Making Your Food Go Further This Food Waste Action Week

This year we are supporting WRAP's Food Waste Action Week, which is running from Monday 6th – Sunday 12th March 2023.

Did you know that 4.5 million tonnes of edible food is thrown away each year by UK households? Shockingly, 25% of this wasted food is due to cooking, preparing or serving too much - this costs UK households £3.5 billion each year! That’s why Love Food Hate Waste is dedicating a whole week of action to shine a light on how simple behaviours to reduce food waste can save time and money, ultimately reducing the impact of food waste on climate change.

Catherine David, Director of Collaboration and Change at WRAP explains “There has never been a more important time to help households reduce their food waste. With food price inflation at an all-time high, WRAP is excited to be running our third annual FWAW and is looking for partners to step up and help people save money and fight the climate crisis. The cost of living crisis is putting many households under increased budgetary pressures and reducing the amount of food we waste in the home is a simple way we can all save ourselves money and time. Using up leftovers is a win-win solution for both our pockets and the planet.”

As a small family company we try to be as eco friendly as we possibly can. We have documented our journey to using biodegradable packaging, we use print materials that are printed with vegetable inks, we partner with supply companies such as Woolcool and we love our freezer.

So how can you help take action? There are many different ways to help reduce food waste, here we give you a few ideas. 

Buy frozen
As a frozen food company you may think we are biassed (ok maybe we are!), however, freezing food can help reduce waste and have a huge impact on the planet. Buying frozen foods can help you, your supermarket, and the whole supply chain waste less. It can also make it easier to land healthy foods on your plate when you don’t have time to cook. Less food goes to waste when it's shipped frozen, since it's not as perishable on the journey from the supplier to your refrigerator.  It stays fresh for longer, companies don’t need to add additives or preservatives and you can use only what you need. Hoorah!

Cue a link to our frozen product range here (hint hint):
modernpersiankitchen.co.uk/collections/all-products

Make use of your left overs go further
We are all guilty of it – half eaten pasta dish going in the bin, last night's takeaway you don’t fancy today, leftover Sunday roast (from 2 weeks ago) rotting in a bowl in the back of the fridge, that lunchtime energy dip from making too much rice so leaving half and forgetting it’s there on the side (I could go on). I get it and I put my hands up to say as a household we aren’t great when it comes to throwing away food… gosh Jamie Oliver and my friend Stefan would be horrified! However, transforming a dish from one thing and morphing it into another will spice up your meal. With a little creativity and a spare 15 mins why not try some of these recreation recipes with your leftovers:

1) Turn your roasties into smashed potato snacks:
Got too many leftover Sunday roasties? Turn them into a delicious snack by crushing them slightly in a roasting  try, drizzling oil on them and popping back in the oven for 15 mins. Take out and top with salt, pepper, sumac, a drizzle of tahina/tahini and pomegranate. For the full recipe visit our blog post here.

2) Mirza pasta:
Take your leftover Mirza Ghasami and add it to pasta as a sauce. Once your pasta has cooked, strain and stir through the Mirza with a dash of the cooking water. Remove from heat and add in an egg yolk to make a velvety sauce. Top with parmesan and enjoy! Insta video coming soon.

3) Taftoon pizza:
This can be made with any flat bread such as Taftoon Bread, Tortilla or Pide. Simply choose a base sauce i.e. pesto or passata and add a layer of cheese. Add toppings as you would do a pizza, pop in the oven for 10 mins and you're good to go!

4) Pimp up your yoghurt:
A quick and easy way to revive plain yoghurt is to pimp it up. I recently did a recipe with Lily to create a Beetroot and Whipped Feta Yoghurt Dip,  but there are hundreds of ways to add simple ingredients to yoghurt to make more of it. Also try Maast O’Khiar (Persian yoghurt and cucumber dip), Maast O’ Moosir (Persian shallot & yoghurt dip) and Borani Esfenaj (Persian Spinach and yoghurt dip).

5) Create Tachin with leftover rice
A baked version of Tahdig, Tachin is a Persian rice that is often layered with meat, dried fruit, spices. Take your leftover rice, add yoghurt, layer it in an oven tin and bake it! Simples. For a recipe check out this meat free version from Bon Appetit or this layered chicken and barberry version from Persian Mama.

Using up everything we buy saves money, time and the planet. These suggestions and making new meals with leftovers generally can be easily adopted and potentially have the greatest impact on reducing food waste in the home. Tag us in your creations on @modernpersiankitchen and don’t forget to #FoodWasteActionWeek

Store leftovers properly
Again, you got me… I am not good at this either! Stick leftovers in a bowl and hope for the best is probably not what you would want to hearI do, but hey ho I do. By storing food correctly in your fridge / freezer you can make each dish go further.

1) Keep your fridge at 5 degrees C or below – By adjusting the temperature of your fridge could help to preserve your food for three days longer than usual 

2) Did you know you can freeze cheese, milk, potatoes, bakery goods and herbs? Actually freezing herbs is typical in Persian households, see a guide to do so here.

3) A full freezer is more economical to run as the cold air doesn't need to circulate as much, so less power is needed.

For more tips and advice visit the Love Food Hate Waste website and follow @lfhw_uk.