I’m genuinely ashamed of the amount of food waste in the UK, the statistics are shocking and pretty disgraceful. Love Food Hate Waste have loads of useful info their website, but the two stats that strike me in particular are that we throw 7 million tonnes of food and drink away a year and we throw away more food from our homes than packaging.
But it’s not all bad news, people are changing their views and behaviours around food and waste more and more as time goes on, particularly in my corner of the world. Brighton is home to Silo, the UK’s first zero-waste restaurant. I must confess I haven’t been there yet myself (far too busy at home making sure I use every last scrap of food in the fridge) but I think it’s an amazing concept and I’ve only heard great things about it so far. Then there’s this “pay-as-you-feel” cafe that takes food that would otherwise be destined for landfill and turns it into something delicious.
Anyway, the purpose of this blog post wasn’t to show off about the hippies of my hometown or even really to bring your attention to the food waste facts many of you probably know already.
Tonight, I challenge you all to go home and see what’s lurking at the back of your cupboards and fridges. Make something magical happen with the leftover bits of veg and almost-stale bread you might otherwise throw away, I dare you! My dinner the other night (pictured at the very top of this blog post) was a result of just that. A bit of leftover pork from Sunday slathered in BBQ sauce, the end of a red onion quickly pickled in apple cider vinegar, an almost-off-its-game avocado turned into delicious guac, some very nearly on the turn baby spinach, all piled onto a slightly freezer burned (my bad) pitta from the back of the freezer with the last corner of edam grated on top. I can’t tell you how delicious it was, nor how jealous my Mother was.
What’s your best tip to avoid food waste in your kitchen? I want to hear about it!
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Cate in the Kitchen 
I also get shocked by the amount of food that is wasted in the UK. I tend to use a lot of leftover and make quiches or salads 🙂 great post! x
Salad is always a good shout, I quite often make fritters with odds and ends of veg as well! X
Fritters is a great idea as well!
Your dinner looks amazing! I’m a big fan of the fridge-tata. Like a frittata but with the added contents of the bottom of your fridge. Whilst meal planning is so helpful for cutting down food waste; I think it’s really important to make it flexible. We’ve all been caught up at work or had “one quick drink” turn into a lot more than one drink…
Ahh yes the fridge-tata has been a saviour for me many a time!! Good tip. To be honest, when in doubt add an egg is probably one of my biggest kitchen mottos…
It’s shocking isn’t it.
I agree with the fritters suggestion. Great way to use stuff up.
Or a modern bubble and twist.
https://theeighthours.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/home-made-spinach-ricotta-gnocchi/
Did you watch the billion dollar chick shop? Such a disgrace the amount of food KFC bin. There’s so much you can do with leftover food, I hate throwing anything away! I like making pastry (although my pastry skills are not great) with left over potato mash and recently made a scone based pizza base with mash as well. I love the idea of Silo – email receipts instead of printing them and the recycled seating. I wonder what they do with the leftover food? I know in Belfast there’s the ‘bring – home – box” scheme so you can take your leftovers with you (box is biodegradable as well).
I didn’t watch the chicken shop thing no, that stuff really does depress me!! Love the sound of that bio degradable box x
I’ happy that someone has already made the first step to a zero waste restaurant! We should change our mind about all the food that is going to the landfill because we can’t organise our own menu at home. Doing something with the leftovers is a great way to reduce your waste and improve our global waste management as well! Greetings!