"Potatoes make up the largest proportion by far of fresh veg that get wasted."
Or so says the introductory blurb to today's recipe, a vegetable curry, based around potato. I can not believe that's the case in our household. Yes there is waste in the sense of potato peelings & any bad bits, but that's it. Surely I'm not the only one who cooks the amount of potato that we are going to eat so there is no waste. I even serve them on the plate so we each have a fair amount, a healthy amount. The only exception tends to be when we have visitors when I will get out separate serving dishes. Even then there is rarely any left. I may do more than one variety of potato or other veg but I do it on the same size portion per person as I do normally. It just means guests have a choice. (There's even less these days when we don't entertain at home any longer.) Needless to say I shall have to cook some spuds especially for the meal tonight.
No, the largest proportion of waste veg in our household comes from a different source. There are some veg which, while we appreciate a little for the extra flavour/texture they bring, we do not like them sufficiently to want to eat a lot. Celery comes into this category. While I regard it as invaluable in casseroles for example, it's not a veg we particularly like as a veg. And there are a lot of sticks in a head. So often a couple of sticks are used in cooking. I might nibble the odd stick. But so often the rest turns slimy before I've gotten around to using it up.
The other category of veg waste is the result of the huge bags supermarkets insist on selling so many veg. This week it has been cheaper to buy 5 limes in one bag than two loose ones. Two I will use up, but the other three?.... I'm not so sure. How often I have bought 5 peppers rather than two to have three go soft & slimy before I can get around to finishing them. As for chillies they seem to be impossible to buy less than five at a time, yet I do not want chilli every day. Bird's eye chillies are even worse. Those packets come nearer twenty a time. Why can't they come loose? Why can't veg be sold individually at the same price as those sold in bulk? It must put the price of shopping up considerably for people living on their own, as well as increasing their waste pile. Not everybody caters for large numbers.
Or so says the introductory blurb to today's recipe, a vegetable curry, based around potato. I can not believe that's the case in our household. Yes there is waste in the sense of potato peelings & any bad bits, but that's it. Surely I'm not the only one who cooks the amount of potato that we are going to eat so there is no waste. I even serve them on the plate so we each have a fair amount, a healthy amount. The only exception tends to be when we have visitors when I will get out separate serving dishes. Even then there is rarely any left. I may do more than one variety of potato or other veg but I do it on the same size portion per person as I do normally. It just means guests have a choice. (There's even less these days when we don't entertain at home any longer.) Needless to say I shall have to cook some spuds especially for the meal tonight.
No, the largest proportion of waste veg in our household comes from a different source. There are some veg which, while we appreciate a little for the extra flavour/texture they bring, we do not like them sufficiently to want to eat a lot. Celery comes into this category. While I regard it as invaluable in casseroles for example, it's not a veg we particularly like as a veg. And there are a lot of sticks in a head. So often a couple of sticks are used in cooking. I might nibble the odd stick. But so often the rest turns slimy before I've gotten around to using it up.
The other category of veg waste is the result of the huge bags supermarkets insist on selling so many veg. This week it has been cheaper to buy 5 limes in one bag than two loose ones. Two I will use up, but the other three?.... I'm not so sure. How often I have bought 5 peppers rather than two to have three go soft & slimy before I can get around to finishing them. As for chillies they seem to be impossible to buy less than five at a time, yet I do not want chilli every day. Bird's eye chillies are even worse. Those packets come nearer twenty a time. Why can't they come loose? Why can't veg be sold individually at the same price as those sold in bulk? It must put the price of shopping up considerably for people living on their own, as well as increasing their waste pile. Not everybody caters for large numbers.
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