Using leftover food - we all have it.

I think we all feel the pinch these days, for me it is the five week months I dread, the end of the month when you have run out of money but still need to eat. I try my best to stop this becoming a problem by making good use of my freezer so that little leftover food is wasted.

More than 15 million tonnes of food is wasted in UK homes every year, most of which is still perfectly edible.

I tend to bulk buy things like mince and stew, which allows me to bulk cook. not only does this save power as food is all cooked at once but it saves me time so that before I go off to start an eleven hour shift I just take a portion of mince or stew out of the freezer ready for eating that night. Remember a full freezer works more efficiently than a half empty one so it saves power that way as well.

I normally buy frozen vegetables as I feel there is less waste, but at times I will buy reduced price vegetables, sort out the few that are past their best










 and prepare the rest for the freezer, pop them into bags and use as required. I appreciate the vitamin content may not be as good but they still bulk out and add fibre. Oh and by the way I also wash and reuse my freezer bags, don't see the point in not doing so.










I try not to let other foods waste, if I have a few wraps that I have not had chance to use that have gone a bit rubbery. these can be made into French toast, add a bit of grated cheese to them once they have been turned and they make a nutritional snack, saves waste and in our case a cheap meal as we keep our own chickens.

I cannot eat raw fruit now but I still like fruit on my cereal in a morning, so again I bulk cook a mix of whatever is in season, sometimes I puree the mix other times I leave it whole, but no point in cooking a small amount so again I bulk cook and freeze until required. I also pick and freeze the rhubarb as it ripens for use later on. 

I bulk make pancakes as mine need to be dairy free shop bought ones are no use, and again take them out as I need them

I also make my own yoghurt every week, and as I love a bargain I will pick up soya milk that has been reduced as it freezes and defrosts well enough to use. I also freeze small portions of the yoghurt as a starter for my next batch. 

But one of my specialities at this time of the month is chicken stew. 

My starting point is  usually two carcases that are left over from earlier in the month, I like to eek a third day out of a chicken and the combination of two carcasses allows me to do that. So take your carcasses and add them to a large pan, cover and boil for half an hour to make a tasty stock.

Remove the carcass from the pan and set aside to cool slightly. Meanwhile add any available veg that you have, I added a few tomatoes, some cold potatoes from the day before, carrots, leeks and parsnips from the freezer that had been frozen previously. I also added about 75g red lentils for extra bulk and nutrition. 

Whilst this was cooking I picked away at the carcasses, putting this into three piles, bones and obvious rubbish, good meat and the skin and gristle, this can be added to your pet food to eeek that out as well or the wild birds will always eat it. 

I added some dumplings to the top of this today and then served. Hot, nutritional, and making good use of leftovers.  

This is my entry to the Best British Bloggers win a fridge freezer competition. 

ps I am not always perfect, and sometimes I do forget about items in the cupboard, like this mouldy cake but don't tell everybody. 

The Waste-less Journey has been created by AO.com




Have found a few food linkies and decided to spread the word,

Credit Crunch Munch  this month is being hosted by Food Glorious Food  along with the regulars Fab Food 4 All and Fuss Free Flavours. -