Don't Throw Food Away Challenge 2012

mrsd

Tonight we had pie made with last nights roast LO. Only threw away few pence worth of HM pastry as not enough to make anything else with and had already trimmed the top, and had got it out of freezer so could not freeze. For pudding it was some little frosted cakes I bought to have at Christmas and we did not eat with some pears. Am now planning what I can use in packed lunches tomorrow.

wannabee_in_credit

Grrrr! I'm devastated, just found a half used pot of single cream that was so off it was almost walking out of the fridge on its own.
And I found a pot of ready made jelly at the back of a cupboard that had gone brown rather than orange.
So they are both most definitely in the bin.
Made some strange concoction of leftover pasta with sausages, ham, peas, tomatoes and a can of mushroom soup for sauce. Who knows if it'll be any good, but has to be worth a try. It made 2 meals worth...

PixieDust

Tonight we had "pizza surprise" (;) ) using leftovers. There were leftover salami slices so I made some pizza dough in the breadmaker, covered it with tom puree and then put the shredded salami on to it. Then thinly sliced two sad looking mushrooms and put those on. Next I grated up the leftover Christmas cheeses (mature cheddar, a piece of goats cheese that DD chose and never ate (I had to scrape the green off it before I grated it!), and there was a small amount of smoked orangey coloured cheese that was annoying me, so that went into the mix too. Then I thinly sliced a leftover cooked sausage and put that on top of the cheese, and then used scissors to snip rings of the green bits of spring onion.

I was, frankly, amazed when both kids said they loved it!!!! :eek: If DS had known there was goat's cheese in there he wouldn't have touched it, and DD usually baulks at salami and mushrooms. But it went down really well with salad, and cost next to nothing <--- Chuffed Pixie

freedom2011

I have just realised I have some eggs dated 8th (Sunday) I really don't want to throw them out, it seems a crying shame. Does anyone know the current views on the safety of eggs? I am kicking myself for not noticing.:o

Linz4383

hi would love to join this challenge i have been lurkin for a few days and it has made me use up some carrots rather than throw them away (not much i no but its a start plus id not been shoppin yet) i spose every little helps everyones doin really well and theres some great recipe ideas knockin about on these forums ive even started writin the recipes down in a book (have about 40) that id like to try so hopefully ill do ok im thinkin of settin £5 as my target to start with as i dont think i tend to throw much out although i do intend on cookin more meals so that could leave me with more waste :S but well see hopefully ill b able to freeze whats not eaten my biggest problem tends to be milk and bread although i have started to freeze my bread and i have also started to save sum 500ml bottles to freeze sum milk this is the first time ive ever done this so i hope its ok

Firemunchkin

So made a shepherd's pie using some of the soya beans from the freezer and a portion of the pre-frozen carrots. Plus, was uber good and made the stock for it by mixing the stock granules and water in the pan I'd cooked the meat in first, so absolutely zero waste. Got 6 portions out of it so the OH and I have had it for work lunches and the rest has gone in the freezer for later this month. I would say that each portion has only cost about £1.50 to make so I'm really pleased with that - and it's much nicer than what you would buy for £5 in city cafes!

Tonight I'm making a bacon & veg pasta dish using almost exclusively odds and ends that need using up: 3 slices of bacon, the last of the green olives, 1/2 chilli, a few oldish mushrooms, 1/2 pepper, handful of kale, a few spring onions, 3/4 tin chopped tomatoes. Yum.

Still no more throw aways - standing firm at 30p.

Mags_cat

freedom2011 wrote: »

I have just realised I have some eggs dated 8th (Sunday) I really don't want to throw them out, it seems a crying shame. Does anyone know the current views on the safety of eggs? I am kicking myself for not noticing.:o

Get a glass of water and put an egg in it. If it sinks to the bottom, it's fine (quite fresh, actually). If it floats on the surface it's probably best to bin it. This happens because the air pocket in the egg gets bigger as the egg ages - the egg itself shrinks, so there's more air.

If it floats halfway up the glass, might be best just to use it for baking as opposed to eating on its own.

Firemunchkin

freedom2011 wrote: »

I have just realised I have some eggs dated 8th (Sunday) I really don't want to throw them out, it seems a crying shame. Does anyone know the current views on the safety of eggs? I am kicking myself for not noticing.:o

I've never looked at the dates for eggs, I always use the old fashioned ways of checking. The date is a best before anyway I think, so if it's only Sunday you're probably fine for at least another week. I'd make an effort to bake with them or make some breaded chicken/fish this week so you don't have to throw them out.

There's a couple of ways you can check: shake it by your ear, if you can hear something hard rattling that's the yolk that's solidified and it's no longer any good. But it has to really really rattle, you'll know when you hear it. Or, place it in a cup/bowl of water, if the entire egg floats it's no good. See this link for added assistance. http://www.helpwithcooking.com/egg-guide/fresh-egg-test.html

freedom2011

Mags_cat wrote: »

Get a glass of water and put an egg in it. If it sinks to the bottom, it's fine (quite fresh, actually). If it floats on the surface it's probably best to bin it. This happens because the air pocket in the egg gets bigger as the egg ages - the egg itself shrinks, so there's more air.

If it floats halfway up the glass, might be best just to use it for baking as opposed to eating on its own.

Firemunchkin wrote: »

I've never looked at the dates for eggs, I always use the old fashioned ways of checking. The date is a best before anyway I think, so if it's only Sunday you're probably fine for at least another week. I'd make an effort to bake with them or make some breaded chicken/fish this week so you don't have to throw them out.

There's a couple of ways you can check: shake it by your ear, if you can hear something hard rattling that's the yolk that's solidified and it's no longer any good. But it has to really really rattle, you'll know when you hear it. Or, place it in a cup/bowl of water, if the entire egg floats it's no good. See this link for added assistance. http://www.helpwithcooking.com/egg-guide/fresh-egg-test.html

Thank you, I love this site! Good news 5 still stay at the bottom, only one floated to the top - off to make some sponge cake now.:j

Yorkielass

Firemunchkin wrote: »

Or why not defrost one thing each day and finding out what it is first, and seeing if you can make something with it?

linz4383 wrote: »

i agree.. surely thats better than wastin good food????

The stuff I had lurking in the back on my freezer in unlabelled pots was certainly best off in the bin, and given the very small amount of time I have at home each day at the moment I need to carefully meal plan - no time for preparing surprise meals.

I'm not saying that won't work for someone else though - I was just making a suggestion that if someone has odds and ends of very old unlabelled food in a freezer that's stressing them out maybe it's best to 'wipe the slate' clean and start again.

I'm still on no throw aways here so far in 2012 - very pleased with myself (and getting through my labelled freezer stuff too )