Love Food Hate Waste 2020

[Deleted User] · 15 January 2020 at 10:25AM

Hello chums just thought as its a new decade and New Year we should update things a bit .Since I started a couple of years ago it has grown into lots of lovely folk writing in and saying how they have managed to streeetch their food out a bit, and no longer bin things as they did .I am really pleased and think all of you deserve a bit pat on the back for all your efforts.

So much food is bought and ends up in landfill its really as bad as the dumping of plastic waste Ok it eventually decays ,but think of the space its taking up at the same time, its another precious resource that being wasted

So it would be interesting to see how much the LFHW has changed your attitudes to buying and stocking foodstuff and how much its changed the way you shop and cook,

So get writing chums and lets see how things have changed for you just buy even perhaps stopping and thinking ' Hmm perhaps I can use this in something else tomorrow '

It's become second nature to me now ,although I must admit I have never been keen on throwing good food in the bin, but that's more of a generational thing as I grew up with war time rationing when virtually nothing was wasted at all

So let's hear about your triumphs and disasters in LFHW

Cheers JackieO xx

[Deleted User] · 15 January 2020 at 2:33PM

Just had a rummage in the freezer and decided that tonights dinner will be a couple of grilled sausages and one of my bubble and squeak burgers that I made last week with a poached egg on top. apart from the egg the rest were in mt freezer so another low cost dinner tonight

I have some pears in the bottom of my fridge which I will have after for pudding, again nothing bought but everything from existing food stocks

bouicca21 · 15 January 2020 at 2:41PM

I made a delicious lentil lasagne yesterday. The lasagne packet had got pushed to the back of the cupboard - it had a sell by date of August 2015!

Mummy2cheekymonkeys · 15 January 2020 at 6:38PM

Dinner last night was roast dinner pasties which I made with all the leftovers from Christmas dinner and had put in the freezer. Was really nice not to have to cook. Life is pretty hectic at the moment!!

YorksLass · 15 January 2020 at 6:45PM

Hi Jackie, thanks for setting up a new thread for 2020. I was thinking only the other day how the original thread has grown (1.9k replies, not forgetting we lost a lot of posts too so it would probably have gone over the 2k mark).

Although I've never really wasted much food in the past I have found myself doing things differently. Now I know exactly what I have in (fridge, freezer, cupboards); I do a meal plan every week based around what I already have; often substitute items instead of buying more; stick to my shopping list better and pay in cash rather than use a card. I used to do online shops for delivery once or twice a month - now it's once every two months. I still look out for ys items and other bargains but am more selective now about which ones I'll spend hard cash on. I have a £3 MOC to use by the end of this week but I'd need to spend £40 first, so I've decided not to bother. After all, I'm only planning to do a small shop on Friday and that should only cost around £10.

I use the SC, MW and air fryer a lot more instead of putting the big oven on and I've noticed I'm not spending as much on electricity (added bonus), The SC provides double, sometimes triple, quantities when batch cooking so plenty of hm "ready meals" in the freezer too.

I decided to make January a "spend as little as possible" month and so far have spent £50.24 on groceries (for two people). Freezer contents will provide the bulk of meals for the rest of the month and I'll only need to buy milk plus F&V, so I'm aiming to have a decent surplus to divert to our holiday pot.

You're right, our food is much too precious a resource to waste - you might just as well open your purse, hold it over the bin and tip all your cash in there.

Looking forward to others' thoughts.

candygirl · 15 January 2020 at 7:42PM

Yaay.So glad this thread is back :j
I've used up wilted carrots, celery, n onions, n made a yummy soup, with a squirt of garlic n chilli of course:D Had it with crunchy tiger bread n it was delish

kacie · 15 January 2020 at 7:42PM

Just thinking about switching to more frozen veg as I always end up throwing some away, it's such a waste but I do prefer fresh and they are all too much for me as a single, root veg I will easily make soup with but things like cabbage I end up wasting.

candygirl · 15 January 2020 at 7:45PM

kacie wrote: »

Just thinking about switching to more frozen veg as I always end up throwing some away, it's such a waste but I do prefer fresh and they are all too much for me as a single, root veg I will easily make soup with but things like cabbage I end up wasting.

I always get frozen leeks, n cauli, otherwise they just go off .Carrots have to be fresh, as I have a pooch that's addicted to them :rotfl:

kacie · 15 January 2020 at 7:48PM

candygirl wrote: »

I always get frozen leeks, n cauli, otherwise they just go off .Carrots have to be fresh, as I have a pooch that's addicted to them :rotfl:

Leeks I get fresh as if I don't use them up I make a batch of creamed leeks and freeze that, thanks for the reminder that I have carrots to use up too! I forgot about those!

I do like frozen parsnips though, thinking might get some frozen sweetcorn to try.

[Deleted User] · 15 January 2020 at 11:23PM

I bought in my F&V as of part my last shop last Friday a sweetheart cabbage and a cauliflower .Both of which I wrapped in foil and keep in my fridge. I had a quarter of the cauli on Monday night with my dinner, also about a quarter of the cabbage.both rewrapped and back in the fridge.I steam my veg and along with the green veg which I cooked on the top half of the steamer ,in the bottom bit I had a couple of peeled and sliced carrots as they take a bit more cooking so I always put them in the bottom bit .The rest of the three carrots I had left I topped,tailed, peeled and put in a small bowl of water in the fridge I change the water every couple of days and the carrots keep very well until I need to use them
I too live alone and have found by wrapping the green stuff in foil it keeps very well.celery is excellent for this as well. I am not over keen on frozen veg ,unless I blanch and do my own fresh stuff, but then it takes up room in my freezer. leeks through can be topped tailed and diced and frozen very well in a bag ,usually if I see them reduced as leks can be a bit on the pricey side at times I certainly won't pay a quid for three of them ,especially if they are going into leek and tattie soup.great for using up the tail end of a bag of potatoes though

I am so pleased that we are all singing from the same sheet and are looking for ways to make our cash go that little bit further.

YorksLass I am convinced we are from the same Mum as our ideas are so similar

I too think twice about MOC ,if I have to spend £40.00 to save three it hardly seems worth it.
at the moment being almost halfway through the month I am pleased that so far I have only spent around £24.00 and using my old Mums premise again that necessity is the mother of invention I shall do my best this month to be keeping the costs down as much as possible.
After all every tanner saved is a bit more towards the holidays

Candygirl some great ideas, Mum2cheekymonkey they sound really nice Bouicca well done ,I ignore dates on things and use my common sense and nose and I am still alive and kicking I enjoy a veggie lasagnes with tired veg as a nice sauce is very forgiving to veg thats not pretty to look at Y/S especially does well in a veggie lasagne,chilli or curry

well done everyone ,onwards and upwards

JackieO xx

YorksLass · 16 January 2020 at 6:43PM

Tonight's dinner is beef stroganoff and rice. I have everything I need barring some red peppers; even the ones I had in the freezer have been used.

Not to worry, I'll substitute those with finely chopped red chillies and green beans. Afters, if needed, can be a piece of fruit.

My freezer veg tends to be bags of peas and beans (green, broad and edamame) and I'll also add fresh such as chopped leeks, celery and peppers. For green veggies and carrots I prefer fresh and find they keep well in the salad drawer of the fridge. I have a red cabbage to braise with apples and onions sometime over the weekend in the SC so I'll end up with around 6 portions for the freezer. We like this hot or cold as a "different" side.

I don't need any fruit this week (bought enough last Friday) but am getting very low on fresh veg. Other than the aforementioned red cabbage there's only half a small swede in the fridge so carrots, onion and potatoes are top of the list.

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Love Food Hate Waste 2020

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