Waste not want not
By Ross Liggins
In the olden days (50 or 60 years ago) my old Granny, bless her heart, used to impress upon her grandchildren never to waste any food. She grew up during a great depression and two world wars when food was scarce and never wasted. After weekly Sunday dinners with our family, she used to scrape all uneaten food into containers and pop them in the fridge, to be part of her meals for the next week. I don’t know what she created with the leftovers but without the fancy cooking gadgets that we have today, I am sure it was pretty simple but very edible kai.
I am happy that Granny’s food-saving ways rubbed off on me. I must say I cringe a bit when I go to dinner with friends or family and perfectly good leftovers are biffed in the compost bin or worse, in the rubbish bag. AAAggghhh!!
Anyway, when asked to write this article, I decided to research a few statistics about food waste. Did you know that world-wide, an estimated 30% of food is wasted, despite the fact that 800 million of us go hungry every day. When you think of the human cost, all the resources wasted, and emissions created to produce food that ends up in landfill, you really have to question human intelligence. But at least we seem to have more brain cells than Americans who waste an estimated 40% of their kai. Then again, if I had to survive on the fast food diet that many Americans seem to love, I would probably chuck away most of it too.
Here in NZ, households biff around 15% of their food, about $3 billion worth a year, while in supermarkets and the hospitality industry percentages are greater. Most of our household waste comprises veges 28%, bakery products, mostly bread, 26% and meat and fish 19%. But don’t despair - there is hope! According to recent survey, around 88% of us feel it is bad to waste food! So what can we do to change our wasteful ways? Well, like my Gran, we can save our leftovers and refrigerate them. Fortunately, like Monty Python’s simple “Rat pie recipe” – (take a medium-sized rat, put on a chopping block, kill quickly and bake in a pie), I can provide you with a simple recipe which uses leftovers. It’s called “Leftovers cocktail omelette,”- ideal for a tasty 10 minute meal after a tiring day at work. It goes like this-
Throw one container of mixed leftovers (can include fruit) into a fry pan with a bit of oil. Add a little seasoning or a can of tuna and fry for 10 minutes at a medium heat.
Break eggs into a cup, give them a stir and add them to the leftovers. Grate a bit of cheese and chuck it in. Cover with a lid and cook till it resembles an omelette and hope it tastes good. If it doesn’t, add Thai chili sauce. That’ll fix it!
If you have a few slices of bread that are reaching their use-by date or are a bit on the hard side, fry them in a bit of butter till crispy and eat them with your ”Leftovers cocktail omelette.”
PS. I realise it’s a bit more complicated than the rat pie recipe, but it’s pretty quick and easy and if you’re feeling adventurous, you can substitute the eggs with ready cooked pasta or udon noodles or leftover rice. But don’t forget, then you’d have to change the name of the dish to “Leftovers cocktail noodle/pasta/rice”
Bon apetit!
PPS. If you don’t have a compost, you can throw your vege scraps and peels around a tree. Don’t throw meat or fish scraps with them though, it might attract rats. Mind you, I suppose you could then try the rat pie recipe. There’s no point in wasting perfectly edible rats. Remember: Waste not want not!
