Use Your Loaf

A selection of greatly reduced food which I bought at my local Co-Op saving myself around £40.

I applaud Hugh's War On Waste (chef Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's campaign) and am avidly following his Facebook page. There are some great contributions, with people posting recipes which hi light how best to use up leftovers, something my readers will know, is very close to my heart.

After banging on this past couple of years about food waste, it's encouraging to see people embracing Hugh's campaign, and I think people are really starting to employ common sense and ethics.

Hugh has written a very clever hypothesis which asks us to imagine: you're leaving the supermarket after a weekly shop, trolley piled high with delicious food. Now picture yourself stopping by the stores wheelie bins, pulling out a few potatoes, a bag of salad, a couple of eggs, half a loaf of bread, a couple of bananas and half a packet of biscuits and throwing them straight into the bin. Sounds crazy, but essentially this is what we're doing with our food.

Of course, we don't bin it as soon as we've bought it, however, regardless of whether it still looks and smells good enough to eat - if its tipped over its use by date - we chuck it in the bin.

UK families are throwing away £700 of perfectly edible food every year with bread, potatoes, bagged salad, fresh fruit and milk being the most wasted items. Sadly people aren't utilising their freezers, bread freezes extremely well as does fish and meat (including bacon and ham) also butter, prepared vegetables, cheese and various fruits. With a bit of imagination we can begin to curb our lavish wasteful ways.

                       I store potatoes in paper bags in my garage where they keep very well

I rarely buy bagged salad, however, I often end up with tired odds and ends in my salad compartment and vegetable box. I recently had a delicious salad in Spain which I tried to replicate with some of my 'seen better days' ingredients and it worked incredibly well.

Walnut and cheese salad

Recipe
2 carrots
1 onion
1 lettuce
A bunch of spring onions
A large handful of sultanas
Blue cheese
Balsamic vinegar (I used vincotto, balsamic flavoured with velvety fig)
Honey
Chopped walnuts

Grate carrots, cabbage and onion into a bowl

Add chopped spring onions and lettuce leaves

Add some crumbled blue cheese

In a separate bowl combine balsamic vinegar and honey to taste

Add sultanas to salad

Combine all the ingredients and drizzle with dressing
Scatter walnuts on top and serve

This salad is a delicious combination of sweet and salty with mouthwatering textures, delicious served with crusty bread.

'Feel what it's like to truly starve, and I guarantee that you'll forever think twice before wasting food.'
- Criss Jami

Love Donna xxxxxxxx