Food waste

Are you throwing too much food away?

Are you also throwing too much food away? At the moment I think it’s quite difficult to control the amount of leftovers.

Some days we are four to five people for dinner, some days we are only two. I try to avoid wasting too much food, that’s why we have leftover dinners, where we empty the fridge and freezer. Sometimes leftovers can be mixed into a new dish, sometimes we cook potatoes, rice or pasta for the leftovers.

I remember in the canteen at a former work, every friday all leftovers from that week were mixed in a huge wok and spiced up with lot’s of curry. That was Friday Mix, a cleanup before the weekend. Today it’s no longer allowed due to hygiene regulations, however the idea was great. We use this at home – without the curry, the kids can have ketchup instead.

I know far too many who don’t eat leftover – it’s only for poor people (!) it’s grosse (!) and other non reasonable excuses to have freshly cooked food every day. Other eat only take-away, because the don’t like leftovers or are too lazy to cook. That’s their decision – all I can say is they need an extensive household budget….

According to Danish NGO Stop Spild af Mad a Danish family can save up to DKK 7.000 kr. (EUR 940) per year by avoiding food waste. Money straight into your pocket, especially now where energy prices are sky high and inflation rises week by week!

The next days I will show you some examples on how you can keep your food waste at a low level. Meanwhile you can try out this recipe for banana cake.

Some advice:

• Only buy what you need – don’t buy on bargain, if you know the food won’t be eaten.
• Make large portions of food – divide the portions into how many you are for dinner on weekdays – and keep it in the freezer.
• I peel wrinkled apples and freeze them. They are great for puree.
• Brown overripe bananas are peeled and put in the freezer, I bake banana cake or muffins once or twice a month.
• The broccoli stem can also be eaten – cut it into smaller pieces and cook it with the heads.
• Onions can be peeled, diced and frozen.
• The same goes for garlic – or crush the garlic, put in a jar with some olive oil and you have extra spice for a pasta dish.
• If the milk or yoghurt hasn’t been opened, it’s still good to drink up to a week after after expiry date.

What do you do to keep your food waste down? In my next posts I will focus on this topic.