A Little Waste Not, Want Not

Just lately I have been experimenting with keeping some of my waste items to one side and seeing if I can do anything with them that will either be good to use in my household or indeed in the garden.  A penny pinching exercise, trying to make the most of what I have available to me.  I tend to prepare all my own food in any event, however, I am also trying to get away from buying pre-prepared dishes as much as possible when I go shopping, on two counts, cannot always afford what the shops have and there are always additions that I do not want.  I tend to just stick with buying the ingredients and then making something of them myself.  When you buy in bought pre-prepared meals, cakes, bakes etc. you are automatically paying a high premium as turning ingredients into something that is actually made attracts this kind of costing.  I do not agree with this and so I do a bit of baking myself.  It is a "treat" if I buy in a pack of Doughnuts, or a Cream Patisserie tart but otherwise I tend to make stuff myself.  One of the few things I do buy in pre-prepared is Puff Pastry but I am going to look at making this in the future as well. I have made it before.  More on that another time.

Anyway, I have diverted from my original theme in that because I cook a lot at home, like many others we end up with peels, skins, stale bread etc. which either ends up wasted in sent to Landfill or in our case processed and sent to the power station. However, I am always interested in using up what I have available to me, and I am always keen to expand what I do and do not use.

Here we go: 

Bananas

My latest journey started with a  bowl of reduced Bananas.  I bought them for OH to eat but also to make some Banana Bread out of.  If I can get more  bowls of Bananas that have been reduced, I will buy up a couple of bowls and then dehydrate them for Muesli, Granola etc.  This leaves me with the Peels.  What did I do. Soaked them in water for a few weeks.  Bananas are full of potassium and lots of plants love a potassium feed.  Therefore if all you have to do is soak peels in water and leave them a while.  To me this is far better for the planet than buying plant food in that may not be quite what we want on our food and in our garden.  Especially as fertilizers and feeds have gone  up in price so much.  I intend to recycle an old milk bottle to decant this into clearly marked up with a large label as to contents and use it on my plants.

Strawberry Tops

I then slipped onto Strawberry stems and sometimes Tops.  Each time I have Strawberries I am drying the green leaves and tops and they will be added to home made teas probably with some home dried Strawberry and/or apple slices.  It is just building up the initial stock of leaves to start with that takes some time.  However, I do have plans for bottling Strawberry sauce, Strawberry jam, and Strawberry lemonade mix shortly so there might be a lot more tops to come in the imminent future.  I am also hopeful to get some seeds from some whole strawberries that I have dried to create new plants for next year.

Dried Onion Skins

From the sweetness of Strawberries I then moved onto the slippery outer skins of onions.  I have been drying the outer leaves and once dried they will be added to a homemade seasoning mix. I make a lot of green powders from different dried green materials. Not tried this one before though and so am hoping that it will be one worth doing.

Egg shells

I have washed my eggshells out as I just want the shells.  There is a rodent problem in the City and so I do not want to attract anything especially when my plants are dug into Terra Firma.  They have then been popped into an oven to dry them out. Just pop a tray in the bottom of your oven and add your egg shells to it and let them dry whilst cooking something else or in the residual heat.  Same can be done with crusts and slices of stale bread.  The egg shells will then when cold be crushed and then decanted into a jar.  I will then sprinkle around any plants to try and stop slugs and snails. They will also give a calcium boost to the soil. Also good for Tomatoes if crushed up very finely.  Supposed to stop Blossom End Rot if you pop a handful of the crushed shells into the compost before putting the plant or plants in.  Apparently Tomatoes get Blossom End Rot for several reasons, the chief one appearing to be lack of Calcium. Can also be fed back to chickens to give them grit which they need for digesting their food.

Spent Tea bags

Once these have been used I soak them in water and then use to feed plants.  My seeds that I have grown thus far have been fed/watered on this only at the moment.  Also good for feeding hanging baskets. My uncle's second wife Betty, grew the most wonderful container plants (she had her own hanging garden outside the house) and she just fed them off the steeped tea bag liquid.  The Tea Bags can be composted afterwards.

Dwarf French Beans grown from seed on the kitchen windowsill, together with Peppers Habanero and Cayenne.  They have been fed on the Tea feed.

Spent Coffee Grounds

Often when you make a Cafetiere of coffee you do not get all the coffee out of the grounds.  Therefore add more water and allow to steep, sweeten and then turn into a Granita (a flaked rough form of sorbet) which is very cooling and refreshing on a warm summers day.  You do not need an ice cream machine for this just a deep tray or tub with a lid.  You can also turn this into the base for an iced Coffee Latte.  Just keep the base in the fridge and use as needed.  Refresh every few days or so.

Oranges

My four tubs of oranges that I bought the other day and which are going to be turned into bottled oranges.  Before I even start preparing these I have already sorted out possible items to make. There is a lot of flavour in the zest of an orange and before I start peeling the oranges, I will grate off the zest and then mix it with sugar and then dry in the oven.  I will then let this cool and then decant it once cold into a glass storage jar.  Ideal for making a drizzle dressing or anywhere you would use sugar.  I use this with pancakes and also in fruit cakes and a Victoria sponge or Swiss roll where I plan to either use an orange filling. Also in puddings. The flavoured sugar just amps the flavour up that little bit more. [ You can also use Lemon, Grapefruit (Pink and Yellow), Large Oranges and Limes to do this].

Peels will be made into cleaning vinegar.  This is something I use copious amounts of and it is a very good degreaser and can be used diluted with a little water to turn into a cleaning spray for general use in the kitchen.

Some peels will be turned into mixed peel for homemade fruit cakes and to your own home made Mincemeat.

Some of the Orange peels will be dried and then used in Beef stews and casseroles or anywhere you need an orange tang.

The orange segments or whole oranges will then be de-pithed otherwise it makes the preserve bitter so as much of this wants to come off as possible.  A little hard work is needed initially for this to take the thick of the pith off with a paring knife, however there is a trick to get a bit more of that off.  That little hack will be included in the recipe.

Will then prepare these with syrup and hot water bathe process (known as Bottling in the UK).  A full recipe to come on this.

Apples

Apples that are past their best can still be turned into something useful.  The peel may not be the best but you can peel these, use the peel for making ACV and then dry the apple in slices.  You can fancy these up with Cinnamon and once dried eat them as chips.  You can also use them in decorating wreaths, turning them into tea, add to granola or mixed home dried fruits (i.e. grapes, plums, wild fruits etc). or even to make your own dried fruit, fruit salad a winter version that we grew up with, at home and at school.

Stale Bread 

This can be dried and used for homemade Stuffing mixes, croutons, bread sauce mix and homemade bread crumbs for patties, fish, Croquettes, chicken etc.

Can also be used for making Bread Pudding and Bread and Butter Pudding.

Any Green Waste

Use any greens that you can such as celery, dry it, veggies that are past their best can also be dried just sort out the best bits of it.  Carrot tops can be used to make a pesto, but any veggie leaf including lettuce, sorrel, spinach etc. nettles, violet leaves, Goosegrass can be dried and turned into green powders to add to stews, casseroles, gravies etc. during the winter months to give your food a bit of a vitamin boost.  I also dry Spinach, Kale and keep it whole then add it in to stews, casseroles, Lasagna to add a bit more flavour and interest.

Otherwise To the Compost Bin.  It is now more necessary than anything to start your own Compost Bin off and produce at least some decent compost from your green waste to help with the growing cycle and to keep costs down.

Toilet Paper Tubes and Kitchen Roll Tubes (if you use them)

Use as formers for setting seed such as Sweetcorn or carrots, Parsnips etc.  Can also by squishing the bottoms make little seed pots.  Recycling at its best.

Seeds and Seed Saving

Last year from some Squash or Pumpkin I saved some seeds.  I managed to spill a few without realising near some water, and they sprouted.  They are stored on the shelf in a jar and I am about to sow some.  This was from a bought Squash.

I have also done the same with some Sweet Pepper seeds which are also going to go in.

In the past, I have sprouted Lemon Pips and brought them on to make little plants.  I have some Lemons at the moment and am going to start some of these off again.

I am also going to use the Pips from the Oranges to see if I have any success with them.

I also had an apple tonight and there were seeds in it.  I have therefore popped them to one side and will also sow these as well.  Nothing ventured nothing gained all a complete experiment.  It may never gain momentum but you never know.

I have also read that you can start Strawberry plants off and grow them on from slices of fresh Strawberry fruit pressed into compost and therefore I am going to try this to see if it will work as a cheap way of providing some Strawberry plants for the garden.  Fingers crossed.

Strawberry Plants from Fresh Strawberry

Shop bought Blueberries can also be squished put into compost and then covered and it should technically produce some Blueberry seedlings.  Yet again another experiment.  Will see what happens.

Do you do something similar and different to the little bits and bobs that I do above?

Hope everyone has a lovely evening.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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