It sucks having to throw away food. Did you know that about 30% of all food in the developed world is going to waste? This is while the environmental strain is growing and there are still people suffering from food insecurity.
The worst culprits are bread, milk, potatoes, cheese and apples, as well as other fresh fruits and vegetables, but that does not mean you should eat less of them! Be smart about storage, freeze when in season, consider preserves or drying.
Try these ideas to save some good nutrition from the landfill. Your body, wallet and environment will thank you.
Too Much of an Ingredient? Try these tips and recipes
Bread
Dry bread is very versatile— from croutons to filling for meatballs. Also, don’t be afraid to add it to almost any soup as a carb and a thickener.
Milk
Soured milk is great in pancakes and can be used as a buttermilk substitute in any recipe. If it’s not quite sour, try a smoothie or bechamel sauce.
- Sticky apple cake
- Sour milk pancakes
- Smoothies
- Bechamel sauce
Cheese
If it went mouldy, cut off the bad bits and grate the rest. You can freeze it for use in bakes and soups.
Potatoes
Store your potatoes in a cool, dark, dry place. Discard any that go mushy immediately. If they went green, cut off the green parts, the rest of the potato is perfectly fine!
Apples
They freeze and dry perfectly well!
Salad
You can salvage some of the sad salad leaves by dunking them into a large basin with cold water for 5 minutes.
Zucchini
There is this month in summer when everyone is awash in zucchinis. Use that time wisely to stock up on some zucchinis, sometimes farmers give them away for free! Zucchini soup and pancakes can be frozen pretty well.
- Zucchini pancakes
- Zucchini soup
- Zucchini muffins
- Add grated zucchini to (Meat)balls
Tomatoes
Eggs
Carrots
- Pickled carrots
- “Korean” carrot salad
- Carrot soup
- Ginger roasted carrots
Bananas
- Banana bread
- Banana pancakes
- Smoothies
Cucumbers
- Cucumber salad
- Quick brined cucumbers
Lemons
- Lemon preserve