We don’t know about you, but we can almost taste our Christmas dinner. In fact, the kitchen is full of festive treats. So much so, that we’re already making our way through the nibbly bits! However, we are aware that when it comes to food waste, we cannot afford to make any more at Christmas. The effects of food waste are already catastrophic so we’re planning on eating every last bite to ensure nothing goes to waste. The UK produces roughly 270,000 tonnes of Christmas food waste every year, but you won’t find any over here! Follow our tips and have a zero food waste festive season.
Figuring out those Christmas food waste leftovers
At first, this may seem counterintuitive, but it’s essential for making sure that you use your Christmas day leftovers. It can be overwhelming looking at the dinner table and seeing bits and pieces all over the place. Not enough Turkey to make another dinner. Far too much veg to feed the rabbit. The balance of portions has gone completely out the window. This is why we suggest preparing for this when doing your festive shop.
When you grab your meat, consider how much bread you have in at home too. One of the easiest ways to reduce meat waste is to make a sandwich. Boil the bones to remove all the meat from the carcass of the animal and your lunches will be sorted for the next few days. You can even throw in some cranberry and stuffing – what a tasty boxing day treat! We’re hungry just writing this one!
Now, the veggies are a little trickier. It’s hard enough to feed them to the kids when they’re part of the festivities, let alone the day after. Well, have you considered them for breakfast? When doing your festive shop, make sure you have some eggs either at home or in your basket. Then make the most of that lazy Boxing Day Sunday morning and treat yourself to a Christmas omelette!
Recreate the magic with these Christmas food waste recipes
It depends on what your Christmas dinner leftovers look like, but we know in our household, we enjoy recreating new dishes for a Boxing Day feast. Of course, you have the classic bubble and squeak, but there’s something magical about creating a new dish from some leftovers. Something new to get excited about. Here are some of our favourites:
Sprout leftover recipe
This one is so simple, and perfect for Boxing Day buffets. Grab your leftover sprouts and blend them in a food processor. The measurements for this recipe are based on having 200g of sprouts leftover, you can adjust it accordingly if you need to.
Once you’ve shredded your sprouts mix them in a large bowl with ½ the juice from a lemon, 2 tbsp of mayonnaise, 1 tbsp crème Fraiche, ½ tbsp of wholegrain mustard, and a dash of chopped parsley. We love this dish, and almost see it as a festive coleslaw. No more brussel sprout waste!
The Christmas food waste roastie leftover recipe
Brace yourself, this one broke our potato-loving hearts too. 11.3 million roasties are thrown in the bin after Christmas dinner. That crispy, tasty, sensational staple in our dinners is loved by all, but let’s face it, that’s what fills us up! It only takes 3 or 4 roasties before we’re too stuffed to eat the rest so they’re often wasted. Not through dislike, but through sheer fullness!
Although you can freeze roasties and use them in many different leftover recipes, we find this one perfect for Boxing Day. A classic potato salad with a festive twist.
The ingredients in this recipe will again, depend on how many roasties you have leftover. Pop them in a bowl first and then match the volume for bacon bites, red onion and boiled eggs. You’ll want to fry your bacon bites so that they’re crispy. Cut your hard-boiled eggs into quarters so they’re easy to mix. Also, make sure you finely chop your red onion, so the flavour is easy to spread. When they’re all in the mixing bowl they should look equal in measure. Then mix them with the following:
- 1 tbsp of mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp of mustard
- ¼ teaspoon of dried dill
- Salt and pepper to taste
- A garnish of parsley for colour
When all your ingredients are in the large mixing bowl, you can give it all a stir. You can serve this dish cold, but if you prefer it warm, just make sure the potatoes and bacon bites are warm going into the large bowl. Trust us, you’ll be making this leftover recipe every year!
Now that you’ve tackled your Christmas dinner’s food waste, try to reduce it elsewhere too. Make sure you only open one tin of biscuits or crisps at a time so that they don’t go stale by the time you get round to eating them. Also, if you’re a Bounty chocolate-avoiding family, don’t throw them out, find a friend or relative who will eat them instead. If you’ve got any Christmas leftover recipe ideas, pop them in the comments below and we can all reduce our Christmas food waste together!
One Response
I’ll have any Bounty sweets you don’t want!??