My food challenge by Karen Cannard, Founder of The Rubbish Diet
Uneaten pizza, too much rice, out-of-date yoghurts and gone-off ham. All binned. Every week. Dodgy looking carrots, wilted greens and melons that had reached peak whiffiness. All gone to make compost. My rubbish collection was the best thing since sliced bread, removing many a mouldy slice from my kitchen. My Kitchen of Doom, where food came to go off.
Sounds depressing? I guess it was really. Life back in 2008 was very much a case of buy-wilt-chuck. But eight years later and having saved around £4000, things are so different, thanks to shopping differently, storing better and enjoying many a life-changing cooking tip. And I’m now delighted to team up with West London Waste to share some of the best ideas from The Rubbish Diet and some great events that are happening in the community.
So, we’d love you to join us in this month’s Food Challenge, where over the next three weeks, we’ll take you on a journey to find new ways of making the most of your food. We’ll introduce the Waste Train, which leaves West London 6 times a week, taking with it food that could have been otherwise eaten if saved in time – or composted if it had been put in the brown bins. We’ll see if together we can slice down that waste. You just need to enter your details into our challenge and we’ll send you bitesize tips – there’s even a chance to win some Divine chocolate if you complete the full menu.
And it’s party time too – with a Bhangra Disco Soup on the 24th of October from 4-8pm at St Johns Church Hall, Havelock Road, Southall, UB2 4DH. Trust me, you’ll love it. And we’re also planning a Ready Steady Cook event, which will get those creative juices flowing straight back to your kitchens with simple and easy hacks that will change the way your bin looks forever.
Who knows, we may even take you on a far-flung trip to the nether-regions of your freezer, especially if, like me, you’ve used it for harbouring Unidentified Frozen Objects (UFOs) before they end up in the bin.
So, to discover more about UFOs and be party to all the insider confessions AND get lots of tips along the way, join our Food Challenge and let’s shrink that waste.