Food Waste.

[Enfys]

Crossed posts Aggie so I missed this. Hope you've recovered and your DH is ok.

[aggie]

she is just out of nappies last week and came in to me with a bottle of milk hanging out of her teeth ! I don't see as much of her as of the boys , I think it is ridiculous still sucking a bottle , no wonder she isn't hungry , the food messing is bad for a child of her age , her mum just shrugged and was a bit off when I said about it

[Oma]

Zizi is right I love my food vacuum sealer I seal everything even two rashers of bacon will be sucked and sealed and it will last long after the use by date , I do the same with cooked meat leftovers anything I can basically. if say for instance we have peppers and they are going a bit soft I will slice them vacuum and freeze to use in other meals , Tomatoes going soft get sucked and sealed and froze ideal for pasta sauce, pizza topping , Mixed with mince etc . If we make a curry and there is some left we use it the next day in curry toasties , same with Chilli love chilli toasties . Bread gone stale if we not going to use it for toast or Bread and butter pudding I vacuum and freeze for when we do want to use it . My DD will waste nothing when she comes in from work she has already decided what she is going to make by what she has seen needs using in the fridge on the morning before work , she doesn't buy anything ready made shes a big believer of cooking everything from scratch . if it smells ok looks ok she will use it

[WeeGranny]

Try and waste as little food as possible. Don't buy large joints of meat anymore, just enough for one meal except for a chicken. That's roast, then mixed in with rice and whatever else comes to hand and sandwiches. Bubble and squeak is a great user upper of leftover veggies too.

[Bizzy Lizzy]

Oh I love bubble and squeak and will cook vegetable (especially sprouts) just to make it rather than waiting for leftovers. I still find it hard cooking for two and often end up batch cooking quantities and freezing. Especially things like Bolognese sauce. I batch cook soup as well which seems easier than trying to do it with one leek and make the same amount of washing up as I would if I used four. Also it is nice to have "easy meal" nights when I just get something from the freezer. I also buy things like cheese in the large portion size which is so much cheaper per kg than the small portions and then I cut it and freeze portions. I wait for the special offers for cheese particularly and get several packs at a time.

[Qwerty]

I had half an hour shut eye since she left , she is 3 1/2 and very spoilt being the youngest and only girl ,Oh cleaned the kitchen and is good , think we will have fish and chips carry out for tea !

Same here Aggs we had the twins of course they are vey young so we can keep the mess to a minimum all food is kept within the confines of the highchair and in J situation he is in a bouncer chair and I feed them as a contortionist! you are doing well Aggie its hard isn't it

[Libra Gran]

I deplore waste and if I can scrape the last bits out of any jar I will,even veg peelings etc don't go to waste they go in our compost bin. I keep saying Im going to invest in one of those sealing thingy me bobs Oma and ZIZI have instead of using containers all the time.

[Daisy]

Aggie - I may be wrong, but I think I've read somewhere that having a bottle at your GD's age could be bad for her teeth - ie pulling them out of alignment.

Oma - to be fair to my DILs, both of them cook from scratch, and both are working full-time. DIL1 cooks for the boys at tea-time and then does another meal when DS gets home which is often about 8 pm. DIL2 batch cooks meals for the GDs and freezes them in portions so I and their other gran only have to reheat food for them, and either she or DS2 cook their evening meal.

If I've got veggies which need using up I make soup as well. It's so easy and makes me feel virtuous!

[aggie]

Oh dear , she will need braces then , she already has a terrible squint , DS and DIL said she would grow out of it , took forever with gentle insistence to get her looked at , even the health visitor was poo pooed , now she has glasses and does wear them , when they aren't broken ............ lovely wee girl with blonde curls sigh !!

[Daisy]

Aggie - we start worrying about them from Day 1, and never stop!

LG - I meant to say I agree about composting what I can. I've got two big wooden bins in the garden and 3 on the allotment.

[Plantaholic]

What make of vacuum sealer do you have Oma? I batch cook and I am fed up with containers.

[Oma]

I have the one from Lakeland but in the past I had the JML one , I think Tizzy has the JML model I don't use Lakeland bags they are too expensive I use the JML ones they work perfectly well in the Lakeland one . its a bit of a expense at first but pays for itself over time the best thing is the bags can be washed and reused and if you have a meal in them you can pop it in a pan of boiling water to reheat or put in microwave They take up less space in the fridge and freezer than containers and you don't get freezer burns ore ice crystals . This morning we have portioned two chickens vacuumed them and straight into freezer no need to freeze first and then bag . I should be on commission shouldn't I hahaha

[Plantaholic]

Thanks the one from Lakeland is £75, is that the one

[ZIZI]

Yes mine is JML I just recently replaced the old one and got a new JML one for £29.99 in the sale. I agree with Oma the plastic sleeves are a lot cheaper from JML but you can also seal ordinary plastic as well with mine. If I have something that will "bleed" when I suck it I put it in a bag or cling film.

I also put biscuits in them unvacuumed when I have made them for the children so that if I don't see them for a couple of days they are as fresh as ever.