Wasting bread

Did you know?

 

The average family in Shropshire goes through 80 loaves of bread, spending around £100 on bread products each year.  Alot of money for many people and yet about a quarter of this just ends up in the bin!  Shocking but true, in fact just in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, we bin about 25,000 slices of bread every day!! Thats enough stacked bread to reach the top of the Long Mynd!! So lets try to reduce this problem and save ourselves some money.  

Before you shop

• Think about the week ahead and what bakery products you are likely to need.
• Plan your meals ahead - only buy what you really need - remember to write a shopping list!

When you shop

• If you struggle to get through a whole loaf remember most retailers now offer smaller or half loaves of bread.

Making the most of your bakery

• If you are unsure of how much fresh bread your household will get through, you can store bread in the freezer, to take out slice by slice.

Use your loaf

• Most bakery products have a ‘best before’ date - these dates refer to quality, so your bakery products can still be eaten after this date, but may no longer be at their best.

 

Top tips

• Storing bread in the fridge can make it go stale quicker. The best place to store bread is in a cool, dark and dry place, your bread bin or store cupboard is perfect.

• To freshen up a day old loaf, hold it very briefly under a running cold tap. Give it a good shake and pop in a hot oven for about 10 minutes; it will be as soft and crusty as freshly baked bread

·     We were thinking the other day about ways of using up old bread and heres some ideas from our volunteer Master Composters so you can stop bread going mouldy and have less in your bin;

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·         1-GRATED BREAD can be kept in the freezer for many many months even for last minute as a crunchy topping for pasta bakes. 

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·         2- CROUTONS is one of our main ideas for bread which is just a little bit starting to turn stale.  Different people had different ways of making it but I recommend frying it on both sides with butter and then cut it into small squares, sprinkle on soups - its delicious.

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·         3- BRUSCHETTA just cut your bread in slices just place in oven and add olive oil and some fresh tomatoes it makes a delcious warm crispy open sandwich which is often eaten as a simple starter with Italian meals.

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·         4- BREAD SOUP - yes you read correctly, im talking about putting ripped up chunks of stale bread into a big pot of soup, normally I do this with a chunky vegetable soup made from onion, potato, carrots, broccoli and butter beans trust me, its delicious with bread added it goes all soggy and soft and melts in your mouth. 
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·         5- BREAD SOUFFLE - Stale bread, milk, eggs, cheese (mozzarella or any other you might have at home). Place bread in milk and when well absorbed add egg yolks and firm egg whites, put salt and put in a previously  buttered oven pan and add the cheese on the top. Put in the oven at 180° until the cheese is golden. Serve hot.

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·         6- SWEET BREAD CAKE - the same recipe as above just add raisins, 1 spoon of sugar and grated lemon skin. Pour in previoulsy oiled pan and cook as a fritatta on both sides, dry the oil out and add jam on the top serve warm.

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·         7- BREAD GNOCCI a great way to use up this key ingredient which you would usually throw away.  First make it into breadcrumbs and then add to the usual flour/egg mix instead of the usual mashed potatoes·  Then simple treat it like pasta, boil and serve with your favourite pasta sauce.
          

·         8- PAIN PERDU is a French recipe where you put old bread to soak with milk and egg (vanilla flavour can be added), then fry until golden on both sides, serve warm with a sprinkle of brown sugar and cinnamon, it makes a nice change for breakfast!

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·         9- BREAD & BUTTER PUDDING - the classic British desert for using up slices of unused bread, there are hundreds of recipes online if you look, the key thing for me is to use brown sugar and cinnamon for maximum flavour.

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·         10- BREAD SALAD - simply add stale bread to a simple salad of tomato, lettuce, onion, cucumber, use plenty of salad dressing or just simply basil, olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and the bread will enhance the salad and absorb the dressing nicely. 

    That's just a few of the ideas we came up with, be creative and look online at www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for more...