Waste not ....

Recipes, Cooking tips and maybe some 'Home Made' secrets !
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fabindia
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Waste not ....

Post by fabindia »

I was thinking about my previous post about South Indian Sambar. The reason I first made it was to use up vegetables we had in the fridge but were in danger of being past their best. Sambar is a great way to use these. Simply dice them up, throw them in a pan and that is more or less it. We put any we don't eat the same day in the freezer. Job done.

Bananas go off so quick over here. We buy a bunch cheap enough but never eat them all before they start over rippening. So, I made banana bread the other day. Our oven here is rather basic but it rose nicely and eventually cooked after about an hour and a half.

What's everyone's ideas for using up those remnants of foods that are too good to just through away? Any particularly good ideas handed down from Grandmothers?
Michael
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HedgeHugger
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Re: Waste not ....

Post by HedgeHugger »

I chop and freeze raw things like onions and peppers.
I've cooked up baking potatoes, scooped the flesh out, mashed it with whatever (usually butter and cheese), reload the potato skins and freeze those.
I've read you can freeze bananas, never tried myself though. I've started to just buy 2 or 3 these days, rather than a bunch.

I do freeze a lot of things. I hate waste. We are pretty flexible in what we'll eat, so if something looks like it needs using up, that's what we're having in some form or another. Soup, stew, curry. If there's a lot the excess gets frozen for another day.

I've also par-steamed cauliflower and frozen that, no idea if you can just do so from raw.
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lancashire lass
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Re: Waste not ....

Post by lancashire lass »

fabindia wrote:We buy a bunch cheap enough but never eat them all before they start over ripening. So, I made banana bread the other day.


that's exactly what my mother used to do

fabindia wrote:What's everyone's ideas for using up those remnants of foods that are too good to just through away?


I know food waste goes on but I can't understand why people buy so much to then throw it away. I'm definitely not in that category ... (I couldn't afford it LOL)

First - I don't buy more than I need (especially perishable food) and plan my meals ahead so nothing get's wasted (well, not exactly a day by day planner - more like, oh I'd better use up the mushrooms otherwise they'll go off. I know, let's make spaggy bol tonight) As I shop once a week, my perishable food must last about a week - obviously the ones more likely to "go off" earlier before then get used first. But there's a lot of fresh food that lasts a lot longer and even weeks in the fridge (I'm not a big fan of cooking a big meal and then freezing it ... long story)

Second - if you have a surplus (such as from harvesting a glut from the garden or the smallest pack size is still too generous for your immediate consumption), then freeze it.

Third - not so much everything goes in a pot, but I have made some strange combinations that have gone well (they seem to make the best curries)
fabindia
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Re: Waste not ....

Post by fabindia »

lancashire lass wrote:I know food waste goes on but I can't understand why people buy so much to then throw it away. I'm definitely not in that category ... (I couldn't afford it LOL)


I think sometimes supermarket pre-packaged fresh food and buy-one-get-one-free makes it hard for people to judge exactly what they need. We have the luxury of being able to shop for food every day but as the best quality fresh food we get round here is from Makro (who cater to the hotels and restaurants), we sometimes have to buy more than we really need.

lancashire lass wrote:Third - not so much everything goes in a pot, but I have made some strange combinations that have gone well (they seem to make the best curries)


Yes, there's very little you can't throw into make a good curry )like(
Michael
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Re: Waste not ....

Post by Freeranger »

Or salad.

Or soup.

Or fill an omlette with.

Or pickle/chutney.

I think most things can be adapted for what you have available. Depends on your sense of adventure.

I also freeze things if they look a bit ropey, and use them for soup. Have found some very sorry unlabled and unidentifiable specimens in the back of the freezer on occasions, though :oops:
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