Freezer frenzy

Did you know: The average UK household spends £680 a year on food that ends up in the bin. This leads to a massive 7.2 tonnes of extra waste every year. 

If you want to make a change try our favourite ways to save food and money using your freezer:

• Freeze leftovers, simply portion, cool, label and pop in your freezer.
• If you’re not going to have time to eat your meat put it in the freezer before the use by date and use within 24 hours of defrosting.
• Did you know pasta sauces and pesto can be frozen? Only cook what you need and freeze leftover sauces for another meal.
• You can freeze leftover rice if you make too much. This handy video from Love Food Hate Waste tells you how.
• Wrap food carefully or store it in air-tight containers to avoid freezer burn.
• If you like fresh herbs try chopping them, popping them in an ice-cube tray and adding a little water, perfect every time!

It’s a breeze to freeze roadshows return

Love Food Hate Waste it’s a breeze to freeze roadshows are taking place across the county over the next few weeks.

To help slash food waste, recycling officers will be offering hints, tips and information on how you can make the most of your freezer.

The first one kicks off in South Street, Dorchester on 28 March – so come along and find out how to become a freezer expert.

Find out where.

Celebrate it’s Dorset Food Week!

It’s Dorset Food Week (23 – 31 October 2010), so there has never been a better time to start cutting down on the amount of food we throw away.

Kicking off the week, our recycling officers spent the weekend at the Wimborne Food Festival, speaking to more than 1,350 people about saving money by getting smart with food and using their freezers more.

So, if you haven’t made friends with your freezer yet this autumn, why not start preventing food waste today with these three tips:

• If you cook too much for a meal such as fish pie or chilli, put it in a container and store your homemade ‘ready meal’ in the freezer, ready to enjoy on a cold winters evening
• Make sandwiches filled with unexpected combinations of tasty leftovers, such as chicken, bacon and mayonnaise, lamb and mint sauce or cheese and coleslaw
• Keep an eye on the food in your fridge and freeze anything that you’re not going to eat in time. You can freeze foods right up to the “use-by” date.

And, it’s not just food that can be frozen. Rather than letting wine go to waste, freeze it, then you can use it in stews or casseroles!

If you want to find out more and pick up one of our delicious freezer recipes our Love Food Hate Waste freezer roadshow will be at South Street, Dorchester on 27 and the Tourist Information Office, Sherborne on 28 October, so come along and chat to us.

Love freezers, hate waste

Did you know a massive 8.3m tonnes of food and drink is thrown away every year in the UK – this equates to £12 billion pounds worth of food! And what’s more two thirds of this could have been eaten.

This autumn, Sammie Strawberry will be visiting shopping areas across the county encouraging you to love your freezer and hate waste. Did you know a surprising variety of food including bread, milk, cheese, meat, cakes and homemade leftovers can all be frozen?

To help slash food waste, a series of it’s a breeze to freeze roadshows offering hints, tips and information on how to make the most of your freezer are taking place.

The first event kicks off at Penny’s Walk, Ferndown on Monday 20 September at 10am. So come along and find out how to become a freezer expert.

Read more here