How To Stop Wasting Fruit And Vegetables

In a world that we are all trying to save on a daily basis, we are still struggling with food wastage. Wouldn’t it be great if we could stop our fruit and veg from wilting so soon after we bought them? Or if we had some great vegetable recipes to use our veggies up?

This is where we have come to help. Not only are we going to give you some advice on how to make your fruit and vegetables last longer. But we will share some quick and easy tips to help you use up the fresh food.

Stopping food wastage and using these vegetables that you would otherwise throw away, will give you another meal out of your weekly shopping. So it will save you some money and give you another day before you need to shop again.

Give Wilted Vegetables A New Lease of Life

Wilted vegetables are not very appetising are they? So before you bin them, try this little trick to bring them back to life. It is so easy that you will wonder why you never thought of it before.

Take 500 ml of water and add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to it. Then soak your wilted vegetables in there for at least an hour. Then remove them and pat them dry to use in your meal. They will look so much better and taste better too. If your vegetables are really limp, you can add them to hot water, then put them in ice-cold water with apple cider vinegar.

Quick Baked Potatoes

If you have been left with only the small potatoes, but you fancy a jacket potato in a rush. Instead of using the microwave, pop them in the oven. To make them cook faster, we always stab our potatoes anyway. But if you put a metal skewer through the potato, it will help the potato to good faster. Also, stand the potato up in a cupcake tin to make sure that the potato cooks faster and more evenly.

Potatoes cooked in the oven takes so much better than those cooked in the microwave.

Caramalised Onions With Cola

If your onions are a little bit past their date, don’t worry because you can add some flavour back to them by caramelising them with cola. Any cola will work, even the 35p Aldi stuff.

You need:

• 2-3 onions
• brown sauce
• Cola

Slice the onions about 1.5cms wide and lay them in a microwave dish. Pour enough cola over them to cover the onions. Then stir in 2 teaspoons of brown sauce. Switch the microwave to 50% and cook for 30 mins. Then you can carry on cooking your other food as this is so easily made in the microwave.

How To Get More Juice From Your Lemons

If you want to get more juice from your lemons, then the best thing you can do is to store your lemons in a jar of water. Pop the water in the fridge to keep it fresh and when it is time to use the lemon it will be so much juicier.

Another way to get more juice from your lemon is to prick it once or twice with a sharp knife. Then place it in a bowl and put it in the microwave for 15 seconds before you slice and squeeze it.

Save Your Vegetable Tops

We always throw our vegetable cut-offs away, don’t we? But there are ways to use the ends of the vegetables to stop them from being wasted. With carrot tops and beetroot leaves, you can chop them and saute them in garlic and olive oil. This makes a great side dish or a healthy snack for later on in the day.

Another idea is you mince them down or blend them and add them to scrambled eggs for a little bit of goodness to a quick meal. You can also add it to a pasta sauce for a little added nutrition to a healthy meal.

Boost Vegetables With Milk

How many times have you gone to use your cauliflower and the head isn’t so white anymore? Well, we have a great suggestion for that! As you cook it on the hob, add 100ml of milk to the water. This will help to bring the whiteness back to the cauliflower and it looks so much better on the plate, as well as tasting creamier. If you add some milk to some corn on the cob, as you boil it on the hob. it also makes it sweeter to taste, and is healthier than using a knob of butter.

Tasty Cheesy Spinach

Spinach is one of those vegetables that is packed with goodness, but it is also a vegetable that doesn’t look so good. Many people say they don’t like it because of how it looks. But you can disguise it and give it new life by using this simple cheesy spinach tip.

You need:

• 500g of washed spinach
• 55g ricotta cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Garlic
• 1 tablespoon of butter

Put the garlic into the pan with the butter and saute it for about 40 seconds. Then add the spinach leaves and toss them in there until they start wilting. Do not cook them for too long, as they will overcook. Stir in the ricotta cheese and add the salt and pepper to taste. Eat it as a side dish with your meal.