Reduce Food Waste by Eating Kitchen Scraps
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As many of us look to save money our groceries, we should also be looking at ways to reduce the amount of food we waste. Eating scraps may sound unpleasant but when you see the ideas below you may feel differently. Food waste in the U.K is a huge problem but there are lots of things we can do to reduce what we waste by turning it into something tasty and delicious.
Reducing the amount of food waste we produce as a family is something I’m still working on. While we are definitely doing better, there are still plenty of ways we could improve too.
Reduce Food Waste by Eating Kitchen Scraps
When thinking about food waste it’s worth talking to our Grandparents and Great Grandparents or anyone alive during wartime Britain.
Very little was wasted during the war and I think we could learn a lot from their attitude to food waste – so much of what we throw away today could be eaten. Eating every scrap of food we can is great for the environment too.
Stop Wasting Food 40+ Food Waste Solutions
1. Eating Potato Peel
According to the Food Waste Institute, the most avoidable food waste is from potatoes. 359,000 tonnes of potatoes go uneaten every year, including 177,400 tonnes of potatoes thrown away completely whole and untouched.
This a huge amount – think how many people all those potatoes could feed.
I’ll admit I’m quite a lazy cook at home – I used to peel 25 to 50 kilos of potatoes at work each week and I hated it so I try to make things like potato wedges and skin-on chips where potatoes don’t need peeling.
I’m sure all the extra roughage is good for us too!
The only time I peel potatoes is when making mash or roasties.
Peeling with a peeler rather than a knife limits the amount of skin peeled. If you do use a knife the peeling could be made into potato skins – simply fry in the deep-fat fryer and season to taste.
These are delicious when topped with cheese and bacon and make a fantastic snack.
Don’t forget even if part of the potato is a bit soft it’s fine to cut it out and use the rest which will be fine to eat.
Storage also plays a big part in avoiding wasted food, so make sure potatoes are stored in a dark and cool place for the best chance of lasting.
Related Post: Is It Okay To Eat Potatoes That Have Sprouted?
2. Use Up Broccoli & Cauliflower Leaves And Stalks
When cooking broccoli and cauliflower we often throw away the tough stalks and the outer leaves and stems. These can be made into delicious soup with the addition of a few simple.
Try chopping as finely as possible and then boiling in water. Add chicken or vegetable stock and cream and then blitz for a tasty soup.
Alternatively, Foodologist Girl has a fantastic recipe for ‘Stem Soup
3. Being Careful With Carrots
One of the ways I try to avoid food waste when it comes to vegetables is by peeling as few of them as possible.
Carrots don’t need to be peeled and I usually just give them a gentle rub with green scourer rather than peeling properly. If you do peel carrots the peel can easily be made into stock soup or even carrot cake.
Another option is to turn them into carrot crisps – simply brush with olive oil and bake until crispy. Don’t forget the long green carrot tops can also be used in soups and stocks.
4. Use Up Your Meat Carcasses
The best thing to do with meat carcasses and bones is to turn them into a tasty stock.
Simply simmer on low heat for a few hours, along with any vegetable peelings and salt and pepper. Use a colander to drain the liquid into another pot.
Discard the vegetables and bones. I like to portion stock and then freeze ready to use in soups, stews and casseroles.
5. Don’t Waste Cooking Apples
If you’ve made a lovely apple pie or crumble don’t throw away the peel. Pop it in a pan with some water, sugar, cinnamon and star anise to make a lovely warming drink.
Once cool this can be frozen and pulled out and reheated when you fancy a nice winter warm-up – this would be perfect for bonfire night.
6. Don’t Let Cheese Rind Go To Waste
The best way to use up cheese rinds and odd bits of stale cheese is in a cheese sauce. Cheese rinds can be frozen until you’re ready to use them perfect if you’re not planning on making cheese sauce for a little while. Saving all these little bits could mean making a cheese sauce just from waste rather than using any fresh cheese at all.
7. Bread
The first thing most people do when finding stale bread is to throw it away.
But as long as it’s not mouldy there are many different things you can do with it.
Stale bread has the same nutritional value as fresh bread so there’s no harm in eating it:
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Breadcrumbs – grate stale bread and then leave out for a few hours for it to really harden up. Can be used in a multitude of ways including breading chicken and fish, as a topping for pasta and as a binding agent in homemade burgers.
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Croutons – Croutons can be made either by deep or shallow frying bread that has been cut into chunks. Herb, seasoning and garlic could be added for extra flavour.
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If an uncut loaf of bread is a little stale it can be revived by splashing with water and popping in the oven for ten minutes to warm through.
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Melba Toasts are perfect with pate – cut stale slices of bread as thinly as possible, roll with a rolling pin and toast under the grill.
More on stopping bread go to waste:
7 Things To Do With A Yellow Sticker Loaf of Bread
What To Do With Stale Bread – 9 Awesome Ideas
Freezer Garlic Bread- How To Make Garlic Bread For The Freezer
Cinnamon French Toast Bites Recipe (Using Leftover Bread)
8. More Vegetable Food Waste
Odd bits of vegetables like peppers and spring onions can be added to dishes where they will be cooked such as a pie, fritata or quiche.
Lettuce will go brown when cut with a knife so try gently tearing the leaves instead. Leftover chopped herbs can be frozen in an ice cube tray.
Do you have any tips for reducing kitchen waste?
Large Broccoli stalks can be added raw to green salads, just cut away the thicker outer peel to reveal the tender inner core, then slice into thin rounds. It has a slightly peppery flavour just like a crisp radish.
I also dehydrate excess fruit from my fruit trees ( ask your neighbours with fruit trees, they might be happy for you to pick fruit which will be rotting and causing a mess under their trees ) in my dehydrator, just slice apples etc. thinly with a mandolin, it keeps for many weeks in airtight containers and is a healthy snack.
Grow seed & been sprouts on your kitchen counter top in a big recycled glass bottle, some sprout in no time at all. Add to stir fry’s, sandwiches and salads.
Freeze fruit that softens quickly like blueberries and strawberries, bananas etc, then blitz them in a smoothie with either plain water, juice or milk. Banana, milk and a few teaspoons of cocoa powder is so good.
Vegetable greens scraps ( peelings too) can be made into a healthy green smoothie, just add some chopped apple for sweetness.
Blitz stale bread, crusts etc in a food processor and spread onto a baking tray to bake in the oven. The resulting breadcrumbs can be kept for coating chicken or fish. Once dried they keep for months.
Don’t throw away the vinegar and spices from your gherkin pickle jar (or pickled onions etc) once the gherkins are finished. You can use it as a salad dressing, you can add a bit of olive oil to taste, if you wish, and shake.
Brilliant tip, thanks so much 🙂