Stop Food Waste Day is the largest single day of action in the fight against food waste.
Around one third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally. Food waste is central to some of the key challenges facing the world today, including hunger and poverty, climate change, health and wellbeing and the sustainability of agriculture and oceans.
It takes energy from both renewable and non-renewable resources to grow, harvest and pack our food. And with inflation growing across the board, it makes financial sense for us to make sure that everything we buy is being used.
In this blog post we’ll share some tips for reducing the risk of wasting your delicious mushrooms!
Preserve
The first step in reducing food waste is to preserve what you have bought.
Mushrooms are always best kept in the fridge, and they tend to last a few days there before you need to cook them. As long as they feel firm and look fresh they are safe to eat.
Every part of a mushroom is edible, so don’t worry about chopping off the stalks.
Plan
When doing your food shop, having a rough meal plan for the week can make a big difference to how much food gets wasted. If you know how many meals you need to cook you can plan them out and therefore only purchase what you know you will need.
Prep
If you have time on the weekend, it’s worth batch cooking a few meals in advance. A stew or curry with mushrooms can be kept in the fridge and eaten throughout the week. Cooked mushrooms also freeze well as part of a recipe, and this is a great way of using up what you have in the fridge before going on holiday or if you know you won’t get around to cooking.
Recipe ideas to reduce waste
Mushrooms can be added to any curry recipe for enhanced flavour and nutritional benefits. This recipe from Jamie Oliver looks delicious.
This bean and mushroom stew will freeze well and makes a perfect dinner on nights you’re short of time: https://www.ocado.com/webshop/recipe/hearty-bean-mushroom-stew/91817
Some recipe ideas:
An omelette is a great way to use up mushrooms and any other veg you have: https://www.stopfoodwasteday.com/en/recipes/herb-and-vegetable-omelette.html
Meatballs with hidden veg is a great way of getting the 5 a day into your fussy eaters: https://www.stopfoodwasteday.com/en/recipes/vege-loaded-meatballs.html
Simply adding chopped mushrooms to some toast, particularly something like a chunky sourdough, is a simple but delicious lunch idea: https://simply-delicious-food.com/easy-creamy-mushroom-toast/
