When OzHarvest teamed up with BehaviourWorks Australia to understand the most impactful way Aussie households can act against climate change, they found the overwhelming answer is to use up the food they have at home.
The research, conducted by BehaviourWorks at the Monash Sustainable Development Institute, revealed that food waste contributes around 8-10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
That is more than extracting oil (3.8 per cent), producing plastic (3.8 per cent), and air travel (1.9 per cent).
If food waste were a country, it would be the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States, and the real kicker is that 70 per cent of the food we waste is perfectly edible.
Like a Monday deadline on a Sunday night, Australia’s national target to halve food waste by 2030 (in line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal) is looming fast, and we haven’t done nearly enough so far.
Australian households bin a total of 2.5 million tonnes of food wastage every year – that’s one third of all food produced in this country! Tackling food wastage is the low hanging fruit to getting climate change results fast. You don’t have to buy an electric car or solar panels to reduce your carbon footprint.
Reducing your food waste can be simple. Here are two easy recipes for dinner and dessert, a Use It Up feast to kick things off.
An easy way to use up fruit
Fruit is a big wastage weakness for many of us. If it’s a little mushy, or a little brown, many would reach for the bin. Here’s an easy dessert for any ageing fruit in your kitchen.
Fruit – whatever needs using up!
Frozen puff pastry
A little sprinkle of sugar
Some good combinations are:
Strawberries and bananas
Apples and pears
Stone fruit and mixed berries
Line a baking tray with parchment paper, put a sheet of pastry in the middle.
Thinly slice the fruit, pile in the middle of the sheet of pastry and sprinkle with sugar.
Fold edges of pastry in to enclose some of the filling and bake at 190oC for 30-35 minutes.
You can add jam for extra flavour if you have any.
Hot Tip: Always keep some pastry in your freezer so it’s easy to use up soft fruit, instead of throwing it in the bin.
An easy way to use up herbs
We will have a mysterious spice cabinet or herbs we bought for a trial recipe and never touched again. Or maybe you decided a herb garden would be “so green” before realising you will never need that much parsley. Don’t bin them! Try this instead.
1 cup of pine nuts (or any nuts or pumpkin seeds)
1 bunch of basil or any herbs that need using up (remove from stems if necessary)
Any leftover bagged salad/spinach/rocket
3 cloves of garlic
60g Parmesan
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper
Dry toast seeds in a pan until golden.
Put everything in blender, whizz until fairly smooth, adding a little olive oil at a time.
Adjust seasoning and mix through with freshly cooked pasta!
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