Waste not, want not
SARAH BURTSCHER wants to show people how they can use the older, forgotten food from their pantries, fridges and fruit bowls to create delicious homecooked meals.
The mother of three and former Tekapo cafe owner lives on a ‘‘fairly remote’’ highcountry station where she has a fourhour round trip to a large supermarket, so is used to making do with what she has on hand.
‘‘Having a lot of people to cook for, planned or unplanned crowds, it taught me to cook on my feet, so to speak, using what I had.’’
Living remotely also means being totally responsible for their own rubbish.
‘‘It makes you aware. There’s no wheelie bins to take it away for you.’’
When they stay in the city she notices how their food or organic matter bins are quite empty.
‘‘So it started me thinking, perhaps the way I cook my ‘fridge cleaning’ soups and whatnot, I might just have a point.’’
Burtscher started looking into the issue of food waste and was shocked by the statistics.
‘‘Some people just don’t know how to utilise their grocery shop to the fullest. You don’t need to be a good cook, you don’t need fancy ingredients, you can just make do and cook on.’’
So she gathered together statistics from lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz and decided to write a book of recipes based on the top 10 foods thrown out in New Zealand — foods such as bread, fruit, vegetables, rice, beef and leftovers.
‘‘If we all do something, even if it’s small, it has a cumulative effect and can start to make a difference.’’