With warmer weather and the chance to host friends and family at BBQs, the summer is a prime time for food waste, whether you mean it or not. From food not lasting as long because of higher temperatures to cooking a little too much at the BBQ, its easily done. According to the stats, more than £13bn worth of food is thrown away every year, so we’ve put together a couple of suggestions to help you reduce your food waste this summer.
Hosting a no waste BBQ
Check the freezer first
Before you head to the shops to stock up for your BBQ, check what you already have first. You can use up some left overs or food you already have to avoid over buying. You can even make your own salads, dips and coleslaw by using up any salad, veg and fruit you already have.
Cook in small batches
When hosting a BBQ, make sure to cook anything on the grill in small batches keeping the rest in the fridge or freezer so you only cook what you need.
Potluck
Why not make it a collaborative event? Coordinate with your guests to each bring one item, it’s a great way to make the BBQ more fun and you can make sure that there are no doubles.
How to use up leftovers
Whether you’ve been on a picnic or are clearing up after a BBQ or just clearing out the fridge, there are no doubt items left over that you don’t know what to do with. Don’t bin them – you can easily salvage any left overs with these suggestions.
- Bread – got bread left over? Don’t bin it and don’t feed it to any ducks either (it’s actually pretty bad for them.) Instead, you could tear the bread into strips and make yourself a Bread Pudding to enjoy for days after or turn it into breadcrumbs which you can then freeze. Breadcrumbs are great for adding to burgers or sprinkling on salads – so you won’t be wasting food or taking up unnecessary room in the freezer.
- Dips – If you have left over dips, why not stir creamy ones into mashed potato to use them up? Others can be added to chillis or pasta dishes and you can use houmous to make a sauce for middle eastern inspired meals.
- Antipasti – olives, sundried tomatoes and similar foods can be blitz into sauces, so there is no need to bin any leftovers here either.
- Tomatoes – if tomatoes are starting to go over, you can bake them and then make your own tomato based sauces.
- Salad – wilting salad leaves can be blitz with olive oil and lemon juice to create a tasty drizzle which can be added to new potatoes
- Strawberries – strawberries that are starting to go over work well in water bottles to give your water a little extra zing.
- Eggs – this isn’t useful for whole eggs, but you can freeze egg whites and egg yolks, either together or separately.
Other ways to reduce waste
Meal Planning
Meal planning is a great way to reduce food waste and to make sure that the whole family has a nutritious meal every night of the week. Plan ahead and make sure to take note of any nights out or holidays, so you can make sure that there isn’t anything hanging around that, is likely to go off before you can eat it.
Storage
Make sure to follow the storage instruction on the food packaging anything fresh you have that won’t be eaten soon, freeze so that it doesn’t go to waste.
Portion control
We’re all guilty of cooking too much pasta or rice – try measuring out food before cooking so you don’t have food left over, or if you do have something left over, use them in other dishes.
Remember…
Though these tips will help you to avoid wasting as much food, sometimes food is just too far gone to salvage and it is better to throw them away, no one wants food poisoning after all. Foods that have an odd smell, become discoloured, become slimy or mouldy should be disposed of.
