Before it goes off...
Originally published in the Morisset and Peninsula Bulletin, September 2018.
Submitted by Lindi Bowen on behalf of Morisset and Peninsula Sustainable (MAPS) Neighbourhood Group
Submitted by Lindi Bowen on behalf of Morisset and Peninsula Sustainable (MAPS) Neighbourhood Group
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Some people have very little food waste in their green waste bin because they don’t waste food and they home-compost their own fruit cores, stones and skins and vegetable peels. The only food items going into their green waste bin may be meat and fish bones, prawn shells, orange peels and other such items that do not compost well within home composts. Congratulations!
We all need to achieve this. With the average cost of grocery items now around $400 dollars straining our tightening budgets and the environmental impacts on the world from fertilising, harvesting and transporting this food, we cannot afford to waste food. We need to keep tabs on the use-by dates of everything in our fridge, freezer and pantry. |
Image: Lindi Bowen
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We need to save leftovers as quick dinners or snacks in the freezer, or reuse them in dishes like stir-fried rice, quick chow mien, winter stews, minestrone or creamy soups, potato cakes, vegetable fritters, fruit salad, pudding and trifle.
Sometimes we buy something we think we will use during the week, and then plans change. Or the apples are not the crisp fresh-eating delight we expected, so we don’t put them in our lunchboxes. Fruit and vegetables we grow in our garden might all ripen at once, or the bulk buy bargain was just too hard to pass up.
Sometimes we buy something we think we will use during the week, and then plans change. Or the apples are not the crisp fresh-eating delight we expected, so we don’t put them in our lunchboxes. Fruit and vegetables we grow in our garden might all ripen at once, or the bulk buy bargain was just too hard to pass up.
Here are some ways we can avoid food wastage… before it goes off!
Dry, freeze, pickle, stew or cook it!
DRY IT: Use a food dehydrator, sun dry, air dry in warm dry air, or put small amounts in an oven (after it has started to cool down from cooking something else). Make dried herbs, dried fruits, dried fish (see pickling below), dried beans and lentils.
FREEZE IT: make it too cold for the bacteria, fungi and enzymes to work. Label everything you freeze with what it is and the date frozen. Keep a freezer diary next to the freezer with item, contents, date frozen, eating instructions and use by date. Don’t forget to cross items off when used! Most foods can be frozen for three to twelve months. Use within three months to be sure. Fish keep only two months and shellfish only one month unless store-purchased already frozen. You can freeze butter, hard cheeses (in portion sizes or grated for cooking), cream or cream cheese if it has at least 40% butterfat, bread, meats and fish raw or cooked,
most vegetables, most fruits, cooked rice, soup stocks and soups, sauces (though some sauces separate in the freezer so don’t work so well) and yoghurts (eat frozen). Wrap it well in plastic containers (which you wash and reuse) or foil or plastic wrap (which you then recycle) to make sure it does not dehydrate. Freezer-burned food is not very palatable (and may also have been contaminated).
PICKLE IT: use salt, or salt solution, to cure pork to ham, make gherkins, pickled onions, tomato sauce, home-canned corn niblets, home-made baked beans in tomato sauce, smoked fish, tomato salsa, and other pickled foods.
STEW IT: use sugar and water to preserve and can (or seal in sterilised jars) stewed fruit which if hygienically done can last 12 months (maybe more) on a dark pantry shelf. Or use sugar with no water to make jams with equal lasting power.
COOK IT: baking, grilling or frying meats or baking apples (or pears) stops them going off in the raw state (kills the fungi, bacteria and enzymes) and the cooked foods are good to eat for a few more days if kept in the fridge. You can also freeze your own cooked meals. You can make delicious meat and vegetable stews (thick soups), all slow cooked to perfection! Just cut the bad bits off fruit and vegetables (for the compost or green bin) and put the good pieces into the stew.
Dry, freeze, pickle, stew or cook it!
DRY IT: Use a food dehydrator, sun dry, air dry in warm dry air, or put small amounts in an oven (after it has started to cool down from cooking something else). Make dried herbs, dried fruits, dried fish (see pickling below), dried beans and lentils.
FREEZE IT: make it too cold for the bacteria, fungi and enzymes to work. Label everything you freeze with what it is and the date frozen. Keep a freezer diary next to the freezer with item, contents, date frozen, eating instructions and use by date. Don’t forget to cross items off when used! Most foods can be frozen for three to twelve months. Use within three months to be sure. Fish keep only two months and shellfish only one month unless store-purchased already frozen. You can freeze butter, hard cheeses (in portion sizes or grated for cooking), cream or cream cheese if it has at least 40% butterfat, bread, meats and fish raw or cooked,
most vegetables, most fruits, cooked rice, soup stocks and soups, sauces (though some sauces separate in the freezer so don’t work so well) and yoghurts (eat frozen). Wrap it well in plastic containers (which you wash and reuse) or foil or plastic wrap (which you then recycle) to make sure it does not dehydrate. Freezer-burned food is not very palatable (and may also have been contaminated).
PICKLE IT: use salt, or salt solution, to cure pork to ham, make gherkins, pickled onions, tomato sauce, home-canned corn niblets, home-made baked beans in tomato sauce, smoked fish, tomato salsa, and other pickled foods.
STEW IT: use sugar and water to preserve and can (or seal in sterilised jars) stewed fruit which if hygienically done can last 12 months (maybe more) on a dark pantry shelf. Or use sugar with no water to make jams with equal lasting power.
COOK IT: baking, grilling or frying meats or baking apples (or pears) stops them going off in the raw state (kills the fungi, bacteria and enzymes) and the cooked foods are good to eat for a few more days if kept in the fridge. You can also freeze your own cooked meals. You can make delicious meat and vegetable stews (thick soups), all slow cooked to perfection! Just cut the bad bits off fruit and vegetables (for the compost or green bin) and put the good pieces into the stew.
