Are you also a fan of cooking? What’s better than enjoying trying new flavors and socializing over food? But when we cook, we also create a lot of leftovers that we throw away. We have collected some tips that will help you put waste to good use and thus reduce it.
According to data from Surs, a resident of Slovenia threw away an average of 72 kilograms of food in 2022. Some is due to spoiled food or inedible parts, which is about 39 percent, and the rest indicates edible food that we throw away anyway. Experts point to bad habits in this regard, as we often buy in stock, and our refrigerators are too full, so it happens that we forget about food. Another reason is that we cook too much and don’t use the leftovers and throw them away.
Organize, transform, store
Menu planning and organized shopping help a lot in reducing. Before you even go to the store, look in the refrigerator, pantry and freezer and try to design dishes. Then make a shopping list to guide you between the shelves and prevent you from buying things in stock. Some dishes can be transformed or turned into tasty snacks. Use the roast left over from Sunday lunch to make sandwiches that you can have for lunch. Use the soup to make a sauce or freeze it until the next time you need it. Make vegetable puree from the soup vegetables, which will be a great side dish the next day. If most of your food waste consists of old bread, vegetable scraps and peels, think about how you can reuse them. Stale bread can be used to make breadcrumbs or croutons for soup, and it is also useful for making French toast. When it comes to vegetables and fruits, think about whether they really need to be peeled. Many health benefits can be found in the peels.
Dreamstime
Boiled vegetables can also be used to make vegetable puree.
From leftovers to a delicious soup base
Save all parts of vegetables and their peels. Always wash vegetables before cutting. Now start collecting. You can usefully use quite a few scraps, such as garlic peels, celery roots, onion roots and peels, carrot tips and tops, radish leaves, turnip roots, withered spice leaves, tomato remains, mushrooms, leeks, ginger… Store all vegetable waste in freezer bag, place it in the freezer and top up as you go. When the bag is full, use the collected scraps to make a vegetable soup base. Strain the prepared base, which you will cook for at least 15 minutes, and use it to prepare soups, sauces, risottos, roasts and other delicious recipes.
Leftovers of boiled potatoes
If you cooked too many potatoes for lunch, don’t throw them away, but think about recipes in which you can use them. Boiled potatoes are an excellent starting point for preparing meat or vegetable moussaka, and they are also indispensable when preparing winter salads, for example with radicchio, Chinese cabbage, winter salad… Don’t forget the roasted potatoes, which you prepare with some onions and soup base or bacon fat and to the divine potato salad. If there is mashed potato left over from lunch, it is more difficult to eat it cold, but you can warm it up in the microwave. You can prepare some new dishes from the leftovers, such as gnocchi, croquettes or duchesse potatoes, which are classics of every French dinner.
If you cook too much pasta
Even pasta can be used in a thousand and one ways, with just a little imagination. You can make delicious salads from the leftovers, which you combine with vegetables, tuna, chicken and other ingredients of your choice. Properly cooled and stored, they can be used with various sauces a day or two after preparation. Don’t forget the pasta au gratin. and boiled ones will be just right for quick preparation. Make a simple tuna and tomato sauce and a béchamel to top it off. Sprinkle with cheese and quickly bake in the oven at 200 degrees. This way you will provide yourself and your family with a tasty and quick meal.
Source: svet24.si
