Food scraps can sneak up on you, small amounts here and there can quickly add up! Tom ‘Tiramisu’ talks you through six common food scraps you can actually eat to help you reduce your food waste.
Why should I eat my food scraps?
I know it can seem a bit odd to think about eating food scraps. The word ‘scrap’ is literally in the name, surely it’s destined for compost or waste right? Well, turns out reducing your food scraps is actually one of the easiest ways that you can reduce your impact on the environment. And one of the best ways to do that? Eat them!
New Zealanders throw out an alarming amount of edible food every year. When food waste ends up in landfills, it breaks down in an environment which encourages the production of methane. Methane is an incredibly potent greenhouse gas, with a warming power 86 times higher than CO2. With this in mind, any effort to reduce the amount of food you waste has a huge impact in helping to reduce our impact on the planet.
So let’s reduce your impact in a delicious way. Check out these six foods you can eat more of and some inspiration for how to do so:
Broccoli & Broccolini Stalks 🥦
This one’s a biggy, did you know that it’s not just those yummy florets you can eat! The stalk is just as delicious and easy to cook as the rest of the broccoli. Not to mention it provides you with almost 2x more veggie to eat. Add them to a stir-fry, veggie bake or spiralise them!
Cauliflower Leaves & Stalks 🥬
Finding this one out from the chefs was a bit of a shock. The leaves of a cauliflower will crisp up just like kale does. The stalks of the leaves taste almost exactly the same as the cauliflower itself, delicious! Add a bit of salt, oil and a delicious oven bake is on your hands.
Herb Stalks 🌿
The leaves are just so pretty, we love topping our meals with them. But did you know most of the flavour is in the stalk? Whenever you’re roughly chopping herbs, don’t stop at the leaf, chop up those stalks and throw them all in!
Leeks & Spring Onion 🧄
Do you only use the white bit? Well, keep on chopping or slicing up that onion because you’re missing out on half of the goodness! The green leaves of spring onion and leeks are very edible, full of goodness and oh so yummy.
Potato Peel 🥔
It’s so interesting, almost everyone loves chips, but we almost all throw away our potato peels! Spread them over a baking tray with a light drizzle of oil, salt and herbs then bake until crispy, yum! You can even store them in a bit of water for a day or two and cook them later.
Carrot Tops 🥕
Have you been to the market and got yourself some bushy carrots? Well, don’t trim them off and throw those leaves away because they’re PACKED with the good stuff. Put them in a smoothie, salad or mix them in with some falafel for extra goodness!
