A sad onion got a new life as a spring onion in my kitchen window.
I have already written a few times about how much food we throw away without even thinking about it. Swedes are estimated to throw away 900 000 tonnes (!) of fully edible food every year. Producing that food causes CO2 emissions equal to those from about 700 000 medium-sized cars used during one year.
A book called “100 sätt att rädda maten” (100 ways to save the food) has given me a lot of ideas about how to avoid throwing what could be used. The author Annica Triberg gives advice about trusting to our senses instead of blindly obeying the best-before date printed on the pack. Leftovers that aren’t enough to make a whole meal can be masked as interesting starters, served in small shot glasses.
According to Annica Triberg, shopping on large scale isn’t as wise as it might sound. It’s easy to get tempted by a special offer, but what is actually the use of two kilos of potato salad, if you don’t fancy eating potato salad every day for one week? Many of our “smart” purchases risk ending up in the bin.
One of the ideas I like the most is to place onions that have become too soft on top of a layer of earth in a pot and water slightly. After a few days you have tasty spring onion which can be cut with a pair of scissors and used in the food.
I can’t think of more locally grown vegetables than that!
