10 Ways to Stop Wasting Food

Food waste

I’ve recently started writing a regular monthly column about ways to stop wasting food for Vegetarian Living magazine. This has been very exciting as it merges my love of writing, recipe development and researching food. Each month I pick a seasonal vegetable, create a recipe using as much of it as possible and I give tips on how to use up other fruits and vegetables that are in season. I hope you’ll check it out!
I love using up parts of produce that are usually discarded. Edible parts like carrot tops, beet leaves and stems, cauliflower leaves and broccoli stalks are all useful, healthy ingredients.

Recipes to stop wasting food

Do you like to make recipes using up ingredients that may have gone to waste? Perhaps bananas that were too ripe to eat, a cauliflower that was starting to brown, stale bread, yogurt a few days out of date or carrots that were a bit limp. Maybe you bought some of the ingredients reduced at the supermarket and they might have otherwise been binned?

Here are some of my ways to use up fruit and vegetables as seen in the collage above – clockwise from the top left!

Apple Pie with Kale and Lemon Pastry makes great use of this season’s apples – of which I seem to have a LOT!
Beet Chocolate Protein Balls use up leftover beetroot – freshly cooked or vacuum sealed (without vinegar).
Beet, Cranberry and Ginger Smoothie is a refreshing way to use up too many winter cranberries
Whole Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Curry uses up the entire cauliflower, including the leaves
Parsnip Maple and Nutmeg Cake with Sweet Potato and Ginger Icing – this flavourful icing is a great way to use up sweet potato
Spinach and Coconut Cake is a great way to use up spinach in a surprising, sweet way
Probably my most ambitious no waste recipe is my Roast Dinner Waste Cake, which is a maple and cinnamon cake with carrot, parsnip and potato peelings.
This Tuscan Ribollita (Bean Stew) can be adapted easily to allow you to use up veggies.
Too much mashed potato at dinner? Turn it into dessert – Chocolate Mashed Potato Cake with Tahini Drizzle.
Sweet Potato and Ginger Protein Balls use up leftover roasted or boiled sweet potatoes that you might have had with dinner.

For more ideas, check out my article – 20 ways to stop wasting food.