What was an ecological act yesterday is now becoming an emergency to make ends meet. Given inflation, the fight against food waste should in fact lead to new behaviors that should protect purchasing power. Here are three easy-to-implement solutions.
Use an anti-waste app
Do you know Too Good To Go, Zéro Gâchis or Phenix? Their concept is to give you unsold items at ridiculous prices. Whether it’s supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants or bakeries, they recover what no buyer has found to avoid wastage. The module is free to download on Google Play or the Appstore and allows you to identify baskets created near an address you provide. You can consult the list of partner companies per app on their website. The Too Good To Go app has been a huge success, with over 10 million downloads.
Preparing jars
This is probably the oldest anti-waste trick in the world. And yet it remains a safe bet… to keep! In order for the operation to succeed, we respect the basic principles. To do this, nothing beats following the advice of the reference brand Le Parfait. We always clean our pots with soapy water. Rinse them with hot water and let them air dry. We always prepare fresh vegetables or fruit, and never frozen products. These must be rinsed beforehand. You don’t prepare your pots with a wooden spoon, which may contain germs or bacteria. The cans are filled with boiling water as much as possible. Please note that the jars can also be prepared with salt, oil or vinegar. In addition, you should always burn the rubber rings that seal the lid on the jar before closing them. Finally, homemade pots should be stored in a cool, dry place and always away from light.
Keep bread longer and make better use of leftovers
In May, flour and grain-based products were most affected by inflation, according to INSEE data, which show increases of 3.5% and 4.7%, respectively. In one year, the bread price has risen by 5.3%. So care must be taken to preserve it. We already ask for it uncut, which means it has a longer shelf life. The France Nature Environnement association shares another trick: place an apple in the bread basket and wrap it in a tea towel. This prevents you from getting bread (too quickly) with a crust as hard as concrete! Finally, don’t forget that you can turn stale bread into French toast by rehydrating it in a mixture of eggs, milk (which you can replace with a plant-based alternative) and vanilla sugar. It can also be made into croutons for a homemade gazpacho, otherwise grind it into powder to make breadcrumbs. And you can even serve it for dessert, transformed into pudding. This consists of dipping each type of crumb into a preparation made of milk, flour, eggs, dried fruit and sugar, before placing it all in the oven.
(ETX Daily Up)