Nearly five million tonnes of perfectly edible food is thrown away in the UK every year

According to the charity WRAP ( Waste and Resources Action Programme) nearly five million tonnes of perfectly edible food is thrown away in the UK every year. On average this will cost a household of four people £1,000 a year. A major part of the problem is vegetables that are sold pre-packed and not loose. If potatoes, bananas and apples alone were sold loose it’s estimated it would save 60,000 tonnes of these products being thrown out every year. That doesn’t take into consideration the plastics involved in wrapping them. Apples in particular are now many sold in packs of six which is okay if you eat them on a regular basis but if you only need a couple for a recipe the rest can be ignored. Putting bananas in bags just makes them go sweaty so it’s pointless, never mind the fact that they have naturally packaging all around them in the form of skin. I was horrified to see a turnip vacuum packed in a supermarket on one occasion – what kind of mind decrees that this should have happened?

During the lockdown we all went a bit crazy with baking banana bread. It’s a lovely thing to eat but not something you’d want to do every day. I tend to overbuy bananas and invariably a couple will end up looking very forlorn at the bottom of the fruit bowl. Recently I discovered a Filipino recipe for banana ketchup – it’s easy to make and will last for a couple of weeks in the fridge. The bananas give it sweetness and a smooth finish and they’re balanced with some vinegar for sourness, paprika and cloves for a bit of heat, and some sugar and salt to season. Lechon is also a Filipino recipe where pork belly is slowly cooked with a sweet and sour marinade. In the recipe here I’ve substituted chicken thighs with the bone removed but skin still on. In this country we tend to prefer chicken breasts which almost makes the thighs a by-product. The thighs have a lot more flavour and if you cook them with the skin on they’re moist and delicious. After the thigh skin is cooked until golden and crisp they’re coated with vinegar, soy, sugar, onion, garlic and chilli paste. Serve with rice and a good dollop of the banana ketchup.

Another thing that tends to get lost at the back of my vegetable drawer is radishes. In the summer. When they’re in season I buy bunches from growers and eat them straightaway. The leaves make a nice salad leaf too meaning zero waste. In the winter I crave their pepperiness and just the lovely red look of them, which means buying them trimmed in bags. One way of pepping up some that have been left behind is to roast them. The other recipe here is for pork belly slices marinated in honey, soy and vinegar and roasted with radishes. The radishes soak up the flavour of the juices and add a little heat and texture to the whole dish. To use up those rogue apples in the fruit bowl I’ve included a recipe for apple butter. It was a traditional way of using up a glut and now can be applied to avoiding waste.

Small changes can have a big impact when it comes to avoiding waste. And the winner will be your pocket.