A recent article in The Guardian talking about the vast amount of food being thrown away each year lists some of the foods that end up in the bin the most. The following are recipes from Eat Well, Waste Less by Bish Muir, featuring some of the food most commonly wasted. Take a look and save some money, while also helping the environment by wasting less food.

Curry

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Suitable for:
Bite-sized pieces of cooked or raw chicken, turkey, pork or beef
• cooked or raw vegetables: carrots, cauliflower, French beans, peppers, tomatoes • cooked
potatoes.

Ingredients
• Roughly 500g of any of the above
• 4 tablespoons olive or sesame oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• ½ green chilli, chopped and de-seeded (or adjust according to taste)
• 1 tablespoon tomato purée
• 30ml double cream or crème fraîche (optional)

Method
❶ Heat the oil over a high heat in a wok or frying pan. Add the onion and fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the garlic
❷ Add any raw meat (around 400g). Cook for a further 5 minutes if using raw meat. Skip this if
using cooked meat
❸ Add any raw vegetables and cook for 5 minutes, stirring all the time. Skip this if using cooked vegetables
❹ Add the curry powder and chilli. Stir well.
❺ Add cooked meat and vegetables and stir well to ensure they are coated in the curry powder
❻ Add tomato purée. Stir the ingredients well for 5 mins to ensure all spices are absorbed
❼ Just before serving, add the double cream if using, and mix in well. Garnish with fresh
coriander leaves

Pie – Vegetable

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Suitable for:
For winter pie: carrots • parsnips • swede • sweet potato • turnips • leeks • green beans •broccoli • cabbage.
For summer pie: courgettes • red peppers • aubergine • tomatoes

Ingredients
• About 500g combination of raw vegetables as above
• 2 onions
• 25g margarine
• 550ml vegetable stock – see p.78
• 30ml tomato purée
• 30ml horseradish sauce
• 1 packet frozen short crust pastry or 5 large cooked potatoes

Method
❶ Make sure pastry is completely defrosted
❷ Pre-heat oven to 170°C/340°F/Gas mark 4
❸ Dice or chop the vegetables. Slice the onion
❹ Melt the margarine in a casserole dish, stir in all the vegetables, cover and sweat for 10 minutes
❺ Pour in stock and bring to the boil, add tomato purée and horseradish sauce
❻ Cover and put in oven for 20-25 minutes
❼ Transfer to a large pie dish
❽ Roll out the pastry a little larger than the dish, cover the dish with the pastry and press down around the lip of the dish. Dampen the edges so they stick down well. Pierce a hole in the top to allow steam to escape. Alternatively you can use sliced up cooked potatoes to cover the pie
❾ For pastry, cook pie in the oven for 35 minutes – until the pastry is cooked. If using
potatoes, cook for 20 minutes

Bread and Butter Pudding

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes

Suitable for:
Old bread.

Ingredients
• 8 slices buttered bread cut in half diagonally
• Rind of lemon or orange (grated)
• 40g sultanas or currants
• 250 ml full fat milk
• 70 ml double cream
• 50g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• Nutmeg
• Lemon/orange rind (optional)
• Chocolate chips (optional)

Method
❶ Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 4
❷ Place one layer of the bread into the base of a well buttered baking dish and sprinkle over some sultanas
❸ Repeat with another layer of bread and sultanas and carry on with the layers until all the bread and sultanas are used
❹ Beat the egg, milk, cream, peel and sugar together and then pour over the bread
❺ Grate some nutmeg over the top and bake in the oven for 35 minutes. The top should be
golden and crisp-looking when it’s finished

We hope you enjoy these delicious recipes. For more great recipes you can find links to purchase the book here.