Don't Throw Food Away Challenge 2012

Kylieminoag

Have to declare throwing away a slice of HM chicken and leek pie that had been heated and cooled twice..... really didnt dare do it a third time. (BiL had promised to eat it and then declined....grrr!:mad:)

I've added up the ingredients for the whole pie and divided by 8 which is how many portions it made and I reckon its only about 35p

Better update my signature.... boo hoo - was doing so well til then!

Hope you are all having a good month too.

Byatt

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Pesto is far too expensive to waste although I will agree yours sounds as though it was past the point of no return. Apart from the usual pasta, it's great to liven up sandwiches, for dipping foccacia in, improving couscous salads. I tend to extract the dregs out with just a little olive oil (and a good shake!) and spoon over cherry tomatoes.

That sounds soooooo good. I now know what to do with a jar of pesto I have.

starbee

Made a chilli yesterday, and managed to incorporate a soft apple & carrot. Normally put past-it apples into HM curry, which sweeten nicely without adding sugar, and wasn't sure if it would work in chilli, but it did! :j It added vegetable/fruit fibre bulk, used them up, and OH was none the wiser...

Emuchops

Kylieminoag wrote: »

Have to declare half a jar of pesto with a thick fur coat..... so 40p wasted to add to total bbbboooo!

I wish i had frozen it in ice cube tray straight away ... it grew the coat very quickly - less than a fortnight.

Ah well... am still really chuffed with total so far this month - thanks for all your fab ideas :beer::beer::beer:

You don't even have to faff around with the ice cube trays-just put the jar in the freezer. Take it out about half an hour before you need it, use what you want, then put it back in the freezer. Works for me.

squeaky

Bread disaster. I've been working on a "batter bread", quick and easy, but went too far to the wet side. After cooking I sliced the end off the lovely crust...

..only to have the remainder of the "bread" slowly ooze out onto the bread board!

Ho Hum. 25p gone.

Firemunchkin

Love the idea about putting apple into curry or chilli to avoid having to put sugar in - that's one I'll remember. I put super-salty olives into a chilli once and I didn't need to add any extra salt, it's better for you I think that way.

Re the coconut yoghurt - use for cakes yes, or a curry would work well too. Or chop up some fruit and have a healthy dessert.

Banana/raspberry/yoghurt I think sounds yum - I like chopping up banana and other fruit and having it in yoghurt, it's healthy, sweet and really fills me up for the afternoon.

I've been quiet on this forum for a bit, The Big Eat is going well - we had salmon en croute the other night made with filo pastry & HM pesto from the freezer. I also made some sausage rolls and will make spring rolls this weekend with the rest of the filo. Great fun!

Re the challenge - we've only been throwing away food that's not been eaten from the plate, but that's reducing too. I'd estimate about £1.50 so far this month on throw aways. It's also saving me money cos I'm not using up so many compostable caddy bags.

We've come up with some great ways to use broccoli that looks like it's past its best. Normally, after a week, a few of the bits are going yellowy and it's no longer good to have steamed as a side veg and so we normally chuck it. No longer! We had half of it par-steamed and then stir fried with some beef, chilli, garlic, oyster sauce & noodles - yum! The other half we had last night griddled with garlic and chilli, then fried lightly with some sesame oil alongside white fish which was cooked the same. Absolutely delicious.

If anybody ever cannot think of something exciting to do with that vegetable that's slightly going - please do try these sites:

http://www.riverford.co.uk/wash/recipes/
http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/recipes

I couldn't live without them!

skyeceilo

Has anyone got any ideas to use up stale jaffa cakes. My OH opened the pack and didnt tell me where they were and now they are stale :0(

skyeceilo

Oh redlady-1 if you have any rasperberry yougurt left - make up a rasperberry jelly with just the hot water part and instead of adding the cold water or fruit juice add the yougurt when cooled and mix. It makes a yummy jelly mousse dessert (weightwatchers receipe many years ago) i do it all the time with any yougurt going "foodsty" :0)

DundeeDoll

Firemunchkin wrote: »

Re the challenge - we've only been throwing away food that's not been eaten from the plate, but that's reducing too. I'd estimate about £1.50 so far this month on throw aways. It's also saving me money cos I'm not using up so many compostable caddy bags.

Having got totally addicted to this challenge, we're now no longer tempted to serve out whole of meal 'to finish it off' but instead put anything left in the freezer so e.g. one portion HM soup, one portion HM stew for instant meals. Have also frozen left over lemons by quartering and putting flat on tray. Now frozen have transferred them to a bag. Only taking half a loaf out of freezer at a time is working so well can't believe I didn't do it before (thanks for whoever posted that advice). Going off to a funeral down south tomorrow, so today's challenge is to use up all left over veg to make tomato sauce for pasta :P

debbiedeejay

skyeceilo wrote: »

Has anyone got any ideas to use up stale jaffa cakes. My OH opened the pack and didnt tell me where they were and now they are stale :0(

Errm what about soaking them in some orange liquor or just syrup/jelly and use them in a base for a tangerine and chocolate trifle?