Operation no waste food

Today I decided to start operation no waste. The Christmas holiday is over and my fridge is full of food that is going out of date. Mr S has been ill and hardly eaten anything for a week. A buffet that we were providing some of the food stuff for, was cancelled, as well. We had taken a lot of food waste from the Community Fridge on Christmas Eve thinking that we were feeding a lot of people. I didn’t want to waste it.

My daughter took some food, but I couldn’t give away any more. Everyone seemed to be going away for the weekend. I therefore had to find ways to save it, but had no room in my freezer. I therefore had a busy day saving what I had.

Salad stuff.

First of all I made a glass box full of salad ingredients and put a piece of kitchen towel on the top. I am more likely to use it if the salad box has already been made. This will last 3 or 4 days. The rest of the lettuce was put back in the fridge in the wax inner of a cereal packet. This way it will last the week and I can put it in wraps. If I had a lot of lettuce I could have used it to make a soup.

I  made  Cucumber fridge pickles. This will make the cucumbers last about 6 weeks. I had 3 cucumbers left and they would have only lasted a couple of days otherwise.

Some tomatoes were put in a glass jar. These will last a week and will be used for salad or sandwiches. I could have canned some passatta with the rest, but made a Ratatouille in the slow cooker to use in a couple of days time, instead. This way I was able to use some of the vegetables that would soon wilt. I can used it as a side dish or a main.

I had 5 big peppers. These will last a while in the fridge, but when ever I have some red ones I make sweet chilli sauce.   

We grew chiilies this year. The big ones were frozen, but the small ones were dehydrated. By pouring boiling waster on them I can rehydrate them in an hour. This is my favourite condiment but I can only make it when I have grown ripe red peppers, or have been lucky to get some at the Community fridge. Peppers are a luxury now, unfortunately.

Spring onions were saved to put in a stir fry that we will eat tomorrow.

Bread and wraps

A quiche was made in the airfryer  with one of the wraps, I also used up a bit of ham that was in the fridge. The quiche will be used for a lunch or breakfast. Two other wraps were turned in to Dorito type chips. These were stored in an air tight jar and will be used as snacks or with dips and hummus. I could have used a wrap to make a pizza as well, but I used some of the bread to do that, instead.  Some more of the bread will be used as toast over the next few days, and the rest was made into a bread and butter pudding. Here are some other ways to use up bread.

Vegetables.

We had courgettes, cauliflower, and green beans from the Community fridge. These were turned into picallili. The 5p potatoes were stored in a cool, dark place in a cardboard box. Later in the month I will make some wedges and chips to store in the freezer. The rest I will check each week and use them as I need them. Hopefully they will last until at least March.

Some carrots were cooked and put in a glass box and will be used over the next few days. The rest of the carrots were put in a box of sand in my greenhouse. A brocolli had the end of the stalk cut off and was put in a jug of water, like flowers. This will make it last longer. Any vegetables left will make a stir fry tomorrow.

If I had room in the freezer I would have blanched  the vegetables and frozen them for use later. Luckily I still have a lot of vegetables that I have grown still frozen.

Fruit.

Most of the fruit in the fruit bowl will last a few weeks. I got a lot of pears and so may poach some in some left over mulled wine later in the week. I had a tray of blackberries that I made compote out of using foraged apples. I will make a box of fruit salad in a few days time to make a healthy dessert. Fruit bowl type fruit is a luxury for us. We rarely buy any. We just use homegrown or foraged fruit. At Christmas I will treat us to some satsumas, and now and again I will buy an orange or lemon for a recipe. All citrus skins are saved to make environmenty friendly cleaning fluid.

Cheese.

This was wrapped in wax paper and will last for weeks like that. When there is some room in the freezer later, I will grate and freeze it.

Meat.

I had managed to freeze most of the meat, but  had some raw chicken left. I fried it and added some fajita spices. This can be used in wraps, on pizza, or in a stir fry. Once cooked the meat will last 3 more days.

I had a bit of cooked ham left. This was used in the quiche, and for breakfast with eggs and tomatoes. I could have used it in a meal of layered potatoes and ham, with cheese sauce, or added it to omelettes or pizzas.

Double Cream.

This was turned into butter. This will store in the fridge but I will put some in the freezer when I have room. I would have whipped the cream if I had wanted to store it as cream in the freezer. My favourite way to save cream is to make icecream.

 Doughnuts

Doughnuts without icing can be brought back to life by microwaving for 20 seconds to make them soft again. If you like them crispy you can put them in the air fryer for a couple of minutes. We have them with custard if they are going stale. Don’t  keep them in the fridge or else they will go mouldy. Keep them in an airtight dark tin. I had got quite a few from the Community fridge and managed to give the iced ones away.

There is no chance of the left over chocolate going to waste. I just need a way to save it going in my mouth!. It has felt like a busy, productive day, and operation save waste food has left me with a good feeling of success. Have you saved much food from being wasted this Christmas?