Tag: waste

Archie & Sophie Lent 2021: Day 3

The general, ever-present hunger is definitely starting to set in now. I started getting hungry for dinner at about half past 3 – normally I’d easily keep going until 6PM before I even thought about what was for tea! I’ve also been craving meat a lot – which is strange because I’ve been happily vegetarian for the last 1½ years and never before have wanted to go back. I will have to see if it persists or not but luckily the budget didn’t stretch to meat so there’s nothing to be tempted by! 

This week has also made me consider a lot more about waste. We’ve really made sure that we get everything out of every tin whereas normally if a few baked beans were left in the tin I’d probably give them to the dishwasher rather than scrape them out. After a busy day I was somewhat on autopilot when cooking dinner – and I started peeling our solitary potato and then put the peel into the bin… before realising that that’s a good tenth of a potato (and lots of fibre and nutrition) that we could have eaten! I was careful not to make this mistake again when preparing the rest of the meal – but I’d never usually think about eating absolutely 100% of everything I buy, even though I do try to be waste-conscious and not buy tons more than I need. 

I am also definitely discovering a few things I’d gladly have again even though I’d previously always gone for the branded versions. The cheap tin of soup we had today tasted no different to the branded version (I’m sure you can guess which…) which I normally buy. To be honest, there’s nothing this week that I would avoid eating again (although I might tweak some of the quantities up a little!)

Breakfast: Cornflakes, Sugar, Tea

Lunch: Half a tin of tomato soup, 3 small slices of toast with butter, tea and a biscuit

Afternoon snack: Half an apple and another biscuit

Dinner: Bean and tomato hotpot (recipe below) with rice. 

Ingredients:

1 tin baked beans, 1 tin chopped tomatoes, 2 small/medium carrots, 1 medium baking potato, ⅔ of an onion, Half a tsp salt, Half a tsp pepper, 1 Tsp mixed herbs, Generous tablespoon of margarine

Melt the margarine in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Chop the onion finely and fry. Whilst this is cooking, dice the potatoes and carrots so that the pieces are no bigger than a 1cm cube. Add these, season with salt, pepper and herbs and put the lid on the pan. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then, add the beans and tomatoes. Rinse each tin out with half a tin’s worth of water and add that too. Then, simmer for approx. 30 mins. Serve with rice, potatoes, pasta or bread. 

END

Live on £1 a Day: Angie’s Shop

The shopping trip went well.  I managed to spend just under budget although I had to
retrace my steps after finding I was 1p over the £10 allowed for myself and partner.  I had a list and knew what I was going to buy as I’d planned my meals.  I know that I could have got a couple of items cheaper in Tesco than I did in Lidl, but that would have meant a drive to a different shop (I live in a village and have to drive 7 miles to get my shopping) and I figured that defeated the object.
 
Soup for lunch every day with some bread and spread; beans on toast two nights after
running (we will be late home); pizza and two pasta dishes.  I know that I can make three loaves of bread and a pizza base out of a bag of bread flour so we can have bread
with our soup and enjoy the luxury of a pizza one night.
 
We made the decision not to buy anything for breakfast as I have recently started
eating in a shorter window each day (usually between 12 and 8pm).  How I will
manage without snacking through the afternoon I don’t know, as I usually still eat three meals in that period.  However I have just realised that I have bought a large bag of potatoes and will only need them for thickening the soup, so I am going to treat us to oven chips with one of our pasta meals.  It may be a bit carb high, but chips go with
anything right?
 
We also went without tea or coffee.  Although this scares me a bit, we have followed Hannah’s thought process and decided that if anyone offers to make us a drink at work we will accept, but we won’t make any ourselves.  I drink a lot of water anyway
so this won’t be too much of an issue, although I fear I may miss an occasional bottle
of beer in the evening
 
I have a confession to make; I am going to cheat a little bit.  As we were away
camping at the weekend, I haven’t been able to use up all the perishables in the
fridge.  There are a couple mushrooms, a few small tomatoes and a mini pepper;
they were all supposed to be used by the 6 March so I know they can’t be left.  As food waste sits so badly with me, I have tried to find them other homes, but as they are past their best they seem to be unwanted.  I have made the decision that I will use them on the pizza and while I do feel slightly guilty about the cheating, it’s not as bad as how I would feel putting them in the bin.

END

National charity FareShare and local charity Norwich FoodHub, both work by redistributing food ‘waste’ to charities and groups who can make use of items that day, including passing them on to people they work with or see. National charity FoodCycle also collect food ‘waste’ and pass it on to people in the form of a free community meal in a particular place (in Norwich, it’s Friday night at the Quaker Meeting house in the city centre).

Norwich foodbank collects / receive donations from these charities a combined total of 7 times during the week, meaning the non-perishable food parcels are supplemented by fresh items including bread, cakes, fruit and vegetables.

The waste is in inverted commas, because it’s food that’s best before that specific date, but still perfectly safe to eat – therefore not really waste at all! We’re delighted that we’re both saving edible food from the bin and supporting our clients with a little bit extra.