Love Food Hate Waste 2020

Frugalista

cornishchick said:

had some beef stew leftover, it had been in the slow cooker for a little too long so was a bit mushy. Added it to some cooked rice, with a spoon full of curry paste and a hand full of peas and made a kind of tasty biryani.

Brilliant save! That sounds really nice.

Frugalista

Just taken 4 garlic & herb naan breads out of the freezer to make room for some yellow sticker meat bargains.  Anyone got any ideas what I can make with them?  My meals are planned for the next few days so was wondering if I could make something that would extend their life/viability for a couple of days.  Come on folks - inspire me!!

Wraithlady

Naan bread pizzas? Or use them instead of pitta bread strips for eating hummus

Wraithlady

Or re-freeze them if you have the space in a day or so

Living_proof

I had a naan bread pizza last night and it was excellent. Also be aware that they last about five days past their best before date so don't be in a rush to give them to the birds! How about a savoury bread pudding with cheese sauce?

cinch

I read on MSE recently that you should not put avocados and bananas in the fridge.

Actually, you can and should if you want to stop them from going off, but only when they are ripe. Example you have some ripe avocados or bananas and no chance of eating them all before they become inedible.  Put them in the fridge, you will extend their "edibility" by a few days, the skin of the banana will become brown but inside it will look like fresh.

Thank you for the useful advice on this thread.

Living_proof

cinch said:

I read on MSE recently that you should not put avocados and bananas in the fridge.

Actually, you can and should if you want to stop them from going off, but only when they are ripe. Example you have some ripe avocados or bananas and no chance of eating them all before they become inedible.  Put them in the fridge, you will extend their "edibility" by a few days, the skin of the banana will become brown but inside it will look like fresh.

Thank you for the useful advice on this thread.

You can also freeze them although the bananas could only be used in baking or in smoothies, and the avocados in guacamole, etc.  I use them both in smoothies from frozen.

cbsexec

I agree about bananas in the fridge.  I find it extends their “edibility” too although the skins go brown the flesh doesn’t go mushy so quickly - gives a few extra days before I have to freeze them for banana cake 

London_1

Good Morning everyone ,
                                         crikey its over two years ago since I first posted about Love Food Hate Waste on here, and how its grown over the two years

Well I am still a great supporter of LFHW and my best to bin zero food if I can help it.

In that two years (not long afterwards I left the forum for awhile) we have had a dreadful pandemic that has changed everyones lives.

There is now the prospect of a recession/depression and a cost of living crisis not seen in the UK for decades. We are all in a turmoil about the utilities and heating costs, plus prices are racing upwards it seems almost daily.

All the more reason to think about what we actually throw away, when it comes to our food stuff. Hopefully the majority of us have fridges and or freezers, which will help no end to extend the life of our food.

Although I do know someone who freezes stuff ,then when looking at the date later will bin it ,even though its been frozen ???

Perhaps its time to think carefully about how much we actually buy  Obviously if you live in a rural community and have problems getting to the shops you have to stock up more.
But if you can get there easily and its not too difficult, why not revert to buying only what you have run low or out of and use up alternatives before replacing.

I have, since Christmas, been trying to run down my freezer so I can defrost it. Boy does it hold a lot of forgotten food.:)  I found an escaped choc ice the other day that must have been from last summer (very nice it was as well ) 

I have found and eaten some odd combinations but my shopping bill for the past three months has dropped dramatically and what's left at the end of the month gets rolled over to the next month.
 I literally buy only whats needed on my shopping list, and now am down to shopping for food twice a month instead of weekly. In fact this month I have been only once and then only spent just over £27.00 so I shall have a good roll over to Aprils budget hopefully.

 I know with a family, its a lot more difficult, and for me, as I live alone, I can please myself what to eat. I have used up a good deal of forgotten stuff in my freezer and even starting to make inroads into my tinned stash.

That's cold hard cash sitting in my cupboards and freezer, so I am doing my best to use it up before buying more.

 I keep a list by my armchair of things I may need, and before I go shopping I go through it again to ensure that if I can make an alternative from the cupbords then I will, and strike it off my list.

If my spuds are getting a bit of a sprout to them, I will peel, boil,  mash and freeze rather than bin. Every scrap of food I am able to use up I will.

Left overs are unheard of in my house and my freezer (especially as there is some wriggle room) gets fed with anything left that I can't eat at the time .

I found some really nice stuff in my tinned stash that I had forgotten I had, and used it up even my sardine stash is going down (My DDs think I have cornered the world market in tins of sardines ) a throwback to the days when I was young and extremely broke, and a tin of sardines made lots of things) I always seem to have at least 6 tins of them in the cupboards.

So perhaps go through your cupboards and see if you can find a meal thats I guarantee is lurking in there.

 Imagine if you were snowed in and couldn't get to a shop what you would find to eat . I have done this with my grandsons and they found it a great challenge but they usually come up with something.

That tail end bag of pudding rice and tin of evaporated milk can be turned into a rice pudding, no need to buy £3.00s worth of Mueller yogurt corners when you have a pudding in the cupboard.A dollop of jam, or some grated chocolate on top will jazz it up a bit.

I found a dented tin of chicken korma in my cupboard that I had bought after Christmas for a reduced price and a third went onto a jacket spud, and the other two thirds on top of a small portion of rice.Two unexpected meals from one tin,
OK chicken korma two night running may not have had variety, but it fed me two meals, and used up a tin.

I have used a tin of new potatoes ,some diced up in with a salad, and the rest sliced and fried and covered with beaten egg and a few herbs in an omelette.again two meals from one tin.

More difficult if you have several to feed but a mix up of meals ,even to a family wouldn't kill them and would use up what you have 

Food prices are sadly going to keep going up for a good while yet and its estimated that inflation will be running at 10% by this autumn. So its important to utilise every bit of food you have . 

I grew up with wartime rationing and post-war austerity when rationing was even surprisingly more difficult ,because of poor harvests.

So thinking about how we can get through the tough times ahead doesn't mean stockpiling now ,but perhaps buying less and using more of what we already have .

Fingers crossed we will soon come up with some ideas of how to use it up and not throw it away 

Let me know how you get on and what meals you have concocted with your odds and ends  

Good Luck everyone 

JackieO xx
 

London_1

P.S. Just had a thought, any spare cash you get squirrel it away for the coming winter to use either on extra fuel bills or food stuffs. I am a great squirreler when it comes to spare cash