Love Food Hate Waste

Councillor Chris Ready pictured in wigan market helping out at the love food hate waste eventAre you fed up with having leftover food cluttering up your cupboards? Or worried about the cost of feeding the family?

Every year an average household throws away around £680 of unused, over ripe or past its sell-by date food. That’s £12billion a year. And so, Wigan Council’s catering team Metrofresh team have taken on the government’s “Love Food Hate Waste” challenge, giving advice and recipes to people to help them reduce their own food waste.

Two top local chefs: Mark Holmes – executive chef at the new Abraham Guest School and Glynis Harrison, town hall catering manager – staged special cookery events in the markets and invited the public to try dishes made from perfectly fine, but unwanted, food items.

Joining Mark Holmes in Wigan market, the council’s cabinet champion for customer service Cllr Chris Ready said: “In times of economic strain, here's a great way to save money and try something new. By using bits of food that you would usually throw away you can save that little bit extra.

“Not only are you saving money but you are also saving the planet. If we all stopped wasting food it would have the same environmental impact as taking one in four cars off the road.”

The Love Food Hate Waste enthralled market visitors in Leigh and Wigan. Mark, who has cooked for royalty, dazzled Wigan with his cookery theatre set up. And in Leigh, Glynis Harrison entertained the customers with handy hints and tasty recipes to try. At both events recipes were available for meals that could be made with left over food.

“Be inventive, that’s what cooking is all about; trying new recipes,” said Glynis. “Today we are giving out recipes to help release people’s imaginations. The most important thing to remember is not to be afraid to use your left over food because it can make some really great meals.”Â