Toomanybitsand bobsendup going straightinthebin
After months of silent kitchens and empty dining rooms, restaurants around the country will soon start to tentatively reopen their doors, welcoming back hungry customers who have spent lockdown frantically trying to remember their home economics lessons.
And while many will be glad to give their pots and pans a rest, flocking to the nearest eatery on July 15, Scotland’s national chef Gary Maclean believes people will be keen to keep developing the cooking skills they’ve learned during lockdown.
What’s more, the past three months could change the way we think about food, as the younger generation develops a passion for baking their own banana bread or whipping up a fresh sourdough loaf.
Gary explained: “Generally speaking, food is not high on our agenda. We need to focus on generational change, concentrating on teaching young people to cook, and creating a food culture where people cook at home – and lockdown has helped hugely.
“To a degree, food has been the only thing we’ve been really in control of over the past few months, so people’s engagement with online tutorials and demos has been unbelievable. There does seem to be a genuine interest in food and home cooking right now.”
He added: “My two wee ones have such an interest in cooking, but now even the 20-year-old is coming in asking if he can help! I’ve been doing a lot of live filming and the kids have been involved, so the food ‘journey’ has been a big part of lockdown.” In March, many supermarkets saw a huge increase in demand for long-lasting ingredients, such as pulses, tinned foods and flour. Now that we are slowly re-emerging from lockdown, Gary wants to make sure Scotland’s “just in case” food doesn’t go to waste – especially as an estimated 987,890 tonnes of food and drink was binned last year.
He said: “Right at the start of lockdown, a lot of people were picking up an extra few bits and bobs because they felt uncertain about what was going to happen.
“So now is a good time to be talking about food waste because it’s vital it all doesn’t end up in the bin.”
Gary, who works with Zero Waste Scotland, says planning and making shopping lists will ensure we don’t waste food and money, and he advocates cooking in batches to save time, too.
“The last thing you want to do is make a lot of food and then end up flinging it in the bin. Put cooked food in flat covered trays or put the pot in a cold ice bath in the sink – you’ll be surprised how quickly everything cools down and, if cooled quickly, it will keep longer.
“Next, you have to store it properly. In my house, there’s seven of us – five kids! – so I vacuum-pack everything. I know it sounds a bit ‘chefy’ but you can buy a domestic vacuum packer for about £40 online, and they work really well. It doubles the shelf life and also allows you to store food flat, so you can fit more inside the freezer.”
For more handy tips and tricks, visit zerowastescotland.org.uk