Love food, hate waste

Love food, hate waste - save vegetable trimmings to make stocks and soups

These days we hear all the time about how much food the average UK household throws away in a year , the recent statistics showed that wasting food can cost the average household £470 a year.

I’m a strong believer in the importance of not wasting food, this probably stems from my days as a chef. It was extremely important to make use of everything we could in the restaurant kitchen.

Simple things like saving vegetable trimmings to make stocks and soups where so important.

A restaurant I worked at in the past use to close for a fortnight each year, to prepare for the closure we would make sure everything was used up, usually leading to a staff meal made of leftovers on the final night.

One year in particular I remember there was a half portion of chicken soup left over, however one of the chefs had thrown it away before it could be used for the meal. I always remember how enraged the head/celebrity chef became, searching through bins, demanding someone owned up to it, no one ever did.

This was maybe a little extreme but it is such a shame that we waste so much these days, it can be so easy to use leftovers to make delicious meals.

For example if you cook to much bacon for breakfast don’t just throw it away, put it in the fridge for later and use it in a pasta dish such as carbonara.

Left over vegetable trimmings can easily be thrown away with out a second thought but they make a great base for a cassoulet.

All you need is a tin of beans, a tin of tomatoes, some sausage and of course your left over veg, mix them all together in a large pot and slow cook, and you’ve got a delicious meal.

Simple things like running the ketchup or honey under the hot tap to get out the last bit may seem over the top but you’ll be amazed how much you where just throwing away.

When the cupboards are almost bare and the fridge is nearly empty instead of dashing to the shops for dinner, why not make it fun, see what meal you can come up with, with using what you have in already, almost like ready, steady, cook!

And you never know you could invent your new favorite dish.

Food & Wine by Andy Mckay
little.deli@yahoo.com