The MSE Food Waste Challenge Thread

LameWolf

We have one wheelie bin, which is meant for garden and food waste; in reality, it only gets garden waste. Our other "rubbish" disposal is a blue plastic box for glassware, a pink plastic sack for tins, paper, card and plastic, and the black rubbish bag for landfill, which I reckon to put out once every four to six weeks, and contains mainly "vacuum cleaner droppings" iyswim. We're a host family for a dog-sitting service, so I get a lot of dog hair to get rid of.

Any veg peelings etc go in the compost; and I crush up eggshells to use to discourage slugs from getting in my patio pots. I also tend to scrub, rather than peel, root veg; so it's really mainly onion outer skin, banana skins, apple/pear cores and lemon peel to go in the compost. I have a slice of lemon in my cup of tea in preference to milk, and Mr LW thinks it hilarious that I eat the fruit part of the lemon when I've drunk the tea and just leave the peel!

The only tiny amount of actual waste we've had recently is when we've trimmed off scabby bits from the fruit & veg I get at the market - I go for the mahoosive bowls of stuff for £1 each, so the odd little bit that has to be trimmed off a spud or an apple is a small price to pay.:o

Florence_J

Some fantastic tips people, great work by all of you.

Rubbish waste is something I am desperately trying to get down. I am trying to source places where I live that will take the rubbish my council won't.

I was thinking the other day about how even though I buy 'cheap' clothes and shoes because I can't afford anything more than that, I do take care of them. I bought one winter coat around 3 years ago, and another winter coat last year in a radically different style, and I wouldn't dream of getting rid of either. I try to keep them as clean as i can, and do dry clean them as often as the budget allows, because they were cheap they did lose buttons/get rips in seams and I take them to my local dressmakers to repair (A true OS would do it themselves but I lack these skills)

I also haven't bought a new pair of shoes (other than a specific pair for my friends wedding) since last May. Because when I wear holes in them I take them to a cobbler.

I also know that a true OS probably hasn't bought a new coat or pair of shoes in the last 20 years but I am a new OS wannabe.

I do buy cheaply, but I buy items I love, so that I do value repairing them rather than getting rid of them if they lose their sheen.

I hate waste and try my best to avoid it. Sorry to go off topic from food.

Thriftkitten

JackieO wrote: »

Shape into patties dip in flour then egg and myself I coat it again in dried sage and onion stuffing to give a bit extra flavour then either fry in a shallow pan or dry roast in the oven ,or if not needed straight away freeze for another day Basically rissoles as we called them when I young, more veg content than meat but a tasty addition for a mid week meal with maybe chips and beans

Excellent many thanks x

Money_saving_maniac

Florence_J wrote: »

Some fantastic tips people, great work by all of you.

Rubbish waste is something I am desperately trying to get down. I am trying to source places where I live that will take the rubbish my council won't.

I was thinking the other day about how even though I buy 'cheap' clothes and shoes because I can't afford anything more than that, I do take care of them. I bought one winter coat around 3 years ago, and another winter coat last year in a radically different style, and I wouldn't dream of getting rid of either. I try to keep them as clean as i can, and do dry clean them as often as the budget allows, because they were cheap they did lose buttons/get rips in seams and I take them to my local dressmakers to repair (A true OS would do it themselves but I lack these skills)

I also haven't bought a new pair of shoes (other than a specific pair for my friends wedding) since last May. Because when I wear holes in them I take them to a cobbler.

I also know that a true OS probably hasn't bought a new coat or pair of shoes in the last 20 years but I am a new OS wannabe.

I do buy cheaply, but I buy items I love, so that I do value repairing them rather than getting rid of them if they lose their sheen.

I hate waste and try my best to avoid it. Sorry to go off topic from food.

Sometimes buying expensive is better value, a lot of cheap shoes and clothes are not worth repairing, they are designed to be thrown away, whereas a really good quality item will last for years. I have a faux fur coat that I bought 25 years ago, it was £80 then I think ..could have been £40...anyway a lot of money either way then, but look at the length of time it has lasted. People still admire it and ask me where I bought it.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm finding in recent years that it's "buy cheap, buy twice". I have to be a bit careful these days even when buying teeshirts from Marks & Spencers - to make sure they are the quality I'm used to. A couple I've bought from there in recent years have ended up coming apart at the seams or getting a hole in them and I've not had nearly as much use as I was due from them before I had to throw them out - whereas I have older ones from years back that are still in one piece (just rather faded by now...).

Back on the topic of food - mini-wins for today being I've decided it's probably going to take me a while to get round to using the rest of a bunch of spring onions. So I've just planted them out in the garden and will leave them to grow on and harvest them later. I've done this before and they're actually quite a different "taste" then and I prefer it. Some leeks I grew in the garden anyway have been harvested and the roots plus about 1" or so of the base have been re-planted a few weeks back and I can see they are currently growing further leeks for me.

A meal today is going to include the other half of a can of kidney beans I stuck in the freezer some time back and some quorn "mince" ditto and some sorrel pesto I could see I wasnt going to finish in time before it went off - so it went in the freezer. Add some tomatoes and flavourings and have some "filler" food of some description with it and that will cover a main meal today.

mrs_motivated

Hi folks,


Another fan here of buying quality clothes, they do last for years and still look good. Shoes, however, I do seem to wear out even when I get good quality ones.


Food wise, I have had a good week the only waste was some milk, which was well past the use by date and starting to turn. I did have a couple of carrots that were past their best, but I finely chopped them and added them to a cottage pie which has been frozen for later in the week.


Loved the tip about wrapping lettuce and cucumber in foil as I think these are the things that get wasted most in my house, so I will definitely give that a go.

suki1964

I'm sorry that the op felt chastised, that really wasn't my reason for posting

When I came to this forum I thought I was doing my best. However the team on here showed me the errors of my ways and I strive to have zero waste

Yes I'm lucky now I have hens. You know what?, without having them I'd be here saying I dumped ( last nights example) half a portion of super noodles ( granddaughter) and three slices of bread


The dog ( who won't be with us next week) and the hens, kind of allows me to be a bit lax on food waste. So I'm wasting it as human food but I shrug it off because the animals eat it. Not really worth clapping myself on the back for really


I think I need to think more about waste. It's too easy for me to say my black bin is empty, but my recycled bin is full every two weeks so I'm doing something wrong

Florence_J

suki1964 wrote: »

I'm sorry that the op felt chastised, that really wasn't my reason for posting

When I came to this forum I thought I was doing my best. However the team on here showed me the errors of my ways and I strive to have zero waste

Yes I'm lucky now I have hens. You know what?, without having them I'd be here saying I dumped ( last nights example) half a portion of super noodles ( granddaughter) and three slices of bread


The dog ( who won't be with us next week) and the hens, kind of allows me to be a bit lax on food waste. So I'm wasting it as human food but I shrug it off because the animals eat it. Not really worth clapping myself on the back for really


I think I need to think more about waste. It's too easy for me to say my black bin is empty, but my recycled bin is full every two weeks so I'm doing something wrong

Don't worry, I didn't feel chastised, now I'm sorry that I made you feel that I was! :rotfl:

Totally agree with buying quality and 'Buy Cheap Buy Twice', alas my budget allows me little choice.

No food waste to report all week, huzzah! Did have to do an emergency change on the food waste bin though as the bag was dangerously close to over flowing. My OH has been around the house more than me this week and does a lot of the cooking, but he is very much the type of person who stuffs and stuffs bins to breaking point without thinking to change the bags.

PuggletPie

Tesco Orachard are currently running a programme to combat food wastage. 'Love Food Hate Waste'.
The programme is designed to to help save you money, and put an end to good food going to waste in your home. The programme also gives you hints and ideas to help reduce your food waste in your own home, with recipes to use up your leftovers, hints to understand what food labels mean and how to make the most of your fridge and freezer space. Plus, you can gain more of an insight into how Tesco's Community Food Connection programme works.

Primrose

I think one of the best ways of avoiding food waste is menu planning, even though sometimes we're all too busy to do it. That way you can cook a little extra and instead of throwing it away, incorporate it in another meal the next day. In this house veg peelings and egg shells go on the compost heap, stock from ham hocks or chickens are used for soup, and "Bottom of the fridge soup" is a regular, especially in winter months when vegs are augmented from stuff growing in the garden. Wrinkly apples in the fruit bowl get cooked down with a few sultanas and eaten with porridge. Stale bread crusts are stored up in the freezer, cut into small cubes and baked in the oven on a tray sprinkled with olive oil and chopped garlic to make tasty croutons.