I am a real Waste Watcher. Apart from the obvious long term financial savings, our earth is suffering because of our wasteful ways, so in today’s blog I will be sharing my easy tips on how not to waste and save at the same time.
All kids love tomato sauce, but I often find myself cleaning the plates and scraping off half the bottle into the bin. So what I have started doing is filling these tiny little pots of sauce ( each kid has their own ) and when they are done dipping the lid goes back on and I pop it back into the fridge for next time. I normally get about 2 meal dippings out of this, then we clean and repeat!
Another clever trick is to take pre-poured juice bottles for you kids to any social gathering. This saves you from getting up and pouring juice every 2 minutes, but it also reduces the waste of juice. Kids can never remember who’s cup belongs to whom, they leave half drunken cups everywhere, which all eventually gets poured down the drain!
Over catering at a braai is probably a national crises in South Africa! But this is where the freezer becomes your best friend. I often freeze left over bones or actual meat. My doggie loves his unexpected meaty treats. Another braai phenomena is the timing, lets be honest, we all know braaiing means eating ridiculously late! This is a great time to get the frozen braaied boerewors from last week and quickly feed the kids. Works like a charm! ( And yes braaied boerewors freezes beautifully! )
On the topic of leftovers, lately I have been saving left over juices from meals. That liquid gold at the bottom of the curry pot, I keep that! In fact any flavourful meal has loads of stock you can keep. It’s generally just a little bit, but perfect for flavoring my version of 2 minute noodles! I am trying to stay away from instant meals and replacing them with better ingredients, ones with less abbreviations that could launch a rocket ship!
If you have enough leftovers from a meal, be sure to use them for lunch the next day. BUT be honest with yourself. If you know your family does not eat left overs the next day, then you need to learn to either cook the correct amount, or you need to get meal size re-usable containers. I often freeze small meal packs for my younger kids. These ready cooked meals are a great life saver for the kids when hubby and I want to eat a spicy meal.
Don’t throw away your bread crusts! I keep mine in the freezer and they work like a charm when you make schnitzels or fish cakes, or anything with a crust. I also keep the empty bread packets next to my bin. They are perfect for scraps and of course the bread tags get recycled.
I don’t think any human being uses as much deodorant as a teenager! Just when you think there is absolutely nothing left in the tin, stomp on it with your foot, this basically compresses the air, and wha-la, you get one last spray! A little hack I learnt during my teen years:-)
Toilet paper! Oh my goodness, I sometimes think my kids snack on it, or they become mummies at night or something crazy is going on, as I can not understand how we are using so much toilet paper! I have recently taught my girls, 3 – 5 squares is more than enough for a tinkle. Look, in all fairness, they are still young. The point here is actually just to make them aware of their usage. No need for super extreme measures, but the occasional chat is not a bad idea.
Most of us here in South Africa know all about water and electricity savings, so I wont go into those, but it doesn’t matter whether you need to save these resources or not, it’s never okay to waste them. There are hundreds of ways to reduce, reuse and recycle in order to illuminate waste, but I think it is important to start off with easy ways, Ultimately it needs to be a mind set.
So, switch off the lights, close the taps and become a Waste Watcher for life!
I would love to hear about your waste watching tips!
MomindaMix 