Love food hate Waste Part two for 2018 :)

[Deleted User]

As i very rarely eat bread (certainly never buy it ) I find rice crackers a good substitute. I had a banana that was definitely past its best and I am not mad keen on banana cake/muffins so as the banana was going soft I decided I would just flatten it out and cover three rice cakes with it and drizzled a tiny bit of honey over it with a dash of grated cinnamon ,it was surprisingly tasty, and made a nice change at lunchtime and I had a diced up apple to follow so two at least of my five /seven a day
Much better than binning it and I had a lush treat which cost very little

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Had the last of the hm soup today - it had matured nicely & was very tasty with some hm focaccia :drool:

takingcontrolatlast

I'm not having much luck...

Yesterday was a horrible day for me at work and I couldnt wait to get home. I tried to take my mind off everything and de-stress by baking.

I thought I will use items I have in and the bananas were going brown and so I'd make a banana loaf. I got to the stage where I was to pour into the tin and thought the mixture didnt look right... I'd only put 2TBS of baking powder in and not 2tsp as I'd read the receipe wrong - so in the bin it went (I'd googled my error and too much can cause upset stomach and diarrohea). What a total waste

Anyway today is a new day!

I'm not planning on any shopping this weekend as hope to use what food I have in already.

I know today's delight is sausage casserole and that's as far as I have got. Going to have my 2nd coffee of the morning and then attack the kitchen (clean the oven is on my hit list) and then meal plan for the weekend and see how far I can get in the week with what is in the freezer/cupboards (may have to shop once payday comes in for top ups).

I'm really keen to buy some tomato plants for my first attempt at "growing my own" - not sure where to buy these... garden centre, supermarkets.. I'll have a shop around.

Enjoy the bank holiday everyone x

(P.S. - I love this forum - it's the only one I've stuck with and I dont feel stupid asking such basic questions like how do you freeze x, y and z etc - I'm learning so much - thank you)

marns

takingcontrolatlast wrote: »

I'm really keen to buy some tomato plants for my first attempt at "growing my own" - not sure where to buy these... garden centre, supermarkets.. I'll have a shop around.

If you want established plants you'll get more variety at a garden centre but Soooo expensive, check if you have any plant nursery's near by and check if you have any friends, family etc that grow their own....Most over sow and have to thin out anyway so they will be happy to save you some seedlings. Wilko often have tomato plants in which are a bit cheaper.

There's a guy who sells established plants at my local car boot too, he's obviously limited as to what he can get in his car so even if he dosn't have any, if you ask he might bring some next week. Also local allotments sometimes have table top sales of excess plants, look for notices in shops and bus shelters, or just ask around.

Top tip...you'l see a lot called 'Money Maker', avoid it....Produces lots of fruit but they are bland tasteless things.

Why not grow from seed tho, they germinate quickly and easily. You can get a pack with 6 different variety's for the price of one established plant and I have used left over seeds the following year with no problems...although they don't keep forever.

If you have some particularly nice toms you can save some seed. Just spread some out on some kitchen roll and leave on the window sill to dry out. Commercial seeds are treated with chemicals to preserve their shelf life so if you want to save any pop them in a zippy bag in the freezer. I use small envelops so I can write the variety on and put them all in one bag other wise they are lost in the frozen depths forever!

Good luck whatever you try, and welcome!

takingcontrolatlast

Thanks Marns - that's a really helpful post - and i'll avoid "money maker" :T

There are a few options in your post to choose from - I do know a colleague or 2 that have allotments and I will ask them as you suggested. I would love to be able to grow from seedling as I would then I suspect feel the most achievement. I did look at packet seeds in B*M yesterday - think they were £2 something for one packet so I thought I would shop around first - never thought of asking anyone!

I do have a mint plant that I picked up yesterday (50p) but I just don't know what to do with it tbh - any ideas on

1. How to use the leaves either in receipes or do i freeze them?
2. Do I just replant it - would a container be ok rather than in the garden (currently have artificial grass that came with the house and which I'm wanting to get rid of but DH says no atm).

I did pop the shops yesterday and on offer were punnets of blackberries for 9p !! I picked up 10 punnets of them and have frozen them - it was funny really as in my excitement I had put them all in a baggy to freeze and DH said you should have just left them in the punnets and freeze them individually to take out for work - so I then had to put them back in the punnets and wrap and freeze - but im sure I could have just taken out what I needed from the big zippy bag - but rolled with it :rotfl:

x

Brambling

TCL - mint is best kept in containers as it spreads and you're never get rid of it . I usually pick and chop when required rather than freezing but I don't use a lot of it in my cooking. You can add it to things like tabbouleh, make your own mint tea or mint sauce (which my mum alway did) or add to a jug of Pimms

Good deal on the blackberries, I usually freeze berries flat and store in a ziplock bag that stops them from sticking together in one clump, you can take out how many you need and they take up less space than the containers

takingcontrolatlast

Brambling wrote: »

TCL - mint is best kept in containers as it spreads and you're never get rid of it . I usually pick and chop when required rather than freezing but I don't use a lot of it in my cooking. You can add it to things like tabbouleh, make your own mint tea or mint sauce (which my mum alway did) or add to a jug of Pimms

Good deal on the blackberries, I usually freeze berries flat and store in a ziplock bag that stops them from sticking together in one clump, you can take out how many you need and they take up less space than the containers

I'm feeling the Pimms :rotfl:

Cheers - I'll do that next time with the fruit - not sure I'll get a good a bargain as that again though

[Deleted User]

I look forward to the autumn when the blackberries are around and my DGS and I go foraging .Also I have a friend who always donates a bag of apples from her tree as she always has too many and I peel slice and cook in honey and a dash of lemon and once cold freeze in portions to use during the winter in crumbles and pies etc.I am all for a bit of foraging I used up my bendy carrots and made enough soup for lunches this week, with some ground coriander and a couple of diced up sprouty spuds. Finished the last of my y/s large mushrooms. In my veggies I have a head of celery,a bunch of spring onions a sweetheart cabbage 1 kilo of salad spuds, 5 tomatoes, two thirds of a cucumber, a red pepper, half an iceberg lettuce and 6 sweet potatoes more than enough for this week and no shopping to buy at all:).I shall be eating stuff from my freezer and cupboards and will work the fresh veg into the menu Found a jar of strawberry jam with champagne at the back of the cupboard this morning that I was given last year, I will make a sponge cake to use some of it up tomorrow for my hollow-legged grandsons who are all at home for half term.They are like locusts. One of them, Henry, has just made himself a really nice lunch from odds and ends he found in the fridge
He boiled up some spaghetti, and diced a bit of left over chicken a slice of ham and some cold cooked streaky bacon and tossed it into the cooked spaghetti with some grated cheese and a healthy dollop of tomato ketchup and it looked really nice He is off to Essex Uni in September so I know he won't starve . Bless him he was so pleased that he had used up the bits and pieces in his 'Spaghetti Henry' :) and even his three brothers looked a bit enviously at his meal . Henry is very much like me and hates waste and has become quite interested in the LFHW campaign. I shall miss him when he flies the nest as he also makes a darned good cuppa

Tonight I am at quiz night at the pub so no cooking for me as I get fed there.

Nice to see how everyone is streetching their bits and pieces out

Cheers chums

JackieO xx

kboss2010

I’ve been wasting far too much food lately so I’m back on my ‘zero waste’ mission! I’m combining it with my ‘10 fruit & veg a day’ challenge & so far my creative use-ups this week have been:

- sweet potato, coconut & chilli soup
- “carrot cake” overnight oats (oats, HM oat milk, grated carrot, raisins, maple syrup, vanilla essence & mixed seeds)
- kiwi, strawberry, lemon & pea shoot smoothie
- kiwi, plum, pomegranate, pea shoot & yoghurt smoothie
- Banana loaf
- Broccoli, green bean, butternut squash, tomato, mushroom, leek & spring onion miso stir fry

... my only fail so far has been trying to use leftover cream to make fudge - it hasn’t set :mad:

takingcontrolatlast

kboss2010 wrote: »

I’ve been wasting far too much food lately so I’m back on my ‘zero waste’ mission! I’m combining it with my ‘10 fruit & veg a day’ challenge & so far my creative use-ups this week have been:

- sweet potato, coconut & chilli soup
- “carrot cake” overnight oats (oats, HM oat milk, grated carrot, raisins, maple syrup, vanilla essence & mixed seeds)
- kiwi, strawberry, lemon & pea shoot smoothie
- kiwi, plum, pomegranate, pea shoot & yoghurt smoothie
- Banana loaf
- Broccoli, green bean, butternut squash, tomato, mushroom, leek & spring onion miso stir fry

... my only fail so far has been trying to use leftover cream to make fudge - it hasn’t set :mad:

Hi,

Th sweet potato, coconut and chilli soup has caught my attention... do you have a receipe please?

x