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New Year, No Waste -Simple Tips To Reduce Food Waste

tips for reducing food waste

Earlier this year I worked with Panasonic on a campaign to share recipes to use up every last bit of ingredient instead of throwing it away. I'm sharing 7 top tips of simple steps you can take to help reduce food waste within your kitchen.

Simple Steps to Make Our Food Go a Little Further

 

The beginning of a new year is a great time to introduce new habits, one of those could be to reduce the food waste within your own home. I’m sharing my top 7 tips on how to achieve this, whilst saving money, and more importantly, helping the environment.

 

A statistic that always stands out to me is that a third of all food is wasted. Imagine your latest supermarket shop, take a third and simply put it in the bin…. Seems ludacris really! Not just for wasting money but that it will inevitably end up in landfill. But instead of hitting you with the scary statistics, I’m going to focus on all of the positive change we can make.

 

      1.The Whole Veg

It’s not uncommon to see people throwing away parts of salad or vegetables, mostly due to habit. 

For example, peeling potato skins isn’t necessary, especially if you give them a good scrub or buy organic. By spending a couple of more pence and investing in organically grown you can use the potato skins for crispy chips, which is not only cutting out any food waste but making your money go a little further. The same applies with things such as spring onions where you can in fact use the whole stem and not just the crunchy end (the green ends work great for garnishing).

 

My tip is to go on Pinterest for those random parts of vegetables that might have usually ended up in the bin, such a broccoli stems. I’ve seen so many ways to use up this part of the veg such as a crunchy slaw or part of a fritter - you’ll be amazed at what recipes exist for some vegetables.

 

  1. Freeze, Freeze, Freeze

Making the most out of your freezer will easily reduce any food waste within your kitchen. We love a leftovers night which looks a little like a ‘world cuisine tapas’ from leftover lasagne to dhal to ramen. It’s also a great back up when you get to the end of the week and don’t have a great deal left in the fridge, simply see what leftovers you’ve saved from the week before and you’re in for an easy and quick dinner.

freezing herbs to preserve them

 

  1. Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For a Doggy Bag

Research shows that over 3 million tonnes of food is wasted each year from the food sector. On the rare occasion I would have leftovers from a meal out, the thought of asking for box to take the rest home would be a little embarrassing. 

 

However over the past year I started asking if it would be possible to box up my leftovers and the response was surprising. So many of the restaurant staff I’ve spoken with have explained that it’s  heartbreaking to see so much food go to waste within their kitchens and by having customers taking away the leftovers it dramatically reduces their food waste. So next time you’re out, don’t feel embarrassed and ask, chances are the restaurant will have a big respect for wanting to cut down on food waste. 

 

  1. Invest in Key Kitchen Appliances

 

On the topic of unnecessary waste, for me, having a utensil / piece of kitchen equipment that you can use time and time again can add great value to your kitchen. The product that inspired this post is thePanasonic 2522 Bread maker. We wanted to explore the functions and ways in which the machine can really help reduce food waste at home. From pizza bases, panettone, to gluten free cakes there are a huge range of products you can make within this one piece of equipment therefore getting full use out of it. 

 

The benefits of the bread maker is you can create loaves to different sizes which also helps massively when reducing waste. With there only being two of us in our home we would quite often end up with a stale end of bread which had far passed its sell by date. The benefit of making your own is that you have complete control over the quantity. 

 

  1. Fakeaway Instead of Takeaway 

 

Pinterest and Instagram have opened my eyes to getting creative with just a few ingredients to play with. By the end of the week when the veg in my fridge is looking a little limp, it can be all too tempting to reach for a takeaway. But with a quick wash or trim you’ll be surprised how much life is left in those veggies. Fakeaway recipes that require minimal ingredients and use up all the random leftover veggies:

 

Leftovers Pizza - the dough can be whipped up in the Panasonic bread maker with just flour, yeast and water, and topped with all of the leftovers from your kitchen. A good pinch of salt, garlic oil and basil you can have your very own pizza date night. 

fakeaway pizza recipe

Creamy coconut vegetable curry- use up whatever veggies you have left with garlic, ginger and coconut milk, a dash or curry powder and you’re onto a winner

 

Crispy vegetable bite tacos - creating a batter made from milk, flour and seasoning, you can pretty much batter any vegetable and roast on a high heat to create a delicious crunchy filler (my favourite is bang bang cauliflower)

 

  1. Compost Bin

A simple step to take is to invest in a compost bin. You can ask your local council if they provide a bin & pick up service, but alternatively you can create one in the bottom of your / your parents / your neighbours garden. There are loads of tutorials on YouTube that explain how to use a compost bin, just a mix of leftover food (no meat or dairy) mixed with garden waste such as dried leaves. 

 

Things that compost really well:

-vegetable peelings

-coffee grinds 

-plant prunings

-teabags

-old herbs and spices

 

A lot of the organic food / vegetables that would natural compost, don’t have the chance to when put in landfill, due to the lack of oxygen. 

 

  1. Get Creative

I like the challenge of creating something imaginative with the random items left in my cupboards. Classic TV programmes like Ready Steady Cook were great for encouraging the contestants to create something delicious with a surprise bag of ingredients. You may not be a contestant on a cooking game show, but the idea behind it is still fun. 

 

It’s also a great way to use ingredients in a way you’d never may never have considered. It really helps to have a pantry full of key ingredients to make up a recipe such as:

basic tinned soup recipe

-passata

-coconut milk

-tomato paste

-olive oil

-tinned pulses and beans

-spices

 

It would be great to hear about any of the changes you’ve made within your own home.

 

 

lifestyle travel

Lessons From Japan – Is Japanese Cuisine Healthier?

lessons from japan

Is Japanese Cuisine Healthier?

Earlier this year I had an amazing opportunity to travel to Japan with the Panasonic team. A hop to Amsterdam, a skip to Seoul and a jump to Osaka, we finally arrived in Japan. Over the few days we had cooking workshops, presentations and demos to really grasp the concept of experiencing fresh and traditional food.


Experience Fresh

On our first day we had a live cooking demo whilst in the Panasonic HQ, showing ways in which water is used to cook food instead of oil, and how the techniques of knives comes into play when preparing vegetables.

One of the key messages I took from our time over there, was the importance of technique whether it’s from the way you prepare the food or the way you cook it to really preserve flavour and keep the nutritional value.

japanese cooking demo

Some of the most common ways to cook food in Japan:

  • Steaming
  • Simmering
  • Poaching
  • Grilling

So by using heat and water, the produce can retain a lot more flavour than for example coating it in oil and frying it. These  techniques have been practiced to centuries and are still practiced today. What was interesting was learning how the team at Panasonic had worked this into their Microwaves, Bread Makers and Juicers.

Demo Time

We had a live demo to show the difference between a non-panasonic microwave steaming feature vs. the Panasonic brand, where we were asked if we could taste the difference, and we did.

Panasonic Croustina Bread Maker

Another example is from the slow juicer, demonstrating the separation of liquid and pulp when using non-panasonic products vs. their own. Again, we were impressed to see the richness of colour, flavour and smell from the Panasonic brand, which had been developed to slowly squeeze a high quality, nutrient- packed juice from the tomatoes.

Then for the bread (my favourite part) which isn’t traditionally a staple ingredient within Japanese cooking, however looking to the masters of bread making they developed the Croustina to produce the ultimate hard crust. We had a try of a pumpkin and nut crusty slice which was pure heaven after only having a tofu broth for breakfast hours earlier.


Ohhhhmami, that tastes good

‘Umami’ is the illusive word every cook looks to achieve in their cooking. It’s the thing that you can’t quite put your finger on, but keeps you going back for spoonful after spoonful of food - basically it’s the perfect balance of sweet, sour, saltiness and bitterness.

umami

As a vegetarian I was also listening out for how to get the ‘umami’ taste when cooking. One of the two ingredients were shiitake mushrooms and tomatoes, due to the levels of glutamate. A backbone of many Japanese dishes is called Dashi and it a delicious stock that requires umami. The theory is if you have a really good stock dashi you needn’t over flavour your produce.


Recipe Time

miso soup vegan

 

Here is a recipe I created, trying to envelop the learnings from the trip.

 

Ingredients:

  • 3 spring onions
  • 3cm fresh ginger
  • 1 red chilli
  • 2 shallots
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2 tbsp tamari
  • 150g  of Shimeji mushrooms
  • 2 bay leaves

 

  • 140g firm or silken tofu cubed
  • 150g udon noodles
  • 1 sachet brown rice miso paste(I used ClearSpring miso)
  • 1.5l of veg stock

 

For dressing

  • ½ finely sliced red chilli
  • 1 celery stalk
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds

 

Method

 

  • Prepare the vegetables first, finely chopping the shallots, chilli and garlic, then add the chopped shallots to a pot with a dash of water and allow to cook for around 5 minutes

 

  • Add the chopped chilli, fry for a few minutes followed by the garlic, then grate the ginger into the pot and fry for a minute or two

 

  • Add the stock, miso, bay leaves and tamari to the pot and allow to simmer for around 5 minutes

 

  • Add the shimeji mushrooms, udon noodles and cubed tofu to the pot and allow to boil in the stock for 6-7 minutes

 

  • Taste test, adding seasoning if needed, test if the mushrooms and noodles are cooked then serve up into bowls

 

  • Top with freshly chopped chilli, finely chopped celery and sesame seeds

 

  • *Note, if you want a crispy tofu, cube the blog then add to a small frying pan with 1 tsp sesame oil and press to crispen under the heat, add sesame seeds for a final 2 minutes of frying for a toasted crust

Vegan pho

 

 

Take a peek at what we got up to in Japan day by day