have embraced it.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to hear, and I like looking down the line of tills and not seeing mountains of carrier bags.
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