Food waste action week - recipe ideas for your leftovers
We all waste food - the end of a sandwich we can’t finish, those bananas you didn’t make into a smoothie this week and the leftovers you forgot in a lunchbox in the fridge. Food waste action week is all about thinking about how we waste, being conscious of it and learning how we can reduce our waste to make a small impact. However small, it still helps.
Around a third of the food we produce globally is wasted and it’s having a real impact on climate change (UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, 2011). Approximately 10% percent of global carbon dioxide emissions come from the food which is wasted worldwide. (UNEP Food Waste Report, 2021).
During lockdown we wanted to inspire people who were spending more time at home to cook new things by sharing recipe tips for the ingredients that were already in their fridges. We created ‘Fridge Friday’s’, by asking for short videos of the inside of people’s fridges, which we then discussed live on instagram.
For food waste action week, we wanted to help people to reduce their waste by coming up with recipes for them to use up their ingredients that they didn’t know what to do with. Here is what we came up with for those often wasted, often overlooked ingredients that are sitting sadly at the back of your fridge.
JAR OF ROASTED RED PEPPERS
Try making one of our most loved recipes - muhammara which is a middle Eastern dip made from roasted red peppers (which you can do from whole peppers by just popping them in the oven at a high temperature rubbed with olive oil and salt) or a leftover jar of red peppers!
MUHAMMARA DIP
Roast red peppers until charred, remove and cover with lid/wrap cling film to loosen skin.
Roast walnuts and remove skin
Remove skin and seeds from peppers
Put pepper flesh into food processor and pulse, add lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, breadcrumbs, cumin, pomegranate molasses, S&P and pulse.
CHILLI BEAN SAUCE - TOBAN DJAN
Use this salty rich paste to flavour meats or tofu, try making a sauce for your tofu dish by using the sauce in a pan with stock and a bit of sugar. You will never eat tofu any other way again.
SAVOY CABBAGE
A great way to use up a large cabbage that you don’t want to eat right away is to ferment it by making a quick kimchi.
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cabbage, 1 carrot, 1 radish, 1 red chilli, 3 spring onions, 10 garlic cloves, 1/4 cup fish sauce - feel free to omit this if you'd prefer, 1 tbsp caster sugar, 1 tbsp chilli flakes, 1 tbsp gochujang paste, 1 cup water, 1/4 cup salt
METHOD:
Julienne your cabbage. Add the salt to the water, stir and pour over the cabbage. Let this sit for 10 mins or so.
Julienne your carrot & radish. Finely slice spring onions, chilli, radish and mince your garlic. Add each of these to a large mixing bowl, followed by the chilli flakes, fish sauce, sugar and gochujang paste. Mix well.
Time to squeeze out your cabbage and add this to the bowl before giving it a good stir again.
Transfer this to your jar - juices and all - and press down in between to keep the air out before clipping shut. You can keep this in your fridge to build flavour or eat immediately!
LIMES
Dehydrate limes by cutting them into rounds and roasting them in the oven for an hour on a high temperature until dehydrated. You can use these in cocktails or to decorate a dark chocolate, biscuit & lime cheesecake.
BANANAS
Banana ketchup is an incredible solution to the UK’s most wasted food and so many great sauce companies are making their own versions, saving wonky and wasted bananas.
INGREDIENTS
1 Tbsp oil, 2 cloves garlic, chopped, ½ small onion, diced, 1 tsp fresh ginger, chopped, 2 bananas, mashed , ¼ c tomato paste, ¼ c brown sugar, ½ c white vinegar, ½ c water, ⅛ tsp cayenne powder
INSTRUCTION
In a medium sauté pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, onion, and ginger. Sauté for 5 minutes, until soft and fragrant.
Add the mashed bananas, tomato paste, and brown sugar. Mix well.
Add the vinegar, water, and cayenne powder. Mix well and bring the mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes, until thickened slightly.
Remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool slightly. Transfer the cooled mixture to the bowl of your food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
FETA
Upgrade your avocado toast by blending blanched peas with feta, lemon juice, creme fraiche, fresh radishes, EVOO, S&P and spread it over a crusty bruschetta.
