22 ways to 'Repurpose The Surplus'
Last week we asked our Kaitaki to share their best food waste tips in celebration of International Day of Awareness on Food Loss & Waste Reduction (29th September). Here's a few to get you inspired...
International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction (IDAFLW) took place on Friday 29th September 2023, - so we honoured the day by encouraging our Kaitaki to share how they reduce food waste at home, at work, or in their communities.
Why is IDAFLW important?
Globally, around 13% of food produced is lost between harvest and retail, while an estimated 17% percent of total global food production is wasted in households, food service and retail.
The 2023 theme for the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, was focused around “Taking Action to Transform Food Systems.”
22 Food Waste Tips to help #RepurposeTheSurplus from our Kaitaki across Aotearoa:
Leave it to the pigs! Memphis, a farmer in Northland, raises their pigs on both the waste milk from the cows that isn’t suitable for tanker collection and the household food scraps.
Pest control as food! Turkeys are an issue on farms across Aotearoa, as they eat a lot of grass and their poop kills trees, including native trees where they roost. Memphis tells us that on farm they cull the turkeys but always make sure to harvest all the meat and then use the carcasses for trapping other pests.
Transform food surplus into a culinary gift! The delicious Kai Māku sauces from Tamryn are an amazing example of using surplus manuka honey and caramelising it into a delicious sauce.
Turn crusts into croutons! Amber’s picky children prefer their crusts cut off their sandwiches - so she transforms the bread crusts into croutons and the kids eat (and love!) them.
Don’t let bananas go bad! Freeze them for smoothies or turn them into banana bread muffins, to be stored in the freezer for a quick lunch box addition.
Have vege? Make soup! Using any extra vege that is going old at the bottom of the fridge - Amber loves to whip up a simple and nourishing soup for her family.
Share your kai! Amber’s favourite way to avoid food waste is to share what you have with your family, friends and neighbours.
Make Mushroom Paté! Wendy from Perfectly Imperfect saves old mushrooms and turns them into mushroom paté - inspired by the mushroom ketchup from Hey Citizens. You simply fry onions, sliced mushrooms, a bay leaf, garlic, apple cider vinegar, a sweetener of your choice, raisins, olive oil, salt and spices such as clove. Blitz til smooth and eat on toast.
Try Bokashi! Thomas and Sheena of Chasing a Plate pickle their food waste using Bokashi. Including everything from bones, fruit and vegetable scraps.
Freezers are your best friend! Freezers are brilliant for storing everything from dodgy feijoas for baking, to random pieces of fruit and leftover pizza sauce.
Eat the skins! Chef Jaron from the Agrodome in Rotorua keeps it super simple, he doesn’t peel his carrots and believes we shouldn’t either - the nutritious skins have all the good stuff.
Get composting! Our self-dubbed compost princesses Kaitlyn and Jess reminded us that when adding your food waste to the compost, it’s important that you cover your green materials (the food scraps) - with brown materials including things like paper, red leaves, or mulch.
Save it for tomorrrow! Lou in Southland saves any of her toddler’s half-eaten, half-cut fruit for tomorrow’s porridge. She always has takeaway containers for lunch and as a last resort whatever doesn’t get eaten becomes duck food.
Let old produce go to seed! To save any weather-affected produce - such as potatoes impacted by the wet summer/autumn that didn’t make the cut for eating - Memphis put them away in the shed over winter and recently opened the boxes to find them sprouting - so they’ll be used as this year’s potato seed. Genius.
Crush eggshells for protection & calcium! You can scatter the crushed eggshells in the garden to protect your future food from snails and slugs - plus it keeps the eggshells out of landfill. You can also use them within the chook food itself to help provide an extra calcium boost.
Tackle vege before it goes off! If you don’t know what to do with it, simply chop up what you have - then steam, roast or leave it raw and throw it in the freezer for a later date. Roast pumpkin for example, can be defrosted and mixed with flour to make delicious pumpkin pasta in minutes.
Don’t trust ‘Best Before’ dates! They are merely a guide, not a ‘you must eat by then.’ Use your senses to look and smell the food item whether fresh or frozen. If meat has been freezer-burnt - simply remove that part and feed it to your other four-legged friends.
Buy from your local farmers market - to ensure our farmers sell out! Alex of We are Little Farms explains that what doesn’t sell at the markets becomes “waste” that farmers have to find a home for, which can be really hard. Through her ‘Ugly Boxes’ she can redirect any produce that might have gone to waste.
Think ahead to next year’s growing season! This year Alex has also decided to grow far less lettuce, as it’s a crop that has a short shelf life and can’t be preserved as easily - which can result in a lot of wastage.
Store your fresh broccoli stalk in a glass or beaker half filled with water in the fridge and it will last WAY longer, says Lydia, founder of Pickled Compost.
Could pigs - the ultimate recycler - play a major part in the food waste solution? Murihiku Farmer Nicole asks the question: If you are a meat eater would you save your scraps to feed pigs at a local farm and then have the opportunity to access locally grown pork? OR Imagine if orchards and market gardens kept pigs or poultry to graze on the fallen fruit / unsellable vegetables and also had the ability to process and sell that ‘extra’ produce locally to their communities.
Let books inspire you to waste less food! Jannine from @huntresswines pulled together a list of books that inspire her to grow, ferment, forage, cook like our ancestors, eat seasonally, utilise the whole animal, compost and recycle - all to ensure she doesn’t waste food. Check out her list of faves here.
See more of the highlights from International Day of Food Loss & Waste over on our IG - @eat.newzealand and follow the hashtag #RepurposeTheSurplus.
Check out more #foodwaste action and inspiration from @nzchampions123, @foodprintnz, @perfectlyimperfectsnz and the team at @lovefoodhatewastenz .