The Box (2)

 

When I buy a Waste Not box I consider myself honour bound to Waste Nothing!  So, here's what happened to the contents of the box,.

First to disappear was the grapes.  I couldn't be bothered to cook on Saturday evening so I had a cheese and tomato roll and about half the grapes.  I grazed on the rest during Sunday.

I roasted the most of the carrots, having some with my Sunday lunch and saving the rest to eat with salads.  I've saved a couple for making coleslaw during the week.

I also roasted half the peppers (again for eating cold) and saved the rest to have raw with salads or put them into a stir fry.

I had a few tomatoes in the fridge so I sorted through and roasted the softer ones and made a tomato puree which will become soup.  It's in the freezer now.

The apples are in the fruit bowl.

The potatoes have (mostly) been set aside for baking - a baked potato with cheese is one of my favourite evening meals.  I roasted a couple with my Sunday lunch.

Sunday is a PeakSave day so I get half price electricity.  I took full advantage and cooked the peppers, carrots and tomatoes when I cooked my Sunday lunch.  

The Box

 

I love getting a "Waste not" box from Lidl.  These boxes of joy contain vegetables which are at their sell-by date, or the bags have split or are damaged in in some way .  

This morning, for £2 I got

500 g pointed sweet peppers (paprika)

5000g carrots

750g cherry tomatoes

2 apples

500g grapes

1750g potatoes.

I had to sling a couple of tomatoes and I cut sections off a couple of carrots but everything you see here is useable.  Not bad for £2.

Many people are unwilling to take these but I enjoy the challenge of using everything - I waste not

Cottage cheese

 If there was one everyday item which I used to waste a lot, it was milk.  I know this isn't a problem for most people but in a household of one person who doesn't eat breakfast cereal and drinks her coffee black, it can be difficult.  

I buy UHT milk to use for tea/coffee when guests call unexpectedly.   If I know guests are coming I buy pasteurised milk.  The UHT stuff comes in one litre containers but I can buy just a pint of pasteurised and sometimes even less.  I can manage to use up the remains of a pint but a litre is a lot of milk!

So I make cottage cheese.  Heat the milk to just below boiling point, add a generous squeeze of lemon juice and stir.  The milk will curdle.  (IT IS NOT THE SAME AS LEAVING MILK TO GO OFF!   DO NOT DO THAT!)  Leave it to cool a little then strain it.  I use muslin inside my sieve.  Leave it until all the whey (a colourless liquid) has drained off then put the cheese to chill in a dish in the fridge. The whey can be used in baking.

It does not have the same texture as a commercially produced cottage cheese but it has more flavour.  You may want to add salt.