A chef’s tips to cut food waste – and your bills

Food waste is suddenly the subject on everyone’s lips. A combination of environmental concern and biting inflation has propelled an issue that was already rising up the public consciousness on to centre stage. Some supermarkets are dropping ‘best before’ labels on fresh produce, and this month the British Frozen Food Federation launched a campaign to highlight the virtues of freezing to save money. The issue even gained a mention in the first televised debate of the Tory leadership contest at the end of July, when Liz Truss stated: ‘I am naturally a thrifty person. I like saving money and it also helps the environment. It’s about using less, wasting less, particularly food waste which I think is a massive problem in this country.’

There is no shortage of books, brands and organisations getting behind the cause. ‘Dig for Victory’ era books such as Good Fare (originally published in 1941) and Good Eating (1944) have been republished in the modern era. It is good to see them seeking to popularise frugal recipes such as Woolton pie (named after the wartime Minister of Food). Waitrose recently began selling wonky fruit and veg in a new ‘A Little Less Than Perfect’ range, while brands such as Flawsome! produce juice from misshapen and surplus fruit. Too Good To Go can connect you with restaurants and shops about to throw away food, so you can take it home with you for a snip of the regular price. Given the 4.5 million tonnes of edible food thrown away by British households each year, all of this can only be a good thing.

Chef Adam Handling is a champion for cutting waste within the restaurant industry. But his original motivation, he tells me, was financial: ‘The food waste focus started for me because I couldn’t afford to pay my bills.’

Cracking down on food waste can also be a driver of creativity in the kitchen. If cooking is a creative endeavour – as much a form of art as painting or music – then the chance to turn the fag ends of the fridge into a splendid dinner is among the most exciting opportunities for a cook. As Adam puts it: ‘There are only so many ways you can cook a Dover sole, but if you use the skirt too, then suddenly there’s more to play with, and added complexity.’

At his restaurants – Michelin-starred Frog by Adam Handling in Covent Garden, The Loch and The Tyne in Old Windsor and Ugly Butterfly in Cornwall – Adam has turned his anti-waste philosophy into an art form. At Frog, a refreshing gazpacho-style starter uses the peeled tomatoes’ skins to make an accompanying tuile. Exmoor caviar on maple syrup-drizzled waffles comes with a sturgeon cream that turns the whole thing into an outrageous take on an American diner classic: as Adam points out, once caviar is extracted from the sturgeon the rest is usually surplus to requirement and 90 per cent of sturgeon is wasted. A missed opportunity, in his view. At Frog, they even use the sturgeon’s bladder: it contains a gelatine which is perfect for filtering and clarifying ale. Meanwhile, another drink – Adam’s own-label Kent sparkling wine – is used in the dessert. Rather than get rid of any unfinished bottles left over at the end of service, the kitchen team turn the bubbly into a ‘waste wine sorbet’.

This is not everyday fare. It’s high-end stuff. All the food at Frog is stunningly executed and presented (aided by a turntable set up in one corner, which creates an optically dizzying drizzling of sauce). But the same principles can be applied to cut food waste at home. Below are tips that will save you money – along with a recipe from Adam that makes fantastic use of the leaves and stalk of a cauliflower.

Four ways to save money

1. Don’t ignore fruit and veg peel. My fearless mother eats an entire mango, skin and all. ‘Good roughage,’ she always tells me as she chows it down. Indeed it is – and the skin has a host of other nutritional benefits besides (though some people can be allergic). Skin can also be cooked: try this banana skin and coconut curry, or these Tyrrells-style vegetable crisps. And if you have any soggy leftover salad, you can turn it into pesto, creating a bargain dinner.
2. Trust in sight and smell. Supermarkets might be ditching ‘best before’ dates at last, but many of the older generation have long ignored them. And rightly so: as Adam says, ‘don’t forget cheese was invented from sour milk’. When bread is stale, it can be turned into a bread and butter pudding or croutons for a Caesar salad.
3. You can freeze more than you think. It pays to know how best to freeze different ingredients. Potatoes and carrots don’t freeze well when raw but are great cooked and frozen, for example. Even seemingly unlikely options such as cheese and eggs can be frozen: prepare them first (i.e. grate the cheese and beat the egg) and then store in the holes of a muffin tin. There is a comprehensive guide to freezing know-how here. As a bonus, a full freezer is more economical to run than a half-empty one as there is less space in which the cold air needs to circulate.
4. Opt for the off-cuts. Use pieces of meat that might otherwise be thrown away. Pork cheeks are delicious braised in sherry. Pork neck fillets are a better value option for a steak than other cuts. Remember too to use carcasses for stock and gravy. Offal is also seeing a growth in popularity, thanks in parts to restaurants such as St John. Remember tasty offal is not just limited to red meat; the chicken offal yakitori skewers at Soho restaurant Humble Chicken are a sensation. You can make your own with the recipe here.

Adam Handling’s recipe for cauliflower kimchi

Adam Handling likes to add kimchi – a traditional Korean side dish of fermented vegetables – to give spice and depth to a meal. And, he says, ‘this recipe uses the leftover leaves and trim from a couple of cauliflowers, so it’s brilliant on the food waste front’.

Prep time: 30 minutes

What you need

– 500g cauliflower leaves and trim

– 30g sea salt (i.e. the flaky stuff)

– 2 garlic cloves 

– 6g ginger

– 1 tsp caster sugar

– 25g gochujang 

– 1½ tbsp fine table salt

– Water

1. Quarter and remove the stalks from the cauliflower, chop it into 4cm pieces and place into a large bowl. Sprinkle sea salt over the cauliflower and massage it in with your hands. Cover with cold water and put a plate on top to keep the vegetables submerged. Set aside for 2 hours.
2. Tip the cauliflower into a colander, rinse it thoroughly under cold water, then leave to drain for 30 minutes. Peel the garlic and ginger, then place into a food processor along with the sugar and blend to achieve a smooth paste. Transfer the paste to a bowl and mix in the gochujang, until combined.
3. Squeeze out any excess water from the cauliflower, then add it to the bowl, along with the gochujang paste. Wearing disposable (recyclable) gloves, use your hands to thoroughly mix it all together.
4. Spoon the kimchi into a large Kilner jar and press it down so that the juices rise, leaving a gap at the top, then close and seal the lid.
5. Leave the kimchi to ferment at room temperature for 2 to 5 days (place the jar on a plate to catch any brine that might bubble over). Check the kimchi every day, letting out some gas and pressing the vegetables down further into the brine.
6. Once you are happy with the flavour of the kimchi, transfer the jar to the fridge. The ferment can last for up to 3 months.