Reducing Food Waste Recipe Sharing/Tips & Kitchen Scrap Tips

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  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,586 Member
    I used to follow a recipe from the American classic the Joy of Cooking for making stock with crumbled egg shells and egg whites. I remember vaguely the combination of beaten egg whites and shells clarified the broth.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    I used to follow a recipe from the American classic the Joy of Cooking for making stock with crumbled egg shells and egg whites. I remember vaguely the combination of beaten egg whites and shells clarified the broth.

    Yes I know of using it for clarification purposes but not for health purposes.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,129 Member
    Just bumping this up again, I got some great tips online for making the most of Pineapples by steeping the skin with some spices and a little honey for a lovely tea, it's delicious!

    You can then blend the remaining skin with water, strain it and make juice as there's still a but of flesh left over and if you're not totally pineappled out you can use the strained skin for smoothies or curry (or compost it) and plant the top!

    Zero waste 😁

  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,586 Member
    Make herb oil when soft herbs such as parsley, basil, mint that are in danger of being tossed. I blanch by putting my near dead herbs in a colander, and pour a kettleful of boiling water over them. Then blitz in a mini food processor with garlic, lemon, lemon zest, plenty of olive oil, seasoning. Strain the oil in a tea strainer into a squeeze bottle. The herb oil keeps about two weeks. The food waste in the strainer can be made into a quick gremolata. Add lemon juice and seasoning to taste but you need to use it within the day as it otherwise becomes an unappetizing grey colour.

    Basil that is getting limp and slightly grey still makes a good pesto too.

    Mint oil garnishing tinned beans warmed up in prawn shell bisque from the freezer with food waste gremolata smeared over pan fried fish.
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  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,129 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    Make herb oil when soft herbs such as parsley, basil, mint that are in danger of being tossed. I blanch by putting my near dead herbs in a colander, and pour a kettleful of boiling water over them. Then blitz in a mini food processor with garlic, lemon, lemon zest, plenty of olive oil, seasoning. Strain the oil in a tea strainer into a squeeze bottle. The herb oil keeps about two weeks. The food waste in the strainer can be made into a quick gremolata. Add lemon juice and seasoning to taste but you need to use it within the day as it otherwise becomes an unappetizing grey colour.

    Basil that is getting limp and slightly grey still makes a good pesto too.

    Mint oil garnishing tinned beans warmed up in prawn shell bisque from the freezer with food waste gremolata smeared over pan fried fish.

    I've been doing something similar by making Salsa Verde with any herbs/salad leaves that are looking worse for wear. Though I find most of my herbs keep for weeks if I keep them in my window hanging jars in water. Only had issues with Coriander, which is no loss because I don't like it.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,586 Member
    You can grow veg from a lot of vegetable scraps too. I've got a friend who has grown edible cherry tomatoes from a slice a well as bell peppers from seeds removed from a pepper he was cooking.
    https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/features/how-to-regrow-food-from-scraps/
  • Agion3
    Agion3 Posts: 15 Member
    Use kale stems in recipes. I dice, sautee and cook them into my cauliflower rice, cottage pie and korma.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,586 Member
    I've been pickling some of my vegetable waste. Pickled watermelon rind is something I started doing after trying it in a restaurant specializing in food from Louisiana. My Vietnamese girlfriend's mom pickles shredded cauliflower leaves. I have been pickling thinly sliced broccoli and cauliflower stems.
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    edited June 2021
    No one has mentioned juicing. When people think of juicing, they tend to naturally think of fruit. We juice broccoli stems, kale stems and beet tops all the time. Then the dry parts can be throw into the compost pile or (if you don't use anything toxic like grapes), used to make fiber dog biscuits. I mix in some peanut butter, oats and eggs and sometimes make my dogs dehydrated dog biscuits out of the fiber left from the juice.

    Pineapple cores are my favorite to juice for the tiny bit of fruit (we like green juices). They contain the majority of the enzymes for proper digestion, yet people tend to throw them away. Cilantro is also amazing to juice with. The stems are fantastic. So is a cabbage core. The things that people tend to pitch make the best juice.

    I had one dog that would go nuts over these. It was her favorite treat in the world.
  • Agion3
    Agion3 Posts: 15 Member
    I don't juice because I would be making a sugar bomb and throwing away the fibers that act as a buffer against it.
  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,158 Member
    I love reading this thread!

    I reuse pickling brine for refrigerator pickles. They don't last as long - not that we need them to because pickles disappear very quickly in our house, but they're great and very easy.

    This might be questionable for some for nutrition reasons, but I also render my own lard and tallow from animal fat (we order meat in bulk) and use it for cooking (and leaf lard for pastry crust). It's actually very easy to do - cut it up in 1-inch chunks and cook in a slow cooker overnight with a quarter cup of water to prevent scorching as it gets up to heat. Once it's all melted, strain it to get the cracklings out into jars. I keep one in the fridge and the rest go into the freezer for later.

    The cracklings are super addictive so watch out, but they can be used as a garnish or salad topping, or in some recipes in place of bacon (the type of thing where you'd be using crumbles.)

    After making stock I will grind up the bones to make bone meal, which can be put in the compost or in the garden directly - I use it for roses.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,586 Member
    @penguinmama87
    How do you grind down bones? Curious because I heard breaking up bones results in a stronger bouillon but wouldn't know how to do it without power tools.

    I also render down beef tallow. I put the beef fat through the food processor before popping it into the rice cooker without water for a few hours. I also save all the fat from roasting duck and goose.
  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,158 Member
    edited June 2021
    acpgee wrote: »
    @penguinmama87
    How do you grind down bones? Curious because I heard breaking up bones results in a stronger bouillon but wouldn't know how to do it without power tools.

    I also render down beef tallow. I put the beef fat through the food processor before popping it into the rice cooker without water for a few hours. I also save all the fat from roasting duck and goose.

    My method is to boil them clean after making broth, then dry them out in the oven. I break them up outside in a bag or even an old pillowcase with a rubber mallet into small pieces. Then I grind them up in my blender with a blade I use just for that purpose. I usually do a whole bunch at once because it is time consuming. But beating them up with the mallet is really, really fun.

    I've heard amazing things about duck fat in particular, but I've never been brave enough to try roasting duck (or goose) yet, though one of the stores I shop at does carry them around the holidays.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,586 Member
    @penguinmama87
    Roast goose and duck are great. Just pierce the skin and fat (not the meat) all over with a metal skwer all over by threading parallel to meat through skin and fat, salt and pop into the oven. Google the internal temperature for whatever level of doneness you like and use a meat thermometer. We normally roast a goose at Xmas and that gives more than a half litre of fat we use for a half year for roasting potatoes. If you roast fatty birds use a deep tray.

    If you don't want to roast goose or duck, in the UK you can buy jars of goose and duck fat, mostly around Xmas.
  • Agion3
    Agion3 Posts: 15 Member
    I just make bone broth by roasting the bones, letting them cool, then soaking then in apple cider vinegar and water for an hour, then simmering for at least 4 hours.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,586 Member
    Making a selection of Korean namul is a good way of using up little bits of leftover raw veg lurking at the bottom of the fridge. I used leftover bits of watercress, cucumber and mung bean sprouts. Most of the recipes I googled were pretty similar. Blanche each veg separately by putting in a strainer and pouring some boiling water over them. When cool enough to handle, squeeze out excess water. Dress in some selection of the following: sesame oil, neutral vegetable oil, soy, vinegar, salt, sugar, grated or pressed garlic, finely chopped green onion, red pepper flakes or toasted sesame seeds. Choose maybe 3 dressing ingredients per vegetable so that the flavour of each varies.
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  • NVintage
    NVintage Posts: 1,463 Member
    https://youtu.be/ZBtVNGBKgy4

    Not all table scraps are good for pets. Chocolate, raisins and chicken bones are just a few things that should stay out of the doggie bag. But lean meats, vegetables and grains are fine. Here’s a link from the ASPCA about the dos and don’ts of feeding your pet from the table.

    -https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/doggie-bags-for-portion-control/

    I try to meal plan and just buy what I need, most the time just rotating 4 or 5 dinner ideas and then eating at a restaurant a few times per week for variety. Between meal planning & a dog who will eat just about anything, we hardly have any food waste!:D
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    edited July 2021
    Agion3 wrote: »
    I don't juice because I would be making a sugar bomb and throwing away the fibers that act as a buffer against it.

    That's a very general statement. A nutritionist once told me this about my green juices. Add the sugar from 1/4 of a cabbage, a cucumber, broccoli stems (or broccoli), ginger, celery, lemon, beet greens and cilantro. It's negligible. Once the nutritionist saw this (I showed her my food diary which adds the sugars up), she didn't have an issue with juicing. It's because most people assume you're loading up a juice with fruit. The only fruit we ever put in it was berries going to waste (again, minimal sugar) or pineapple cores -- great for enzymes. Kale is one thing that has (surprisingly) a bit more sugar than spinach. I used kale but more sparingly.

    It's a heck of a lot better than diet soda or the crud people put in their coffee. Green juices make drinking these things tolerable. Plus, I get 50g of fiber eating mostly a plant based diet on top of this. It's when folks replace eating vegetables with juicing. Our entire refrigerator is fresh produce.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,586 Member
    If anyone else makes sweet pickled watermelon rind, I discovered a neat trick. Put in a little citrus peel, pith and all for a day or two in the brine. The little undercurrent of bitterness and citrus scent makes the pickles much more compex.

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