Waste veges

Take all kind of vegetables that would be going to waste, (peelings, ends of carrot etc) and put in a big pot with water and some of you favourite herbs and salt. Simmer for over an hour. You now have a stock for soups or sauces, and it can be frozen.

By: Prika, Hinds

Crisp celery

If you want crisp celery for salads and don’t want to freeze it for soups, wrap the whole fresh celery completely in foil and put in the fridge – lasts for weeks. Make sure to completely re-wrap the celery in the foil after each use.

By: Eve, Auckland

Vegetable water

Save vegetable water in a jar in the fridge & use as base for soups, casseroles etc.

By: Ruth, Mt Maunganui

Regrow spring onions

When using spring onions, cut it off a couple of cm about the roots. Pierce the bottom piece (with the roots attached) carefully with a toothpick and suspend in a glass of water until a green shoot starts to appear at the top. Then plant and watch them regrow.
With the remainder of your spring onion slice into the sizes you require, place in plastic bag and freeze. Small amounts can then be used for soups, stews, omelettes etc

By: Eve, Gulf Harbour

Feed your dog

Do you have a dog? I have a big one. To supplement his diet I save my clean vegetable peeling (carrots, potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, even silverbeet stalks) in freezer containers. At the end of the week I have a cook up – I add garlic and salt and pepper to the mix and I simmer it for 2 hours. I strain the whole lot, mix the vegetables with equal parts cooked rice – he loves it! I throw an egg in for a shiny coat and a big bone. He’s in doggy heaven. The liquid goes in my freezer as vegetable stock and now that’s it getting colder it’s a great base for any kind of soup.

By: Wendy, Opotiki

Plan and cook ahead

I set aside a couple of hours on Sunday to plan a menu for the week, shop and then come home to prepare as much of it ahead of time as I can. Generally I’ll make a big pot of soup from last weeks leftovers and freeze it in serving sizes, I’ll make a big casserole or lasagne and wash / cut up in advance a lot of the weeks vegetables and fill the salad spinner with washed greens ready to go. So on a Wednesday night I might reheat a casserole then reach for already prepared salad greens or veges ready for a quick stirfry. Breakfast and lunch are usually leftovers (I’m paleo so a salad for breakfast suits me fine). I find waste occurs when I come home tired and can’t be bothered cooking so having most of it pre-done in the fridge or freezer for the week saves me throwing unused food in the compost.

By: Julia, Nelson

Using all of a bunch of celery

I cut up the entire bunch including the leaves, and store in a ziplock bag in the freezer. The only unused bit is the root and that goes in the dog bowl. They love it!

Precut celery is perfect in soups, stir fries, casseroles, sheperds pie etc. Just grab a handful as you need it – it freezes well in the bag, no need to free flow.

By: Wendy, Murchison