Friday, 4 January 2013

Food Waste Friday - the Christmas review!

So how did we do?

One of my favourite Christmas cards!

We certainly haven't contributed to the 2m turkeys, 5m Christmas puddings and 74m mince pies (source: lovefoodhatewaste) that Britons will have reportedly wasted this Christmas. 

We had a modest free range chicken for our Christmas bird, that was used up entirely. The leftover Christmas pudding is in the freezer for a treat later in the year, and the spare Christmas pudding will keep until next Christmas. There is some mincemeat in the fridge, but that will last a bit longer and provide a couple of desserts over the next month.

Cubed bread for croutons

Aside from not over-buying in the first place, the freezer has been our main ally in reducing Christmas food waste. Leftover bread has been frozen as croutons (thanks to Zoe from Eco Thrifty Living for this tip a while back), and leftover veg will help keep January a low veg spend month. The freezer also has other unusual contents; apple juice very near to the fermenting stage was frozen in ice cubes to be used in smoothies, or for slowcooking ham or pork, or cooking with red cabbage. Fruit yogurts just past their sell by dates are about to go in the freezer for smoothies and yogurt cakes. And Husband seems to have stockpiled jars of olives so any surplus that are open will also be frozen for pasta sauces and pizzas.



The cheese situation is mostly under control although a small amount of cottage cheese gone mouldy makes up pretty much the only food waste. There's no need for any cheese freezing. Stilton and cranberry sauce on toast has been popular, and the return to packed lunches should use up extra cheese next week.


All in all, not toooo bad!!
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12 comments:

  1. I set off to Essex with a carload of leftovers so My Mum could use them up during the week me and my son spent at her house. She didn't turn her nose up at my slightly weird gift especially as I took flowers too! x

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    1. We carted a lot of leftovers around the south of England, and back home again too!

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  2. Great job being so very organized in getting leftovers put away for future use! Can Christmas pudding really keep for a year? Wow! That's a good as a Twinkie!

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    1. I think it can and I'm going to put it to the test this year! You'll have to wait until Christmas 2013 to see the end result!! What on earth's a twinkie...

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    2. My Mum always says that her Mum would make Xmas pud one year to be eaten the next. Last year a friend gave her a home made pud that we ate this year.

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    3. I thought I'd heard similar stories Claire so thanks for confirming that it can be done!

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  3. You mention cottage cheese and freezing cheese. Can you freeze cottage cheese?

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    1. I've never frozen any; I think you can freeze it, but it wouldn't come out the same consistency so you'd probably only want to use it for cooking.

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  4. Well done this week. The freezer is definitely also my ally in reducing food waste. Before we left to spend two and a half weeks in Melbourne, we still had half a watermelon to eat up. Because I was in a hurry, I just shoved the whole thing in the freezer. We won't be able to eat it as watermelon, but can use it to make slushies and add it to smoothies :)

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    1. I'm definitely getting more resourceful about what I put in the freezer! Great way not to waste watermelon.

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  5. tee hee - I love the idea of a 'MODEST free range chicken' - how did you KNOW it wasn't a PROUD one?? [surely it would have been proud if it knew it was gracing YOUR festive table???]

    sharing with you in the great January Soup-Fest. Isn't it a wondrously comforting thing to have on a cold day?

    When I have cut up my bread into freezable croutons, I blitz the crusts etc to make freezable breadcrumbs.

    If you blitz cottage cheese, it freezes well for putting into summery cheesecakes later

    happy frugal new year blessings xx

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    1. I like it! Perhaps it was an arrogant, flamboyant bird when alive, but it behaved very modestly on Christmas day!! Yes, soup is very comforting and the antidote to any post-holiday blues.

      My croutons are like my chicken; also modest. They keep their crusts on.

      Thanks for the cottage cheese tip.

      Happy frugal New Year too, Angela!!

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