Tackling food waste in Taranaki
Two Taranaki locals have kept a close eye on their rubbish bins in an attempt to track how much food they waste.
Taranaki MP Barbara Kuriger and Olena Williams accepted the challenge from Taranaki Regional Council to complete a 10-day kitchen diary to document what food they are throwing away.
Kuriger was so thrilled with the challenge that she extended her challenge to do it for all of May in the hope it would become a habit.
Her key solution to reducing her food waste was to only buy the quantities that she actually needs.
“I live in two houses and it’s not about going and filling the fridge up every time I arrive at my house, it’s about just buying what I need,” said Kuriger.
“The other thing that has been really helpful is having one of those bullets that whizzes up your drinks. If you have a few bits and pieces of leftovers – it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t match or what colour food it is. You just throw it in and it generally turns out quite nice.”
Cooking teacher Olena Williams grew up in Eastern Europe where food was valuable and very little went to waste. Because she has adopted the cooking techniques of her grandmother she finds that she wastes very little food.
Williams has shared her recipes in the videos below to help others waste less food. Her recipe for feijoa jam uses only the skins of the feijoa and not the flesh.
Her recipe for pickles turns those left over vegetable scraps into something amazing.
