I grew up in a household where nothing went to waste. What was served for dinner is what you ate, if you didn’t, there was nothing else to have. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still put up a fight when my least favourite meal was dished up like any other kid and claimed I was full up when really I was just fed up. At this point my Dad would ‘help me out’ by having a few mouthfuls once my Mum had left the room. Probably not the best habit for him to have but they didn’t want food going to waste.
I was born in the 80’s and I was allergic to a lot of foods and there certainly wasn’t the range of free from foods there are now. Looking back I now realise how my parents managed, by cooking from scratch and hunting out the best deals.
These are two things that I’ve carried into my adult life and I will be forever grateful for this foundation that my parents gave me. Consequently, it is very rare that we throw a food item away. Raw vegetable scraps often go in to my stock bag in the freezer, and if that’s full, they go in the compost bin. If veg is looking a bit limp and sad, I’ll bung them into a soup or chop them up and freeze them for a stir fry. Unless I’m planning on using meat or fish straight away, I portion them out and freeze until needed. For cooked joints of meat, we’ll use the meat in soups or sandwiches or salads. If it doesn’t look like we’re going to use it up before it turns, it will either be turned into a curry or a stew or cutup and put in the freezer for a stir fry another day. Our freezer is definitely our friend and something that can be utilised for things other than your usual frozen veg or pizzas. We even keep a back up bottle of milk in there, which was extremely helpful when all the panic buying kicked off last year.
What do you do to reduce your food waste?
Ally xx