Transforming Your Grocery Habits

Life seems to have a way of making me reassess my food buying and consumption habits every once in a while. Most recently it was the arrival of a housemate, necessitating the need to clear out kitchen cupboards and the fridge-freezer in order that she too could store food. I'm nice like that. But I digress...

I saw just how much I had in the kitchen cupboard; a huge range of lentils, flours, pasta, nut butters, preserves, dried fruit and nuts. There were a lot of oddments; things that I couldn't quite bring myself to use up so had a handful of cranberries here, a bit of couscous there and so on. Why?! There's no harm in using things up and in fact it's better to do so than just use the freezer as a stopping point on the way to the bin. I don't need 6 different types of grain on hand "just in case". So I reinvigorated my mission to use things up and even managed a whole week eating meals made only from what I already had in the cupboard, fridge and freezer. At the end of it, I realised I could do a second week, so I did.

I'm not the only one guilty of stoking up on too much food. Many of us over estimate what we will consume and ambitiously plan weeks in advance leading to eventually throwing out the excess. Something that surprised me in a recent report from the World Resources Institute was that about one third of all the food produced worldwide never makes it from production to plate. However, where it does, food waste is usually due to an overly prudent food industry, ambiguous food labelling, and over-cautious or ambitious consumers. Although written from an American viewpoint, there is still a wealth of good advice and tips in this article from fix.com.

Some of the tips to reduce food waste at home include:

• Taking cookery classes - learning how to make use of those random ingredients in the fridge
• Track your grocery and eating habits for a month to help you understand where you can buy less and use more
• Buy fresh more often - only buying bread, fruit and veg with the next 2-3 days in mind
• Understand the true meaning of use by and best before dates, and how storage can affect these
• Learn how best to store the fresh food you buy

Take a look at these info graphics for more insight.


Source: Fix.com


Source: Fix.com

Do you think you could eat for a week from what's currently in your kitchen without buying anything else? 

Waste Not : Asda Promotes Ugly Veg

In the aftermath of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's War on Waste program, I've not only been keeping an eye on my own habits but encouraging others to be less wasteful too. So it was a delight to read in The Times today that Asda has taken a step towards helping us to improve our habits and help farmers too.

A trial has been launched in 128 stores today, after the success of an earlier, smaller trial, of "wonky veg" boxes. The boxes, selling for £3.50, contain enough vegetables to feed a family for a week but rather than perfectly straight carrots and smooth spuds, you're more likely to find a much bigger range of sized vegetables, forked parsnips or curvy cucumbers, all still perfectly edible.

This is great news for farmers as they can still sell the produce to the supermarkets rather at a massively reduced rate for animal feed, or simply digging it back into the ground. Good news for us as consumers as we can pick up some budget friendly fruit and vegetables, eking out those pounds and pence a bit further and improving our diets in the process.

Other supermarkets are also starting to relax cosmetic standards for fruit and veg, but we all need to play our part. So next time you're out shopping, look to see if your supermarket is offering something similar, and if not, ask if they will.

Waste Not : Leftover Veg Stir Fried Rice

During the time I spent scrutinising my food habits recently I learned that I'm inherently frugal with my food. I can't abide throwing things out and the key to this is having a few reliable recipes to make the most of odds and ends of things that are left over. One of my favourites at the moment, aside from the ever present "bung it all in" soup I make quite often, is vegetable fried rice. You can throw all sorts of bits and bobs in and end up with a tasty, nutritious meal at the end of it. The addition of cashews and egg means there's a good protein hit, good carbs in the form of brown rice or quinoa and of course, lots of veg.

Left Over Veg Stir Fried Rice

This makes a great lunch or perhaps a light dinner.

• Handful of cooked rice (I prefer brown) or quinoa per person
• A good amount of left over veg (broccoli, peppers, mushroom, courgette, green beans and sweetcorn are all good but don't feel restricted)
• One egg per person, beaten
• A small handful of cashews, toasted (optional)
• Soy sauce
• Chilli flakes (optional)
• Oil

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok
2. Once hot, add the veg and rice and cook until heated through. I sometimes like to heat up left over rice in the microwave first to ensure it's piping hot and not harbouring any nasties.
3. Add the soy and chilli flakes to taste. 
4. Move the rice and veg to one side of the pan and add the egg to the other side. This is easiest if the pan is tilted slightly in the egg direction. Let it sit for a moment and then use a spatula or chopstick to scramble the egg without mixing it in to the rice mixture.
5. Once the egg is softly scrambled, remove from the heat and mix in with the rice.
6. Serve topped with toasted cashews.

Waste Not : Another Week in Food

I realised that looking at my food consumption for jet one week wasn't really going to show any trends or habits so I decided to keep going and scrutinise my habits for another week. I was rather worried, at the beginning of the week, that I would have to throw a lot out but I managed to make use of most things before they were lost forever. So here's the update for last week...

Used

• Almond milk, avocado, spinach, apple - smoothie with spirulina powder, cinnamon, vanilla and frozen banana
• Squash, leeks, onions - roasted veg soup
• Avocado, broccoli, sweet potato, eggs, beetroot, spinach - "healthy bowl" meals

• Carrot and apple juices - used for my barley grass shots
• Spinach, lettuce, apple, red pepper, cheese - salad

• Apples - snacked on these, some plain and some with almond butter
• Avocado, tomatoes, spinach, eggs - a lovely brunch

• Sheep's yogurt - this was mixed with granola 
• Apple juice - soaked some granola and topped with yogurt

• Left over lentil soup
• Left over rice, red pepper, broccoli, egg - egg fried rice

Bought
Avocado
Tomatoes
Sweet potatoes
Pomegranate juice
Sheep's yogurt

Wasted
I had to throw out  more tomatoes that had gone mouldy and the rest of the clementines.

What's Left
Excluding the things I bought this week...

• A broccoli stalk
• Half a red pepper
• Beetroot
• Apples 
• Chillies  
• Onions 
• Sheep's cheese
• Eggs
• Condiments and protein shakes
• Roast veg soup

So at the end of this experiment I'm fairly happy that I don't waste any fresh food but what I DO need to work on, and what will be a priority project in the new year, is to start using up my store cupboard staples. I've got stacks of pulses, grains, nut butters and so on, that I seem to keep adding to rather than using up. And there's no harm in using things up, I don't have to ration things out just in case, nor have a huge variety of these things on hand.

Are you guilty of hoarding dry goods? What store cupboard essential can't you be without?

Waste Not : My Week In Food

Last week I shared with you the contents of my fridge with the intention of sharing with how it's used and what waste I actually produce. This was inspired by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's War On Waste programme as I wondered if I was actually as good as I thought. So time for an update on what's gone in and out of my fridge this week.

Used

• Lettuce, avocado, eggs, tomatoes - these made several salads with sprinklings of seeds and a dressing of left over sundried tomato oil and balsamic vinegar
• Left over spinach omelet - had this for lunch with some avocado
• More tomatoes, some lettuce and half an avocado - used the tomatoes to make a batch of "butter chick peas" rather than using tinned or carton tomatoes. I had this with rice one night and with lettuce and avocado another night as I was craving greenery

• Half a butter nut squash and 2 onions - these went into a big batch of soup along with some lentils
• Half an avocado and 4 tomatoes - made a raw cream of tomato soup for a lighter eating day.
• Spring onions, half a red pepper, a little broccoli, an egg, left over rice from curry night - veg fried rice

• Pomegranate juice - used all of this to disguise the taste of the barley grass powder
• Sheep's yogurt - this was mixed with granola and used to tone down the chickpea curry. Surprised at how much I liked the taste
• Apples - snacked on these, some plain and some with almond butter

Bought
I only bought one fresh thing last week which was a bag of spinach.

Wasted
I had to throw out a few tomatoes that had gone mouldy (they had been there a loooong time) and
one clementine that I didn't get to in time. Not bad!

What's Left

• Some broccoli
• A red pepper
• Beetroot
• Apples 
• Chillies 
• Onions 
• Leeks 
• A little bit of lettuce
• An avocado
• Half a tub of sheep's yogurt
• Sheep's cheese
• Eggs
• Half a butternut squash
• Almond milk
• The rest of the juices, condiments and protein shakes

This has really highlighted to me how little I really consume during the week and how far I can make things stretch. I certainly don't need to buy anything fresh this week unless I need something specific although I suspect I'll buy some more tomatoes. 

Have you ever taken a good look at what you *really* use in a week? Would anyone like any of the recipes for any of the meals I mentioned?

Waste Not : What's In My Fridge

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall may have left our screens for the time being but the message of his War of Waste programme are still with me. Think about what you buy. Try to avoid waste whenever possible. Be fair to the producer. I always thought I was pretty good at avoiding food waste and not over buying but I thought it would be interesting to put this to the test and so I'm going to share with you the contents of my fridge and over the next few weeks, give up dates about what else I buy, what I use up (and how) and what I've had to throw away. This is a completely honest look. No styling or filters here!

Let's start with the salad drawers. Drawer one contains a head of broccoli and a red pepper I bought this week. There's also some beetroot and a courgette from a veg box, apples and a bag of salad tomatoes, chillies and a red pepper from mum's garden. Drawer two contains more apples, onions and two leeks from the veg box.

Drawer one.

Drawer two.

Ok, so far so good. The bottom two shelves are the ones I'm not keen on sharing but here we go. Booze! The bottom shelf is all booze. I don't drink a lot so it's all been there for months, but I like to be prepared for guests so there's a bottle of fizz, some beers, white wine and pimms. This is also the condiments zone. Olives, artichokes, mustards, jam and chutney. Oh and some lettuce that wouldn't fit in the drawer.

The top two shelves are a bit better... The lower one contains an assortment of protein drinks, pomegranate juice, coconut water, avocados and sheep's yogurt. Aside from the protein shakes these are not usual fixtures, but I'm playing with cutting out cow's dairy and trying to find ways to disguise barley grass powder in drinks. The top shelf contains half an avocado in a box, a tub of boiled eggs for snacks, a wealth of tomatoes and some sheep's cheese.

The door is a jumble of eggs, butter, cordials juices, condiments and almond milk.

There was also a plate in the fridge that had half a spinach and paprika omelette on it. Left overs from dinner destined to be lunch in a day or so.

It's not the best, nor the worst fridge. Most of these items are destined for specific recipes which I'm happy to share as we go if you like. I'm quite interested to see how this plays out.

Do you end up throwing food away or are you a frugal, well organised cook?