Wastage of food is one rule in my life which I am very particular about, maybe since childhood I have been taught well about the seriousness of this rule, I still remember while eating my mother use to share different fiction/mythological stories related to wastage of food and I could not thank her enough even today to educate me well about the importance of food in our lives. Being a farmer’s daughter I understand well what it takes to get food from farm to plate, so when Tupperware approached me to be part of their campaign Care4food to reduce wastage of food by better storage I happily agreed to it as this is the practice which I follow very sincerely in my kitchen.
Over the years Tupperware has come up with the innovative product range to make storage in the kitchen much more convenient. Tupperware has a whole range specifically designed for freezing, refrigeration, air tight and moisture retaining, with little one time investment in these products helps you reduce lot wastage of food in your kitchen which cannot be done otherwise with regular storage containers.
Here are five of simple tips to reduce wastage of food on day to day basis without much extra efforts, these are some of the tips I follow on a routine basis and always helped me immensely to reduce the amount of food going to garbage bin.
- Always rinse you greens (coriander, mint, lettuce, fenugreek etc) under running water and let them soak in water for 10 – 15 minutes. Drain over a metal colander, line Tupperware container with kitchen towel, arrange leaves of greens over it and on top cover with another kitchen towel, seal and refrigerate. This way greens last more than a week and stay fresh.
- Do not throw way those leftover bread slices which are dried or stale, collect them in an air tight Tupperware container in fridge and with addition of little seasoning pulse them in food processor to make bread crumbs, which can be used to coat cutlets, chicken, fish etc.
- Fruits and vegetables which are highly perishable like tomatoes, kiwis, greens etc can be pureed, store in Tupperware containers designed for fridge storage, these purees can be added to curries, smoothies, soups, dressings etc.
- Those little leftovers of dried lentils, vegetables and flours, can be stored in Tupperware air tight containers. Once in a while bind multigrain flour dough for chapattis by mixing all flours and wholesome stew can be prepared with variety of lentils and vegetables. Even if 1 – 2 tbsp of flour/lentil is leftover in the packet that can be stored well and later used in our daily meal.
- I always freeze leftover chicken/thai curries and also leftover meat pieces in Tupperware freezer mate especially designed for freezing, with addition of vegetables/pasta/beans these leftover curries can be made into hearty one pot meals and also meat pieces can be shredded and added to sandwich filling, pasta/rice dishes.
But storing does not mean food comes with lifetime warranty, every food item has a expiry date so I always stick on labels in containers with the expiry date especially while frezzing cooked food items, this helps consuming those food items before getting spoiled and ultimately going to dustbin.
We should be really thankful to God while enjoying three wholesome meals a day as many out there barely get enough food to fulfil basic nutrient requirement of a human body, next time before wasting food think about those hungry faces who sleep empty stomach every night.
Here is a short “Story of a Sandwich” by Tupperware, part of the Campaign Care4Food:
Here is a short “Story of a Sandwich” by Tupperware, part of the Campaign Care4Food:
