The Less Waste No Fuss Kitchen – Lindsay Miles – Hardie Grant Books (UK) 2020 ISBN 978 1 74379 583 5 – The book is mainly composed of a series of articles a page or two long up to five or six pages long, each one being copiously illustrated with colourful drawings. Part one (The story so far} talks about the current food system and why it is unsustainable, then takes issue with three points where action can be taken: Plastic and Packaging; Carbon Footprint and Climate change; Food Waste and Landfill. It also talks about things like making a food waste diary and making a recycling checklist. Part two talks about why plastic packaging is a problem and develops strategies to reduce it. Part three talks about making climate friendly choices including plant based diet and part four talks about food not waste and keeping groceries out of landfill, including food safety and correct storage. Part Five talks about getting started with your ‘less waste no fuss kitchen’ including kitchen equipment and food preservation (as well as the ever useful what to do with leftovers). A great book with lots of ideas and lots of colourful line drawings.
Too Good to Waste – Victoria Glass – Nourish Books (UK) 2017 ISBN 978 1 84899 316 7 – This is mainly a book of recipes (over 100) for using up ingredients past their prime or leftovers from the fridge and making stocks and preserves. Part one (Veg Out) has section titles like ‘In pod we trust’ for broad beans and peas; ‘Rooting around’ for root crops and ‘A bit of squash’ for pumpkin and squash. Part two (Getting Fruity) has sections such as ‘Going bananas’ and ‘Berry good’. Part three (from bin to buffet) covers food waste under headings like ‘Against the grain’, ‘Nip it in the Spud’ and ‘take stock’. Part four (Heads or Tails) with ‘Chicken or the egg’, ‘ the ins and outs of it’ about skins and offal, and ‘The fat of the land’ about……. Fats! The book has whole page colour photos every few pages.
Use it All – Alex Elliott-Howery & Jaime Edwards – Murdoch Books (AUS) 2020 ISBN 978 1 76052 568 2 – This book is structured around a series of weekly shopping baskets, 8 in all and provides a series of reci pes tailored to each basket. The idea is you buy only what you need and the book gives you a series of options (recipes) on how to use them, thus eliminating food waste. The is a total of 230 recipes. Each basket has recipes around the ingredients organised under the headings of ‘meals’, ‘sides’, ‘snacks sweets and drinks’, ‘quick preserving ideas’ and ‘nothing goes to waste showcasing innovative ways to use up ingredients and parts of ingredients that may go to waste. Great book with lots of colour photos of the dishes they are talking about.
The Food Saver’s A-Z - Alex Elliott-Howery & Jaime Edwards – Murdoch Books (AUS) 2022 ISBN 978 1 92235198 2 – This is a BIG book at over 500 pages! I has over 150 monographs cover fruits, vegetables and kitchen staples. Each monograph talks about other foods the ingredient can be paired with, how it should be stored and what other ingredients can be used to substitute for it if you have run out. This is then followed by strategies to use up the ingredient once it has passed its prime and then a series of recipes showing how to use up small and leftover quantities of the ingredient. This book is a mine of information on reducing food waste. It has a few line drawings.
Love Your Leftovers – Love Food Hate Waste (AUS) 2011 (No ISBN) – This book was produced by the Holroyd City Council in association with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. It is a series of recipes, organised around the leftovers available rather than a desired finished product as would be done in a conventional recipe book. The book is broken up into chapters around bread leftovers; pasta and rice leftovers; meat leftovers; vegetable leftovers; fruit leftovers; cakes and biscuits using leftovers. There is also a chapter where the recipes are ‘so good you won’t have any leftovers’; a chapter on basic recipes like mashed potato, roast vegetables and corned beef plus one on planning, buying food and storing food. The book has lots of colour photos.
No Waste Kitchen – Giovanna Torrico & Amelia Wasiliev – Hachette Australia (AUS) 2019 ISBN 978 0 7336 4118 3 - There is an introduction with some suggestions on avoiding food waste including using the freezer. The rest of the book is taken up with recipes under various headings including part one: vegetables with information on how to use offcuts, parts normally thrown away including things like making radish leaf frittata, tomato skin powder and stock from corn-on-the-cob once the kernels have been removed. Part two is fruit including apple peel chips, citrus peel infusion and pickled watermelon rind. Part three is dairy and eggs with never ending yoghurt, various cheese scrap recipes, egg yolk mayonnaise and egg white meringues. Part four is meat and seafood with beef and chicken scrap stock, fish head soup and prawn shell laksa. Part five is bread and legumes including croutons, stale bread salads and pudding and mixed pulse soup. Finally, part six covers leftovers generally including leftover porridge muesli bars, beef scrap sausage rolls and leftover spaghetti pancakes. The book has lots of colour photos.
Another way of dealing with food waste is to compost it rather than send it to landfill. Books on composting are available here
