Alternative Uses for Leftover Food

According to WRAP, around 7.2 million tonnes of food and drink are thrown away in the UK every year, with the majority being avoidable [1]. This leads to production of methane in landfill, and wastage of all the energy that went into producing, storing and transporting that food – their research showed that approximately 2.2 million tonnes are thrown away because too much food was prepared, cooked or served, and around another 2.9 million tonnes are thrown away because they aren’t used in time, and this accounts for as much CO₂ emission as 20% of the cars on UK roads [1]. They break food waste down into three categories [2]:

Avoidable – food and drink that was edible at some point before disposal (bread, fruit, meat, etc.)
Possibly avoidable – food and drink that some people eat and others don’t, or food that may or may not be edible depending on how food is prepared (bread crusts, potato skins, etc.)
Unavoidable – food and drink waste, arising from preparation, that is not edible (eggshells, meat bones, banana skins, pineapple skins, tea bags, etc.)

Obvious ways to cut down on avoidable waste are to only buy and cook as much food as needed, and either use or preserve (for example by freezing) food before it goes off. There are also some other uses for food waste, including some which falls into the unavoidable category, that as well as extending the usefulness of the item can save on the amount of waste going into landfill and perhaps prevent other, additional resources being used instead.

Food waste can be used to make compost. Some local councils offer food waste collection as part of the general waste collection service, while others will offer it at an extra charge. Alternatively, a home composting system can be set up in various ways [3, 4] and discounts on compost bins offered locally can be checked at getcomposting.com [5]
Vegetables and some fruits that aren’t going to be used before they go off can cheaply and easily be made into soups, which can then be frozen until needed
Banana skins have a number of alternative uses. They can be used to polish shoes and leather (test a small area first!), wipe down dusty houseplant leaves, put into mulch as a fertiliser for plants and buried around roses to deter aphids [6, 7]
Used tea bags can also be put to further use – cold bags can be placed over closed eyes to reduce puffiness, or cloths can be soaked in water containing used tea bags and used to remove old polish from furniture or clean mirrors. Cold, wet tea bags can be applied to sunburned skin to soothe it, or alternatively placed in a bath for the same reason. Similarly, they can be used to soothe irritation from insect bites and stings. They can be used to stain paper and materials to give them an antique effect or dried out and scented with essential oils to make drawer scenters, among other things [8, 9]. Cold tea itself can be used to water plants (there may or may not be added benefits to this, but it saves the tea being wasted)
Eggshells can be used as slug deterrents around plants, if they are in a complete ring so the slugs can’t cross them and secured so that they don’t get disturbed by the wind [10]. They can also be baked and added to chicken grit, or used to make a mosaic [11]
Potato skins can be made into crisps by sprinkling with salt, pepper or other flavourings and baking in the oven [12]
Various foods can be used as bird feed – the RSPB has advice on which leftovers can be given to birds [13]
The insides of pumpkins that are scraped out to make lanterns at Halloween can be made into soups or pie [14]
Uneaten bread crusts and bread can be made into breadcrumbs – in fact they are easiest to make with semi-stale bread [15]
Juicers leave a fruit pulp behind, which can be used in various ways in cooking or even as additions to some animal feed [16]
Leftover pineapple skins and cores can be made into a Mexican drink (which can be spiced to taste and can also be fermented for longer or have beer added to make it lightly alcoholic) [17]
Leftovers such as meat bones and vegetable peelings can be used to make homemade stock [18]

Additionally, many leftover ingredients from one meal can be used to make another – Love Food Hate Waste and BBC Good Food [19, 20] have lots of tips and recipe ideas.

[1] http://www.wrap.org.uk/retail_supply_chain/research_tools/research/report_household.html

[2] http://www.wrap.org.uk/document.rm?id=8048

[3] http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/composting/compost_pf.php

[4] http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/

[5] http://www.getcomposting.com/

[6] http://www.rd.com/home/9-extraordinary-uses-for-bananas/

[7] http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_7814677_add-banana-skins-rose-bushes.html

[8] http://www.rd.com/home/22-ways-to-use-tea-for-beauty-home-and-garden/

[9] http://gomestic.com/homemaking/extraordinarily-useful-things-to-do-with-used-teabags/

[10] http://cardiff.ac.uk/biosi/staffinfo/wocs2.html

[11] http://www.recycling.co.uk/food-waste

[12] http://england.lovefoodhatewaste.com/content/help-save-environment-simply-wasting-less-food