Buttering us up?

I've been drawn to the latest Lurpak ads, which advocate a return to an 'old fashioned' way of life - homecooked food, quality over presentation, the celebration of simple pleasures, the virtue of patience and zero waste. I love them!

Unfortunately for Lurpak they have not persuaded me to switch to their brand. I'll stick to my local butcher who sells a very acceptable variety wrapped in environmentally friendly paper.

Surprisingly, although Lurpak's website features a tempting selection of recipes, it says nothing about the recyclability of their packaging.

Waste Free Latte

Inspired by Beth Terry over at Fake Plastic Fish, it has long been my intention to invest in an insulated mug to eliminate the cardboard and plastic waste inherent in takeaway drinks. So today, when I stopped for a latte at the Fair Cup stall in Colston Circus and saw their own cheerful red mugs for sale, I jumped at the opportunity. It cost me £3.95 and I get 10p off every drink I fill it with on future visits.

I plan to carry it around with me and use it in other coffee shops. I'm not sure what reaction I'll receive from the big chains but I'm going to give it a go. I'm not necessarily looking for a discount, although I wouldn't refuse! I'm just hoping to save waste.

Has anyone any experiences they would like to share?

Top Tips for Zero Food Waste

I have come to the end of my Zero Food Waste Challenge, during which I have succeeded in throwing away no more than a few tablespoons of edible food. And none of the inedible waste went to the landfill site, but has all been recycled by some means or other.

The Bristol challenge invites participants to share their tips for avoiding food waste. The prize for the most useful or original suggestion is a cookery course for two at Bordeaux Quay. I am an admirer of Barney Haughton and if I win I would take my elder daughter, who is off to university next year and might appreciate a few lessons to help her keep body and soul together.

So, my top tips are:

1 Stop treating leftovers as waste and start using them as ingredients
2 Store them properly (fridge or freezer) and label them clearly
3 Build up a repertoire of leftover-friendly recipes (soup, stirfrys, risottos, fried rice, omelettes etc)
4 Check your fridge/freezer regularly
5 Invest in a compost bin, wormery or a bokashi bin
6 Try not to be too hard on yourself when, despite your best efforts, you have to throw something away
7 Enjoy the challenge

Day 7 - Wednesday 7 October 2009

The last day of my challenge and not much waste to report.

1 egg shell
3 tea bags
30 g vegetable peelings
1 banana skin
1 pear core

I was going to use up the roast chicken from Sunday. The girls, who were going to eat earlier than us, were going to have chicken fajitas. My husband and I were going to have chicken risotto later. However I'd forgotten that, in a fit of efficiency earlier in the week, I had frozen the chicken meat. There wasn't enough time to defrost it so I used fresh chicken for the girls and we had two salmon steaks that were on special offer.

Deciding where to store leftovers is crucial to waste management. If I hope to use them in the next few days I put them in the fridge, but if not then I opt for the freezer. Problems arise when, for one reason or another, I don't get round to them before they go off - or when I forget to take them out of the freezer in time! Regular fridge inspections are essential. So is labelling, an area in which I need more practice. It's amazing how similar frozen leek and potato soup looks to frozen stewed apple, but only one of them goes with custard!

Day 6 - Tuesday 6 October 2009

This morning we had porridge for breakfast. My younger daughter was in a hurry to get to school on time so she left a bit.

At lunchtime I braved the leftover bolognaise sauce with some couscous and have lived to tell the tale. I ate it with the remains of the beetroot salad I'd made on Saturday.

So today's waste amounts to:

a few tablespoons of porridge
2 apple cores
1 banana skin
1 pear core
3 sweetcorn cores
240g vegetable peelings and sweetcorn husks
2 used tea bags

As usual, the cooked waste will go in the brown bin and the raw waste in the compost bin

Day 5 - Monday 5 October 2009

We had boiled eggs and soldiers for breakfast. There were egg shells and a bit of white left in one of them (my elder daughter only eats the yolk).

I had soup for lunch. the vegetable one I'd made on Saturday. I only work part time so am usually home for lunch and tend to eat what's left over from the night before, or what can be concocted from what's I discover in the fridge or the cupboard. I enjoy the challenge and the finished dish is usually quite tasty.

This evening I stripped yesterday's chicken carcass and my husband boiled it up for stock.

Today's waste offerings include:

3 egg shells and one egg white
1 chicken carcass, half an onion, a carrot and a broccoli stalk (boiled)
35g vegetable peelings
2 used tea bags

The cooked waste will find its way to the brown bin and the rest will probably be added to the compost bin rather than the wormery as the worms haven't yet eaten all they've already been given. They seem to be less hungry in the cold weather.

I've just thought that I should possibly include the tea bags I use at work. I go through a couple a day but I do try to use each one twice (a habit I picked up from my Aberdonian flatmate at university!)

Day 4 - Sunday 4 October 2009

Today, being Sunday, we had a roast. Actually we don't always have a roast on Sundays but today we did and it was chicken. I find that the effort in preparing a large meal is rewarded later on in the week by the benefits obtained from the leftovers.

It was my husband who cooked the chicken and he did so according to a recipe we picked up from the family we visited in France this summer. Cut a couple of slices of bread (stale bread would do nicely) and rub them with the cut edge of a clove of garlic. Then stuff the bread into the cavity of the bird and roast as normal. The dry bread soaks up the juices released on cooking and the garlic flavours the meat from within. I can't remember whether this was in the original recipe but, in addition to the garlic, my husband seasoned the bread with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. The result was exceedingly tasty.

There was minimal waste from the chicken today; just a few wing bones. The remains of the bird have been returned to the fridge. Tomorrow I'll salvage every last edible morsel of meat from the bones before boiling the carcass with an onion, a carrot and a couple of bay leaves to make a fragrant stock. I haven't yet decided what to do with the meat, but it will provide one more meal. If the chicken had been a larger one we might have got another two meals, but it was a smaller bird and we were very hungry/greedy this evening!

So today's waste comprised:

2 egg shells (from biscuit making this afternoon)
170g vegetable peelings
bones from two chicken wings
3 apple cores
1 pear core

The bones will be added to our brown council household waste recycling bin. This is collected weekly and sent to a special heat treatment plant where it is converted into compost. It can take meat and fish waste which we can't compost at home and which would otherwise have to be put in the landfill bin. The introduction of this bin collection has made a considerable reduction to our waste.

Two of the three apple cores will go to the wormery. The third has been fed to our hamster!

PS The chard we ate with our chicken came from our garden. It was planted in amongst the alpines in our rockery in the spring. It made a slow start but then it suddenly took off and has produced a bountiful harvest. Besides which the rhubarb pink stalks are rather decorative.