Facts surrounding food waste in the UK are staggering. Each year 15 million tonnes of food is wasted in the UK alone, 4.2 tonnes of which is edible! That's the equivalent to the average family throwing out £700 of food every year.
Not only is this burning a hole in our pockets, but it's negatively impacting the environment. In London alone food waste is contributing more to climate change than packaging waste!
Here's 4 easy tips to use up your leftovers and reduce your food waste:
1) Harness the power of the freezer
Freeze leftover vegetable, beef, chicken or fish stock into ice trays and pop these out whenever you need to add a boost of flavour to a dish. You can do the same with spinach that's about to turn and use the frozen cubes in your smoothie for an added nutrient boost.
2) Don't chuck vegetable peelings
Vegetable peelings from potatoes, carrots and parsnips can be roasted to make vegetable crisps, just be sure to wash them before cooking. We like baking them with a sprinkling of Cornish sea salt and some fresh rosemary. Carrot peelings can also be used to add flavour to a homemade vegetable stock.
3) Store your seeds
Reserve the seeds from your pumpkin or squash and make these into a tasty nutrient-rich snack. Simply rinse the vegetable, pulling off any remaining flesh from the seeds. Then bake at 160C for 30 mins with a pinch of smoked paprika and tamari, for a healthy afternoon treat.
4) Root to shoot
Many people are in the habit of throwing away parts of vegetables that can actually be used. For example, when using cauliflower, try thinly slicing and stir-frying the leaves, like we've done in our beef skewer recipe with cauli mash. Or when using herbs, use the stalk too for some extra flavour, as we have in our delicious West African chicken, coriander and peanut stew recipe.
Want to cut your food waste further? Why not try your first Mindful Chef recipe box with £10 off. All of the ingredients we send are pre-portioned, so you only receive the exact quantity you need, helping eliminate food waste.
