It’s a fact of life that us Brits love our bread. In fact, on average we eat the equivalent of 9 million loaves every single day. Whilst bread may be at the top of everyone’s shopping list, however, it’s also found – uneaten – at the bottom of everyone’s bin as well.
In the UK we throw away around 900,000 tonnes of untouched bread every year – which is the equivalent of a staggering 24 million slices. This contributes to a whopping £1000 worth of food that’s thrown out annually by every household – which is a lot given that recent research conducted by Too Good To Go found that 42% of Brits thought that they only binned £100-200.
This makes it one of the most wasted items every single year, but don’t worry! Too Good To Go is here to celebrate some of the many sustainable tips that can help save reducing food waste from bread from becoming yet another failed New Year’s resolution…
Top tips to make the most of storing your bread:
- Cloth bags are the best option for storing bread, meaning it will maintain its properties better. A fun tip is to pop a potato in the bag as well. This prevents it from drying out as quickly.
- Wherever you store your bread, make sure it’s dark, dry and fairly cool. Don’t forget to clean out any bread bins or cupboards regularly for mould, as well.
- Bought too many baps? You can freeze bread for up to 3 months – just make sure it’s in a clean, sealed bag.
- Toasting from frozen is actually the best way to avoid unnecessary waste, by using what you need as and when.
Handy tips to use up leftover bread:
- Turn stale bread into cookies! Yes, you heard us right. If you whizz 3-4 slices of stale bread in a food processor and add in egg, butter, flour, sugar, hazelnuts, chocolate, baking powder and salt, you can make around 10 delicious zero waste cookies! Find the full recipe here.
- Kickstart your weekend brunch with some homemade French toast! All you need is some cupboard staples such as eggs, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and a bit of butter and salt and hey presto! A planet (and budget) friendly brunch.
- Make your mouth feel like it’s the middle of summer by whipping up a classic Tuscan Panzanella salad. Perfect for leftover sourdough or ciabatta, blend some basil in a food processor with capers and olive oil. Transfer half of the herby oil to a bowl, add the bread and mix well, then set aside so that the bread chunks can absorb the moisture.
Place the tomatoes in a large bowl and lightly squash them to gently release some juice. Mix with the olives, onion slices and a drizzle of olive oil. Add the bread, the herby oil and the vinegar, and mix well. Garnish with the remaining basil leaves, drizzle with more olive oil and serve straight away. Find the full recipe here.
