It’s time to take unnecessary food waste off the menu. The cost of food being wasted in the UK hospitality and food service sector is estimated to be around £3.2 billion per year.
So, reducing the amount of food ending up in the bins of the kitchens is a hot topic, even more so during tough economic times.
We’ve pulled together a couple of our favourite ideas to help prevent perfectly good leftover ingredients and scraps from ending up in the waste bin.
Taking stock of leftovers
Creating a stock is a fantastic way to use up any vegetable or meat scraps and get some use out of veggies which are past their best.
Creating a stock pot at the start of the working day and continue to feed it with all the odds and ends throughout the shift. You’ll be left with a great tasting stock which has saved flavoursome ingredients from the bin.
Stock stays fresh for around four days in the fridge, or up to three months in the freezer.
Extra tip: Stocks can even be reduced and frozen in ice cube trays – so even leftover stock doesn’t go to waste!
Befriend your freezer
Taking advantage of the space in your freezer is a great way to keep many ingredients fresh for longer. But what about those foods that don’t traditionally freeze so well? Freezing can change the structure and texture of some foods, making them less palatable.
To get the best out of these foods, prepare them as best you can before popping them in the freezer.
Most vegetables and fruits can be turned into versatile purees which freeze well and are a great addition to many dishes. Whilst carrot, courgette and apple peelings can be blitzed down before freezing – great for adding into a cake recipe.
Fermenting off-cuts
Save vegetable trimmings from the bin and give them a new lease of life by fermenting them. Creating a kombucha (fermented tea) or kimchi (fermented vegetable side dish), are simple and easy waste savers which you can do in a working kitchen or at home.
You can also create, with pineapple leftovers, Tepache, a delicious, fermented pineapple drink. After a good scrub, he pops the pineapple skin and core into a pan or vessel, tops it up with water and sugar. After about five days of fermenting, he’s left with a refreshing (and slightly alcoholic) pineapple drink that tastes a little like a pineapple cider.
