How to stop wasting food

During this difficult time, it’s more important than ever to try and save money. One way we can save money is by making the most out of our food. The government are advising that we limit the amount of times we go to the shop and that we only go for essentials, so now is the perfect time to experiment with our cooking to use up any left overs.

While it’s Stop Food Waste Day, we thought we would help with a few top tips on how to make the most of the food you would normally throw out.

What to do with leftover food

If some of your food is starting to turn bad there are many recipes out there that you could try rather than waste the food. Here are just a few examples of what you could do with your left over or slightly over ripened food.

Banana bread/cake

You may have seen all over social media at the moment that people are making banana bread or cake, why not join them. It’s the perfect way to use up over ripened bananas rather than letting them go to waste.

Vegetable soup

If you’ve got a selection of vegetables and you don’t know what to do with them, why not attempt to make a soup. You can literally throw anything into a soup, so nothing will go to waste. There will be so many recipes out there, so you’re bound to find one that covers the vegetables that you have at home. Why not use up some bread that’s about to go stale and make some croutons to go with it too.

Bread and butter pudding

Another way to use up old bread, is to make an old classic, bread and butter pudding. Simple, yet delicious!

Fruit smoothie

If there are other fruits, like berries and apples, that are beginning to pass their best, why not chuck them all into a blender a make a healthy fruit smoothie.

Tomato sauce

If you have a few over ripened tomatoes that you wouldn’t want to use on a salad, why not cook them down, mix with mushrooms and onions and make a lovely tomato sauce to go with some pasta.

Stock

You can make your own stock with your left overs too. Use up stalks, peels and any other left over vegetables to make a vegetable stock. Or why not use up meat cartilages or bones to make a meat stock to add some juicy favour to any meal.

How to store food

There are a few tips on how to store food that can help preserve them for longer.

Keep certain foods separate

There are some foods that produce more ethylene gas, which will cause other foods that it touches to ripen quicker than it should, therefore, it is advised to keep them separate. These foods include bananas, avocado, tomatoes, peaches, pears and green onions.

Freeze your fresh goods

You may not be aware that a lot of your fresh food, including milk, bread, cheese and butter can actually be frozen. So, if you feel like you have too much food, don’t be afraid of storing it in the freezer. Make sure they are fresh when you freeze them and are wrapped up tightly.

Extra tips

You don’t just have to cook or bake with your old food to stop it from going to waste.

**Clean your microwave **

Old lemons don’t need to go to waste, you can make the most of them and clean your microwave. Put them in a bowl of water in the microwave on a high heat for approximately a minute. This will not just make your microwave smell lovely, but will also help to loosen the dirt inside it for a sparkling clean finish.