The Kilted Chef has teamed up with Love Food Hate Waste Scotland in its drive to reduce food waste, undertaking a ‘fridge-raiding’ tour of Aberdeenshire ahead of Taste of Grampian Food Festival.
Chef Craig Wilson visited residents in Oldmeldrum, Inverurie and Aberdeen to provide handy tips and tricks for using up surplus ingredients.
The tour highlighted that a lack of meal planning and overbuying were the main reasons for throwing excess food away.
68-year old, Liz Millar, finds herself in the habit of buying too much food for her and her husband since her son left home.
In a ‘Ready Steady Cook’-style session, Craig used up leftover black pudding, boiled potatoes and odd ends of cheese to make a delicious ‘one pot brunch’, showing Liz how to use up items from her fridge that would otherwise have ended up being wasted.
Craig, who will lead three Love Food Hate Waste Scotland cookery demonstrations using repurposed leftovers at Taste of Grampian, said: “I’m taken aback at how much good food we’re putting in the bin and hope that this campaign will encourage the people of Aberdeenshire to think twice about their food waste.
“By getting creative in the kitchen, it’s easy to use up commonly-wasted ingredients such as fresh vegetables, potatoes and bread to ensure food ends up on our plates rather than in the bin.”
Ylva Haglund, Food Waste Campaigns Manager, Zero Waste Scotland, added: “Wasted food is not only a waste of money, it’s also a major contributor to climate change. That’s because when we waste food, we also waste all the energy and resources that went into producing it and getting it to our table.
“On top of this, if food waste then ends up in landfill, it will generate even more emissions in the form of methane gas, many times more harmful than carbon dioxide.
“Scotland is tackling the food waste problem through the recently launched Food Waste Reduction Action Plan, which sets out an ambitious target to cut food wastage across the country by a third by 2025, but we will need everyone to play their part.
“Teaming up with The Kilted Chef at Taste of Grampian, we hope to provide inspiration to empower the people of the North East to use up foods that might be thrown away in ways they wouldn’t have thought of – from Rustic Black Pudding Stovies to Cullen Skink Bread & Butter Pudding.”
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Taste of Grampian is the North East’s largest food festival.
Further information can be found on the Love Food Hate Waste Scotland website and Facebook page.
Taste of Grampian takes place this Saturday, more information including tickets and a timeline of cookery demonstrations can be found here.
