What food do you chuck most often?

Mind if I indulge in a little food chat? I’ve been browsing WRAP’s new food waste website that is stuffed with recipes and tips on how to avoid chucking out your leftovers. I’m particularly taken by the two week menu planner (find it here) that gives sensible “cook one; eat twice” advice. Make an extra large spag bol at the beginning of the week, it says, and turn it into Shepherd’s Pie a few days later, or even, I thought while reading it, chilli con carne by adding a can of kidney beans. Right, dinners sorted for most of this week.
I love the fact that the language is reminiscent of advice given out during the second world war. Should you ever glance at a book called Victory Cookbook, you’ll see what I mean. It’s a funny sort of book, with lots of recipes that you wouldn’t dream of making today (Sheeps Head Roll? Cheese Pudding?) and then some that sound absolutely delicious. I’m going to try the Chicken Chop Curry, a recipe donated by a commanding officer stationed in West Africa, as soon as I can lay my hands on a suitably ethical chicken. I'll let you know how it goes. If it's a success, I'll post up the recipe.
Anyway, WRAP’s website made me think about why I chuck food.
Because I ate too much of it first time around and now can’t bear to look at it?
Because it’s cluttering my worktop and causing me to pick at it between meals?
Because I don’t think it will taste nice the next day?
Because I was a sucker for a three for the price of two deal and can’t get through it fast enough?
Because I forgot about it and it went mouldy at the back of the fridge?

I like to think I'm immune to these things, but I'm not. I should add that none of my food waste goes to landfill. Either I pile it into my wormery or it goes in a small blue compost box that is collected by the council. This makes me feel better about it, but I would prefer not to create it in the first place. It also strikes me was that I should see leftovers as a basis for a new meal, rather than small bowls of things to nibble on when, really, I shouldn’t be eating at all.

So, next I considered what my leftovers are. Plain pasta (my boyfriend cooks enough for pre-marathon athletes), rice (when it sticks together and has formed a crust by the next morning) and potato (mashed and whole). I’m looking for recipes that use up these things. Any ideas? Meanwhile, let me know your food waste Achilles’ heel and how you deal with it

Comments

[Mel]

These are easy leftovers to use:
1) Rice - stir fries, egg fried rice (you heat the rice through, maybe with some added chopped veg, then add an egg in the last few minutes). Don't leave rice too long though, even in the fridge. Best used within 2 days of cooking
2) Pasta - make twice the amout of sauce, then add it to the pasta and put in the fridge for a lunch later in the week, or add oil/ dressing/ mayonaise and herbs after cooking, and you have pasta salad. Or simply add to soups for extra bulk.
3) Potatoes - make champ, or bubble and squeak (also handy for using up veg that you have leftover,or made stock from etc), or saute them, maybe with a bit of Chorizo. All of these are delicious with poached eggs, and make fantastic breakfasts.
Now, does anyone know what to do with too much cabbage? Even with my mum's Irish recipes I am struggling with my brassica glut at the moment.

[katarina]

my two dogs keep on impressing me; i found out they're willing to finish my salad, if there's any left after a meal... besides that, we're not really used to throw away food down here.

minestra is known for having a better taste the day *after* it's actually prepared.

[Brien Comerford]

I chuck addictive vegetarian junk food that augments my girth. I also toss out white bread that has no earthly value unless one feeds it to hungry ducks, birds, swans, squirrels or any other famished wildlife species or stray cat/dog.

[Gigi]

For rice, don't cook more than 1/3 cup (raw) per person. There won't be leftovers.

[hedgewizard]

Mashed potato is a very handy soup thickener, and the whole variety gets cubed for making hash, or sautéed in garlic butter as a side dish. Rice is generally fried along with the chopped non-manky pieces of orphaned courgette/onion/carrot/whatever from the Vegetable Graveyard (aka salad compartment of fridge). Pasta - blank, I'm afraid. It matters little though, since the chickens would cheerfully kill for it.

Thanks ever so for the mention in your column, by the way - very much appreciated!

[Ben]

Did anyone see the article in the Guardian today with some good tips on using leftovers. Glad to see the "pour cream into an ice tray and use the cubes for soups and to thicken sauces" tip - that's a good one, and also some sensible advice on reheating rice.

[simon]

I am english and live in tuscany italy and nothing here is wasted any uneaten pasta we put in the fridge and reheat in a frying pan with some milk even up to a week later. Ribolita is an italian vegetable soup with literaly means reboiled it is a peasant food which used to be continually recooked or reheated with the addition of other items it always tastes better a day later anyeay. Nothing here is wasted pasta sauces can be made with literally anything, no pasta sauce recipe remains the same.

[simon]

I am english and live in tuscany italy and nothing here is wasted any uneaten pasta we put in the fridge and reheat in a frying pan with some milk even up to a week later. Ribolita is an italian vegetable soup with literaly means reboiled it is a peasant food which used to be continually recooked or reheated with the addition of other items it always tastes better a day later anyeay. Nothing here is wasted pasta sauces can be made with literally anything, no pasta sauce recipe remains the same.

[simon]

I am english and live in tuscany italy and nothing here is wasted any uneaten pasta we put in the fridge and reheat in a frying pan with some milk even up to a week later. Ribolita is an italian vegetable soup with literaly means reboiled it is a peasant food which used to be continually recooked or reheated with the addition of other items it always tastes better a day later anyeay. Nothing here is wasted pasta sauces can be made with literally anything, no pasta sauce recipe remains the same.

[margot]

Portion control is the thing! While trying not to be such a pig, I started actually weighing and measuring out the food before I cooked it, rather than my traditional 'chuck it all in and guestimate' school of thought. Since I started doing it there is much less waste, things last longer, and we're not exactly going hungry. Planning a menu for the week really works too. And keeping a good supply of herbs and condiments on hand so that leftovers can easily be gingered up into something new.

[karen]

good grief!..if you actually knew basics of home economics you'd know exactly what to do both to avoid leftovers & use thereof if you end up with some, we are all human . I am so tired of listening to "you lot" talk the talk - here's a radical solution start walking the walk...literally would be good.Instead of comforting urselves with wkends away and the "angst" of leftovers p'haps "you lot" may actually begin to appreciate that the BEST things in life are actually free and no that's not some "It's a Wonderful Life" wish moment, it's real.

[karen]

Too much cabbage? Pickle it christmas pressies to go and yum cabbage pickle with added juniper?,cranberry? put dried berries in with vinegar etc you may have to up the sugar.Get creative if you've a glut...good grief even those with half a mind are rough around the edges.

[Kitchen Witch]

You could make rice pudding with the leftover rice - I realise you may have had previous, unfortunate, encounters with RP, like myself, but if it's made with lots of lemon zest, some flaked almonds and a good dose of nutmeg, it can be an altogether different beast from the variety found in *shudder* tins.

[rady]

So heres the thing. I grew up with the notion that no food can go waste.. we cook a little more than we need (Keyword being little). The food can be reheated as in and eaten the next day. I like the reuse of food over throwing leftovers, but prefer to eat fresh cooked meals all the way. It means less fat during the cooking and leads to a healthier lifestyle...

[DavidC]

Mel - too much cooked cabbages makes a tasty layer below the potato in a Shepherd's Pie.

[melinda]

Too much cabbage- why don't you make a Japanese savoury pancake: "okonomiyaki"? Add finely chopped vegetables (mainly cabbage) to a (sugarless)pancake mixture in which water has been substituted for milk. Top the pancakes with mayonaise, okonomiyaki sauce and shredded dry seaweed.

[Richard]

yea. like freezing food won't consume electriciy...you eco fanatics make me laugh

[Eco Worrier]

Actually, Richard, a full freezer is much more eco efficient than an empty one, and I would argue having a freezer so that you can store food and garden produce is much better for the environment than not having one.