MAKE A MEAL OF IT

£10 £12

AWARD-winning chef and Love Food Hate Waste ambassador Neil Forbes, of Café St Honore in Edinburgh, has created three Love Food Hate Waste recipes inspired by the most commonly wasted foods.

Fresh meat and fish are the most expensive items wasted, with £190million worth thrown out each year, while vegetables account for £110million. Fresh fruit accounts for £79million and wasted bread amounts to £49million a year.

And £26million worth of milk is poured down the sink each year.

For Neil’s recipes or to book a workshop, go to scotland.lovefoodhate waste.com Blue straw bag, www.boohoo.com White snake skin trainers, www.asda.com Salad leaves keep fresher refrigerated, loose in Tupperware with a piece of kitchen roll folded in the bottom.

Potatoes from the garden or farmers’ market keep better in the soil. Bag them and keep them in a cool, dry place, and only wash them when you’re about to cook them.

Most fruit keeps up to two weeks longer in the fridge. Bananas and whole pineapples should stay out but most other fruit will last longer refrigerated. STEP 3 USE YOUR FREEZER. The freezer acts like a “pause” button for food. If you’re not going to eat something immediately, freeze it as soon as you can – within two days – and eat within three months if possible.

You can freeze just about anything, including: ● Eggs – just separate the white from the yolk. A total of 87,000 eggs are binned from Scottish homes each day. ● Cheese – grate, bag and freeze. You can even use it Made too much, or not sure what to do with odd ingredients? Freeze extra portions and enjoy them later. Uncooked food that has been in the fridge can be transferred to the freezer within two days. Food should never be eaten past its use by date – but best before is different. It simply means that the food is at its absolute best up until this date.

Around 70 per cent of the food we bin in Scotland is thrown out because we haven’t eaten it in time. Sometimes it’s unopened and often it has been unnecessarily thrown away because the best before date has passed.