Talking About Green

Buying organic foods and shopping with green interest in mind is a great step in the rightdirection. However, if you find that you are throwing away unfinished items and letting thingsgo to waste; your fridge may be slipping towards the red line. Here are simple tips to keeping your fridge-freezer in the right shade.

Labelling

This is a great tip that I picked up from my grandma. Waste is not a word that features inmy grandmother’s kitchen; growing up in France during the Second World War, rations andhunger were part of daily life. With these memories heavily installed, she has turned feedingwithout debris into a work of art. Buy a pack of sticky labels and as soon as you open a newjar of sauce or a condiment, mark the packaging with the date of opening. Most of theseitems include some sort of use by notice. Such as: Once opened consume within two weeks.Armed with a clearly stated date you are better equipped to keeping tabs on what needsfinishing off. You are one step closer to cutting down on your waste.

Note: I always store my labels and a pen just above my fridge, for convenient and efficientfood labelling!

Dealing with leftovers

Do you keep your leftovers? Delicious dinners remain in the fridge and are hopefully returnedto and finished off. Maybe you chuck them into the freezer, saving for a later date. Both ofthese methods are a great start, however, I have some ideas that will ensure that these leftover’s never go to waste!

• Freezer boxes: These come in a variety of shapes, sizes and materials. I use aluminium boxes in two sizes, one that is perfect for a single portion and the other isthe right size for two. When you freeze a whole batch of food, if you do not use the whole amount in one sitting you risk waste. By freezing in portion sizes you can makesure that this doesn’t happen.
• Label the dish, for example: Chicken Curry 09.05.11.Labels: Our sticky friends are regular features in this article! Use them to label your leftovers that are going straight into the fridge. Keep on top of when items were cooked and when they need to be eaten. This is especially useful for meat. If you have cooked meat that has an expiration date, keep up to date and save yourselffrom throwing items away unnecessarily. Meat waste is far from green!
• Pack up your lunch: Taking your left over’s to work is a fantastic way of killing two birds with one stone. Save money on your lunch break while limiting waste.

Mindful Shopping

Always food shop with function in mind. Picking up items because they look tasty or healthyor whatever else is going through your mind can be turning you into a waste monster! Thinkabout what the delicious ingredient is going to be used towards, if it has a function place it inyour basket, if not, keep walking. Another way that we often end up wasting our ingredientsis when we bulk buy to save money. For example you may need a couple of tomatoes for arecipe, one tomato works out cheaper when bought in a pack of six rather than individually.Picking up a pack of six is the natural reaction, but if the remaining four have no purposeand end up decomposing in the back of your fridge you would have been better off buyingindividually.

Checking in

With labels and food portions now a regular feature in your fridge-freezer, take the timeto check in and see what is going on. Keep eyes on what needs finishing off and what isavailable. By forming a regular acquaintanceship you are one step closer to minimising wasteand turning your fridge-freezer into a delightful shade of green.

Author: Anne Davies guest blogs on a range of topics all over the web, ranging from holiday destinations to bridal sets. Anne is the Social Media Consultant for Kranichs jewellers and alsoruns a daily blog: annesaneries, a collection of thoughts, opinions and dreams, discussed in astraight talking manner.