How to turn food past its sell-by date into tasty and nutritious meals
Cut-price food is becoming increasingly more common to get hold of thanks to an influx of community fridges and food-waste schemes.
And yellow-sticker bargains have long been a feature of the supermarkets with shoppers huddled around the fridges as closing time beckons.
But as we rush to fill our baskets and jostle for the last bunch of bargain bananas, are they destined for culinary greatness or to live out their dying days going bad in a fruit bowl?
In Stamford nutritional therapist Sophie Driver is helping people to make the most of their leftovers and end-of-life food by running cookery courses with a difference.
Sophie is working with the food waste organisation Second Helpings in partnership with the wellbeing charity MindSpace. She is running six-week cooking courses, mostly using ingredients that have been saved from landfill.
Two groups have now completed the course and two more blocks are planned for the new year.
Sophie said: “For me it’s all about using what you’ve got and giving people the confidence to realise that cooking isn’t scary. I’ll usually have a loose idea of what I want to do but I have to adapt it to whatever food we are given.
“A big part of this project is preventing food waste so it’s important for people to know how to use up what they’ve already got in the cupboard.”
The idea of the cookery courses started at the MindSpace garden where people are encouraged to spend time outdoors and grow their own vegetables.
The MindSpace team would return to the office with armfuls of produce but struggled to find anyone to take it home.
Operations lead Pip Tiffin said: “People said they wouldn’t know what to do with it so we started printing out recipe sheets but they still wouldn’t take it. We realised some of them still weren’t sure what to do or they didn’t have the cooking facilities they needed.
“One of our garden volunteers is also involved with Second Helpings and the idea of the course grew from there.”
The course starts by introducing simple knife skills and a run-down on food hygiene. Sophie also incorporates tips on healthy eating but mostly aims to make the sessions welcoming and enjoyable.
Among the recipes she’s whipped up are a baked chicken curry, a sweet potato and black bean chilli bake and fruit smoothies.
The cookery courses usually cover a two-course meal which everyone will eat together at the end of the session, with leftovers to take home.
Sophie said: “My aim is to bring people together to learn a skill. The course has been a mixed group - some people can cook and just want the company while others can't cook at all.”
The next six-week course starts on Thursday, January 9 and will be followed by further sessions at the end of February. Places will be available to book online at www.mindspacestamford.com
For those who can’t attend but would like a bit of inspiration, Sophie has shared the following tips for turning end-of-life food into tasty meals:
• Root vegetables such as potatoes, squash, carrots and parsnips are largely interchangeable so you can adapt your recipes depending on which you have available.
• Courgettes often come as a glut. They can be grated and mixed with flour, egg and frozen sweetcorn to make fritters. Just mix everything together and fry it for a couple of minutes on each side.
• Flour and natural yogurt can be mixed together, shaped and gently fried to make flat breads.
• Most vegetables can be used to make an easy curry, stirfry or stew.
• Fresh herbs can be chopped and frozen to add to future meals
Recipe for sweet potato and black bean chilli
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 can black bean, drained and rinsed
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 cloved garlic
• 1 diced red pepper
• 500ml vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon chill powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons oil
Method:
1. Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onion and garlic until the onion turns translucent.
2. Add the pepper and sweet potato. Cook for seven minutes.
3. Stir in the chilli powder, cumin, salt and pepper and cook for one minute.
4. Add the black beans, chopped tomatoes and vegetable stock. Boil until bubbling and then turn the heat down.
5. Cover and cook for 25 minutes.
Cinnamon toffee apple wedges
• 100g butter
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 6 apples, cored and cut into wedges
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Handful pecans, toasted and chopped
Method:
1. Heat the butter and sugar in a pan until it bubbles and turns golden brown.
2. Add the apples and cinnamon and cook for five minutes until the apples are coated.
3. Stir in the pecans and serve immediately.