Cheap Meal Ideas
Love Food Hate Waste launched in 2007 to raise awareness for the vast amount of food we waste each year. Not only should we not be wasting perfectly good food, it is also burning big holes in our pockets! With the festive season on the way and big families to feed, making vast amounts of food that could potentially go to waste is inevitable...but don't panic! Love Food Hate Waste have some great recipe ideas to help use the leftovers of your Christmas feasts, as well as some helpful money saving tips for you to make use of on the run up to the big day.
Cook Once, Eat Twice
This intiative is simple...cook once, but eat twice. We throw away a staggering 1.5 million meals every day in the UK. That's £2.1 billion a year straight into landfill. Scary isn't it?! Throughout November and December, why not join in and save yourself valuable time and money, whilst reducing the risk of extra food and packaging waste.
So what can you do to reduce your waste and save yourself some money? Love Food Hate Waste is packed full of ideas to help you make the most of your weekly shop and to help you plan for those quiet weekday evenings, as well as those big weekend dinner parties! As well as loads of tasty recipes, learn about how to make the ultimate meal and portion planner for you and your family, and how to make the most of your freezer. You can still save yourself time and money whilst eating hearty homemade meals with a little prior planning on a lazy Sunday.
Did you know that, on average, we only have 38 minutes to make a family meal every day? By making extra portions when we get busy in the kitchen, you will not only save yourself time during the week, but it will take away the stress of planning what to cook mid week!
Money Saving Meal Ideas
Cooking tasty homemade meals in bulk is a sure way to help you plan in advance, and use up what's in the fridge. From staple favourites like lasagne and shepard's pie, to quick and easy pasta bakes and hearty risotto, Love Food Hate Waste have some great recipe videos. Here are some of my favourites to help show how easy it is to think ahead and cook in bulk, no matter how big you're family!
Lasagne Recipe Video
Vegetable Risotto Recipe Video
No matter how prepared you are, you are inevitably going to get caught out and in need to cook up something quick. Don't give in to the microwave ready meal! With some eggs, cheese, ham and random vegetables you can make a tasty omelette, or if you have some left over cooked meat in the fridge, make homemade ciabatta pizza!
Easy Omelette Recipe Video
Ciabatta Pizza Recipe Video
Christmas Leftover Ideas
As well as bundles of money saving ideas, Love Food Hate Waste have also gathered together some inventive ideas on how to use up those Christmas dinner leftovers. I thought I would pick out a couple of easy ideas you can cook up throughout the festive weeks, even with that delicate Christmas party head! I have always found the easiest way to cook is all in one pot - less preparation and less washing up! Soup is possibly one of the easiest leftover meal throw togethers.
Turkey and Vegetable Soup
To make this all you need is some leftover Christmas dinner vegetables and potatoes, vegetable stock and, well, turkey!
Simple throw the veg and torn up turkey into a large pan with hot water, crumble over the stock cube, season with pepper, bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes or until it is suitably tasty. Simple! Serve with some crusty bread pulled from the freezer and you are onto a winner. For the full recipe click here.
That's the savoury sorted, now for the sweet...that's right Love Food Hate Waste have thought about that too! From homemade crumble to use up fruit in the fruit bowl, to using up the mincemeat and panettone, they have it covered.
Christmas Panettone and Mincemeat Pudding
A play on the traditional bread pudding, this simple yet absolutely delicious pudding recipe not only uses up some Christmassy treats, but it also gives you the excuse to enjoy some remaining warming Christmas alcohol.
Teamed up with some staple fridge dairy (to make the custard), this tasty baked pudding can even be heated up the next day if not eaten up all on the first day - if there is any left of course, yum! For the full recipe click here.
I hope this has given you some inspiration to get creative, plan in advance and reduce your food waste this Christmas. Don't forget to share this article if you found it useful to help spread the word! Simply use the buttons under author profile on the top right hand side of the page.
