Food waste ?, ideas to avoid it

There's also food waste in schools, hospitals, residences, catering services ... a significant amount of food is thrown away every day and little by little strategies are being sought to reduce this waste. And at home? Does yours throw food away?

I am sure that we would all like to answer “no” to this question, but the reality is quite another, because many times, due to lack of planning, disorder in the storage of food, inadequate forms of conservation, acquisition and / or preparation of products above our needs, etc. often, to a greater or lesser extent, we end throwing away part of the food that we have bought or prepared.

We must consider the multiple factors that can lead us to waste food To avoid them, but in addition to that, we can give a further twist to the matter and avoid waste as much as possible when preparing food and reuse as much as we can the already prepared or apparently useless food.

What can we do to avoid food waste?

There are different measures to take into account that can help us avoid or minimize the food waste, let's see some ideas:

• Plan the purchase and go shopping without hunger to buy only the food we need.
• Look at the preferred dates and purchase the products based on the time it will take to consume them.
• Buy the fresh products that we need, without exceeding quantities, especially in perishable products and in summer, when temperatures accelerate the deterioration of food and the ripening of fruits.
• Keep the fridge and the cupboards that serve as a pantry tidy, so that nothing can be left forgotten in the background. In addition, we must bear in mind that when placing new products, it must be done in the background and put in the front line the products that should be consumed before.
• We must go checking the temperature of the refrigerator so that it stays between 1º and 5ºC and take into account the placement of the food so that the cold air can circulate well between them.
• Serve small amounts of food, if necessary we will take more, and what is left can be consumed as is another day, or freeze or reuse by including it in another recipe. Did I say another recipe? How?

What could we do with what already seems like waste?

Let's first review our concept of food waste: Is dry bread a waste? Are the four leaves of the salad left a waste? Are the remains of cod that we have not eaten for dinner a waste? None of this has to be a waste, because everything can be reused in one way or another. Let's see ideas to reinvent what we have left over in a new product.

• The remains of vegetables. Their appearance may not be as good as at the beginning, since we have chopped and manipulated them, but they have not been spoiled and we can choose to crush them and make a vegetable cream, or they can be part of a scrambled eggs or empanadas. Example: scrambled eggs with broccoli and potatoes. Another option would be to scramble the broccoli alone and eat the potato separately if we prefer, chopped or mashed.
• The pieces of meat or fish that we have left over, in many cases have ended up reduced to shavings, they have become a bit dry, etc. They can be used to make croquettes, empanadas, lasagna, hamburgers or, depending on how they are made, they can be used to give a broth more flavor. Example: turkey croquettes, made with the leftover turkey in the oven.
• The one that has become dry can be crushed and prepared breadcrumbs to bread different preparations, but it can also be used to dip it in milk and soften it before consuming it, or consume it in a soup or vegetable cream. And, of course, we can prepare crumbs. Example: breaded aubergines with leftover dry bread.
• Chopped fruit after preparing a dessert, or fruits that are very ripe or beaten, can be used to prepare fruit smoothies, crushing the fruit with milk (it is not necessary or advisable to add sugar). We can also make sweet desserts, pieces of or use them for cooking if they have only lost their turgor, as can happen to an apple, which perhaps is no longer in its best moment to eat in bites but to make it in the oven or as part of a recipe. Example: strawberry smoothie that was beginning to look bad and banana bread, made with very ripe banana that was beginning to turn black.

Ideas that surely surprise you ...

In addition to the different options that exist to make preparations using the remains of other previous preparations, or of foods that have lost their optimal qualities, there are also culinary options with pieces of food that we usually do not take advantage of, such as the outermost leaves of lettuce. , the skins of vegetables such as zucchini or carrots, the inner part of the banana skin, etc. With them, we can make creams, pastry products, etc. For example, a carrot cream, a cake with banana ...

• The whites or yolks that we have left over after preparing a recipe can be added to other whole eggs to make an omelette or scrambled eggs, or we can look for a recipe that precisely requires using what has been a surplus for us. Example: pieces of artichoke passed through the egg and empanadas, or simply passed through the egg and in the pan.
• The already boiled legumes that we have left over when preparing a stew or stew, we can crush them to make a cream to eat with a spoon or a hummus-style “spread” cream. Another option is to prepare hamburgers with them. Example: chickpea and spinach burger with pine nuts.
• Remains of noodles or rice, or couscous, etc., that we have left. We can use them to make a soup or a cream, we can even crush them with other components of hamburgers, meatballs or croquettes and they can be included in them. Example: rice dumplings with vegetables.
• Nuts that have acquired a little moisture and are not so appetizing to take them raw without more. We can include them in a recipe, whole or chopped, through which they will acquire more moisture and some changes in texture that can make them very tasty. They can also be crushed to form part of a smoothie or a pastry recipe. Example: we can make a sauteed vegetables and pasta, oriental style, with nuts. Or we can include a handful of nuts in a smoothie, for example banana with cinnamon and almonds.

As we can see, there are many ways to take advantage of the food that we have left over. What is yours?

• It is essential to take the necessary measures so that you do not throw food at home: plan the purchase, preserve the food well and do not exceed the quantities that we buy or prepare.
• In addition, we can reinvent what could look like food scraps in a thousand and one preparations that can be very appetizing.
• Creams, meatballs, croquettes, hamburgers, etc. They are lifelong preparations that are precisely perfect to reuse all that we have left over.