Here’s a question as we enter National Recycling Week.

Do you know, as a nation, we throw away an incredible seven million tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year?

This costs us £12.5 billion a year and is bad for the environment, and what’s worse is that the majority of the food that is thrown away could actually have been eaten.

It is estimated that on average each of us throws away 110kg of food a year. That’s the equivalent of over 17 stone!

In National Recycling Week we are supporting the message of reduce, reuse and recycle, especially when it comes to food, so here’s just a few tips for making your food last longer:

  • – Store your food correctly. This is one of the reasons we waste food. Keeping your fridge at the correct temperature can help your food stay fresh for longer. Your fridge should be below 5 degree Celsius, so use a fridge thermometer to check
    – Use your freezer. If you have made a dish and there are leftovers, freeze in portions for ease, and label and date the airtight containers.
    – Before you make a shopping list check your cupboards and fridge so you are not over-ordering. A weekly meal planner can also help so you know exactly what you need.
    – Use store cupboard staples to make meals out of leftovers and food that’s gone past its best. Keep a stock of staple foods such as pasta and rice so you can always rustle up something using whatever’s in the fridge.
    – Better storage and portioning can help us combat food waste and there are many tools that can be used to assist you. Keep items such as weighing scales, measuring jugs, bag clips, freezer bags and labels in a drawer.
    – Storing your food in the correct place can keep it fresh for longer. Store bread in a cupboard or breadbin, keep fruit in the fridge (not bananas), and always store potatoes in a cool dark place.
    – If you’ve cooked too much, or want to batch cook something like a Shepherd’s Pie or Lasagne, you can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days or put in the freezer for another day.

There are loads more great tips like this at Love Food, Hate Waste so please have a look and let’s see if we can all reduce the amount of food we waste. To start you off, here’s a recipe using leftover bananas that you may otherwise have thrown out.

Banana Monkey Bread with Salted Banana Caramel
Classic monkey bread is sweet, sticky, gooey pastry made from little balls of dough rolled in cinnamon sugar and baked together in a bundt pan. However, a standard cake tin will do the job just as well. This recipe also incorporates leftover bananas within the dough and in the serving salted caramel sauce. For this recipe you will need a freestanding mixer with a dough hook attachment.

Ingredients:

For the Monkey Bread:
• 12g Fast Acting Yeast
• 100ml Lukewarm Milk
• 550g Strong Plain Flour
• 50g White Sugar
• 6g Salt
• 2 Mashed up bananas
• 85g Melted butter
• 50ml Lukewarm Water
• 2 Med/large Eggs

For the Cinnamon Coating:
• 100g Melted Butter
• 7g Cinnamon
• 5g Nutmeg
• 100g Brown sugar

For the Salted Banana Caramel:
• 400g Sugar
• 150g butter
• 120ml double Cream
• 10g Maldon Sea Salt or just standard salt

Preparation method:
1. For the bread dough, dissolve the yeast in a large mixing bowl with the lukewarm water. Stir it around and let it rest for a few minutes. Add the milk, melted butter, sugar, salt, eggs, mashed bananas and strong flour. Start mixer on slow for 2/3 minutes, then increase speed for a further 5 minutes.
2. Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead for 3 minutes until smooth and elastic.
3. Place back into bowl and cover with cling roll and leave for 1 hour to rise.
4. Make the cinnamon coating: Melt the butter in a small bowl. Mix brown sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg together in another small bowl. Set aside for later on.
5. Turn out the dough and slightly flatten out. Then, tear off pieces of dough in to balls; around the size of a golf ball. You should get around 40/50 balls in total. Then, dip each ball into the melted butter then roll in the cinnamon mix. Place the dusted dough balls into a greased bundt tin (or cake tin) and build up. When complete, leave in a warm place for 1 hour until well risen and spongy.
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.
6. Place tin in the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.
7. Making the Salted Caramel: Place sugar into heavy saucepan and heat on medium whilst stirring constantly. Once sugar has completely melted and starts to turn brown, add butter. Again stir until butter has incorporated into the sugar, around 2 minutes. Then, slowly add the double cream and banana puree. Let it bubble up. Remove from heat and stir in salt. Allow to cool before using.
Best served with Banana chips and vanilla ice cream!

About Neil Shaefer
Marketing & Communications Executive of SK Foods.
Your food. Our Passion.