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After watching the fabulous Big Fish Fight week on Channel 4 recently, I, like the 500,000 people who are backing Hugh Fearnley-Whittinghstall’s campaign, have vowed to eat a wider range of fish.

The programme and campaign, if you didn’t see it, (to see a trailer, click through to my previous blog post Channel 4: Hugh’s Big Fish Fight – starts tonight) aimed to expose the devasting practice of fishing by quota, whereby vast quantities of fish get thrown overboard because they do not meet the criteria or quotas set by Europe’s common fisheries policy or because they have no market value. The campaign also aimed to encourage people to eat a wider range of fish to give our over-fished favourites a chance to be replenished.

But before we all rush out and buy a plethora of unsung heroes, it is vital that we give a little thought to how our fish is stored, processed and ultimately used at home. What we can’t afford to do, in my opinion, is to indiscriminately buy this wonderful fish, only to store it insufficiently, or prepare too much and end up throwing it away. And that’s why I say, for fresh fish buy frozen.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a myth that frozen food is inferior in quality to fresh, but this is often not the case. In fact with fish, it is the opposite. Frozen-at-sea fish are caught at the peak of their quality and frozen within 4 hours, meaning that it is at it’s freshest, tastiest and has all of it’s nutrients and goodness ‘locked in’.

Unless you live by a local harbour, any fresh fish that you buy from a supermarket or similar can be up to 14 days old. This is because fresh fish can spend a long time in the food distribution chain before it reaches your supermarket counter. In some cases it can be up to 10 days old before it’s even reached the harbour!

Another great advantage of buying frozen fish is that it is convenient – always a huge plus when you are a busy mum like me. Not only does frozen save you time, but because you only need to cook what you need when you need it, there is limited or no wastage at all too. With food prices continuing to rise, it is vital that we get the most from our food and again frozen fish ticks the box, it is less expensive than fresh (did you know that frozen fish and seafood can be up to 25% cheaper than fresh) plus it has a longer storage life – freezing, the most natural form of preserving – just add frozen water!

So taking all of the above on board (excuse the pun) I have decided to cast my net (there I go again) and introduce some new fishy flavours to my family.

As I am a NewIceAge mumbassador, I have been kindly sent a voucher from the wonderful people at TheNewIceAge.com and The Fish Society, to try a variety of whitefish, shellfish and crustaceans from their incredible online store www.thefishsociety.co.uk.

Over the next couple of blogs, I will be sharing with you my thoughts on the fantastic frozen fish treats that I have chosen, showing you how simple they are to cook and how delicious we all found them and why as the Queen of Easy Green™, I back frozen fish for saving time, money and waste.

I will also be giving you an opportunity to discover some new fish favourites yourself, as The Fish Society have kindly agreed to offer you, my readers, a £10 discount with orders over £65 (when visiting their website, just use the code ICEAGE).

So pop back soon to find out how I got on and land yourself a treasure trove of frozen fish goodness.

Here it is, my quick and easy, eco-friendly, locally sourced, low cost, low waste dinner … and it’s low fat too.

Lemony Chicken Stir-fry

Ingredients – this is what I used…

One chicken breast – cut into strips (mine was from my local butcher who rears his own stock – limited packaging and low mileage)

1 red/green pepper – chopped (an outgrade because of its uniform colour, often found in bumper packs in supermarkets, low cost)

4 small red onions – chopped (home grown)

1 garlic clove – finely chopped (home grown)

2 tbsps frozen peas (full of vitamins as flash-frozen with hours of picking, no wastage as use only what you require)

2 small lemons – zest and juice (supermarket outgrade due to small size – found in bumper packs – low cost)

Olive Oil

Soy sauce (labelled with a Count On It label, to ensure I use it up in time and avoid wastage)

1tsp cornstarch

Preparation

In a small glass bowl mix soy sauce, lemon juice and lemon zest with cornstarch. Add chicken pieces and coat with marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a large pan, fry garlic, add chicken (reserve the marinade), followed by red onions and red/green pepper. Stir-fry for about 4 minutes, until chicken browns.

Add marinade and cook until sauce is slightly thickened.

Serve with rice or noodles.

A perfect dish for all of the family that’s not only healthy, it also saves you time, money and waste in the kitchen too. The kids will love it because it’s sweet and colourful, you’ll love it because it only takes about 30 mins (eat your heart our Jamie Oliver).

And if you want to hear how I got along, listen here to my first live on-air cooking session with Jonathon Lampon on BBC Radio Leicester. It was fabulous fun. Let me know what you think.

It starts from 1.08

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00c077f/Jonathan_Lampon_12_11_2010

I’m really excited to say that tomorrow, Friday 12th, I will be Jonathon Lampon’s guest on his BBC Radio Leicester ‘Foodie Friday’ show. As the Queen of Easy Green™, I will be cooking one of my specialities, a quick, easy, time and money saving dish. I’m not saying what my dish is yet, other than it uses locally sourced meat, homegrown vegetables, frozen leftovers and misshapen supermarket vegetables and it tastes delicious.

I’ve never cooked on air before, so I’m a little nervous, hopefully it’ll all go well and Jonathon will enjoy what I rustle up.

As the Queen of Easy Green™, my aim is to show other busy mums like me that cooking fresh, tasty food in the kitchen can be quick, convenient and save them time, money and waste, if they have the right tools and know a few tricks.

On the show tomorrow I’ll also be talking about how we can all reduce unnecessary waste by using our freezer more, storing food correctly and how Count On It® labels and other kitchen accessories can also help us get more value from our food – whilst saving us time, something we could all do with more.

To listen live, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_leicester

After the show, I’ll pop up the recipe, so if you want to give it a try, everything you need to know will be here.

Speak soon

Lyndsey

Today I went along to BBC Radio Nottingham to talk about easy ways to get more for your money with food and save time too.

As you will know there’s been a lot in the press lately about food waste, the price of food going up and how supermarket packaging isn’t decreasing. We’ve seen programmes on the BBC, ‘Great British Waste Menu’ and Channel 4 ‘Food’ highlighting the issues surrounding food production, preparation, storage and wastage – and this is all fantastic to know, but  not all of us have got the time or skills to make radical changes, so my mission was to give people some down-to-earth, practical tips to help us get more for our money, without having to completely overhaul how we shop, prepare our food and what we eat.

In case you didn’t catch the programme, here’s my top tip to give you more for your money and more time for you (and no, there isn’t any convenience food to be seen – so it’s healthier too)

Budget food swaps where the only difference is the cost
• use long grain rice instead of basmati; dried beans and chickpeas instead of canned
• swap large, perfect peppers for bags of mixed peppers when cooking chillies, curries
• use canned tomatoes instead of fresh when making soups, stews or sauces
• buy frozen peas instead of fresh, you can have them all year round and use only what you need
• go shopping at the end of the day, when supermarkets and markets are reducing the price of their perishable produce
The hidden hero in your kitchen, – your freezer
• frozen food keeps longer than fresh, is more convenient, frozen vegetables and fruit can be more nutritious and tastier than fresh as it’s flash-frozen within hours of harvest, they are also in season all year round.
• Frozen food can help you with portion control, only cook what you need – the rest goes back in the freezer.
• any foods that are nearing their use-by dates which you won’t get chance to eat, stick them in your freezer and have them when you’re ready
• Don’t buy pre-grated cheese, grate your own and pop it in the freezer, you’ll always have some at hand to go onto of lasagnes and shepherds pies.
• Buy frozen fish, it’s fresher than fresh as it’s flash-frozen on board the boat within 4 hours of catch, unlike fresh fish which can take up to 48 hours to get to your local shop.
• TheNewIceAge.com has some great ideas and tips for getting the most out of your freezer
How to get a night off cooking every week
• When cooking something like chilli, bolognase, stew – double up the portions, eat one that night and freezer the other for another night the following week – don’t forget to label when you made it
• Invite friends/neighbours round for one night and cook for them, then them for you

Enjoy your own personal breakfast blend at half the price
• Save money on expensive boxes of muesli by buying big bags of your favourite oats, flakes, nuts, seeds and dried fruit, then mixing them together in a big jar or cereal dispenser
• To add an extra boost, sprinkle on frozen fresh fruit, like blackberries, they’re fabulously juicy and you can taste the summer all year round.

How to get a free lunch
• Use leftover cooked pasta and mixed with the French dressing, pesto, cucumber and tomatoes for a packed lunch
• Use leftover chicken or beef from Sunday lunch, shred and mix with beansprouts, salad vegetables, sweet chilli sauce and French dressing
• Or just mix chicken with leftover stuffing and mayonnaise and pop in some crusty bread.

Finally…
• Keep safe by storing food correctly,
• be aware of the ‘use-by’ labels,
• labeling how long food has been opened or stored in the fridge and freezer,
• keep yourself, your work surfaces and equipment clean

‘More for my money’ MMM (not for profit) campaign

Waste is growing problem in the UK and not only does it affect the environment, it affects our pockets too.

According the WRAP the average family with children throw up to £610 worth of edible food away each year.

Unfortunately, most of this waste occurs because people have lost touch with food, a lot of families today are used to eating pre-prepared food, perfect vegetables vac-packed and mass abundance.

The days of hunting and gathering are long gone, we don’t even need to forage at the supermarket ourselves these days, we can ‘virtually select’ our goods and they come delivered to our door.

As a consequence of this mass convenience, food is seen as a disposal resource, most people do not know, or even care, where our food has been grown, what’s in it and how much of an impact it’s production, transportation and packaging costs the environment – we just want it perfect, available and cheap and if we don’t use it all, or can’t be bothered to eat it, so what – there’s more where that came from.

This situation cannot go on forever and unfortunately one of the main reasons people are carrying on like this, is because they aren’t aware there is an alternative.

Fortunately there are people out there who do care and who have a long term view of what’s happening with our food and environment.

There are schemes, businesses, producers, manufacturers that are all doing their bit to help us get more value from our food – and that’s great. But, and it’s a big but, they are all ‘out there’, like buried treasure in the ground, without making a conscious effort to dig around and find them, they are buried from the mass.

That’s where MMM comes in. The idea for ‘More for our Money’ is to unearth all of these amazing businesses and put them in one, easy to find place – our MMM website.

So, wherever you sit within the fresh food and produce supply chain, grower, retailer, producer, household, if you want to find out how you can reduce your waste and save money, you can pop along to MMM click on the appropriate section and voila, a list of resources, tips, advice is there to help you.

Here’s an example, a busy mum wants to find out how she can reduce her weekly shopping trips

1 – she can click on retailers, and find out if there are local producers who can deliver to her door,
2 – click on kitchen gadgets to find out who provide tools to help you her get more out of her food, e.g. Count On It labels
3 – click on services and find Menu Planners who can devise her own personal shopping lists and email them across to her
4 – she wants to find out where she can buy British-grown, knobbly apples click on growers to find out if there any local to her

We want to help people get more for their money, reduce unnecessary waste, buy British whenever possible and help support local businesses and schemes.

If you’d like to find out more about MMM ‘More for My Money’ please drop me an email and we’ll put you on the mailing list and let you know when our site is live.

To hear the programme again it’s here Frances Finn’s programme

Thanks Lyndsey

A couple of weeks ago the BBC aired the programme, Great British Waste Menu in which it addressed the issue of food waste. If you didn’t see the programme, it’s aim was to challenge 4 chefs, Simon Rimmer, Angela Harnett, Richard Corrigan and Matt Tebbutt ‘to prepare a lavish banquet designed to prove that saving scraps is good’, under the intense scrutiny of four of the nation’s toughest food critics Prue Leith, Oliver Peyton, Jay Rayner and Matthew Fort. Here’s the second part of my thoughts about the programme.

Picking up from where I left off in Part One, one of the most shocking ‘revelations’ in the programme was how much fresh produce is thrown away even before it gets to our shops, markets and restaurants. One of the reasons given for this excess waste, was that the supermarkets require a ‘standard product’ because ‘households don’t like misshapen, over-sized, under-sized produce’, so rather than it heading to our stores, it was discarded.

I have two questions, first of all ‘who’ has dictated what the UK household likes and when, I can’t remember being surveyed about my tomato size preference or what size egg I like. Secondly, why isn’t this ‘imperfect’ produce being used by food manufacturers, e.g. those ‘unsuitable’ lettuces could surely be used in ready-to-buy salad boxes, restaurants, shop-bought sandwiches, etc. Instead, because of ‘our’ misconception of what a lettuce should look like, 30,000 lettuces from one farm in one day were ploughed back into the land. Similarly with the eggs, why weren’t those small eggs being sold to food manufacturers for use in mayonnaise, cakes, biscuits – surely this just common sense? Or do our growers and manufacturers already do this and we were misled on this issue?

We then had the well-travelled pineapple that had spent it’s formative years growing in tropical climates with dreams of flying half way across the world to bring a taste of sunshine into a UK household’s life – only to end in a market traders bin because it has gone a bit soft – what a sad tale. The energy that was used to grow, harvest, store, transport and bring to market that pineapple was phenomenal – but it was all a wasted, literally.

For me the main point highlighted by the programme was that as a country we have generally lost touch with our food, the growing, preparation, storage and the value of it. If people understood food and were more confident around it, many would soon realize that the size or shape of fresh produce does not adversely affect it’s flavour, in fact in a lot of cases, particularly the small tomatoes, it can be even tastier.

Food safety, food rotation and proper food storage knowledge would also be improved, not only saving unnecessary waste, but also saving avoidable illnesses contracted as a consequence of poor food hygiene practices in the home and at work.

Our throw away culture would also be challenged, we’d learn how to get more for our money from our groceries, using every last bit until it is gone. Like it was when I was young; Sunday roast chicken and vegetables, then chicken sandwiches for tea and finally cold chicken with bubble and squeak (leftover mash and veg) for Monday night tea – limited preparation – fantastic meals.

As one of the lucky ones who had ‘Home Economy’ classes at secondary school, not only did those classes stand me in good stead for having the confidence to cook, I learnt about food safety and food nutrition. I also learnt about which foods had carbohydrates, fibre, vitamins etc., and I believe this is why I have always had a good relationship with food and haven’t prescribed to fad diets.

If the Government would re-introduce home economy classes into our school, not only would children grow up with a greater appreciation for food, we would be healthier and less wasteful as a nation. Unfortunately at the moment our country has a growing edible food waste and obesity problem to match – the irony. It should be ‘Less waste, less waist™’

Reducing food waste is not going to be an easy problem to solve. As WRAP (CIWM 2007) highlights there are many reasons why so much food is wasted these reasons include food knowledge (how long food lasts), beliefs (attitude to waste), social context (affordability), retail context (more products to purchase), how we shop (ease of purchase), how we eat (expectation of food perfection), how we dispose (lack of disposal infrastructure).

But just because it’s going to be a challenge, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

Since watching the programme and joining in with discussions with people via Twitter and individual blogs, there are a people out there who do want to do something positive and plans are underway. Maybe, if we get enough people together, we could make a difference. So, if you feel passionate about positively changing our country’s food waste problem and you want to be involved, please drop me a line.

Let’s make it our mission to help everyone in UK get ‘More for my money’ m4mm

Cheers, Lyndsey

www.countonit.co.uk

To see the programme, or to watch again here’s the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tkr88

For tips and advice on reducing food waste click here:-

www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

www.wasteawarescotland.org.uk

www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk

www.thenewiceage.com

As you may be aware, I have recently become an ambassador for www.thenewiceage.com the British Frozen Food Federation’s consumer campaign and am joining forces with them to spread the message that frozen food is not only convenient and great value, it is nutritious and creates less wastage.

Unfortunately in recent years households have tended to forget about their freezer and have come to view frozen food as unhealthy and lacking in nutrition, however this is not the case. Freezing is a natural way of preserving food and needs no added chemicals. Frozen foods are flash-frozen within hours of harvest too, retaining that ‘just-picked’ taste, for examples peas (no, I’m not obsessed with them – honestly!) and broccoli. Fish is often frozen on board the boat within 4 hours of catch.

Another great advantage of freezing is that you can eat seasonal food any time of year, at home I’m freezing fruit and vegetables that I grow myself – with such a glut at one time, it makes sense to freeze some to enjoy again and again throughout the year, whilst also ensuring I don’t waste any by not being able to eat it in time.

Being a lover of practical, simple solutions freezing makes perfect sense to me, but to make sure I understood the freezing process fully, I thought what better way than the experience being in a freezer myself. So with a trusty friend in tow, I went down to London a couple of  weeks ago (on one of those particularly hot days) and visited the Absolut Icebar London.

What a brilliant experience – given a 40 minute slot we donned our thermo-coats with gloves attached (yes, just like your mum used to do when you were little) and off we popped into the Icebar. It’s fantastic, everything (except the till and floor) was made from ice, the seats, tables, walls and even our personal glasses.

As you can see, I fully immersed myself into the experience and can confirm Icebars are brilliant fun.

So there you have it, my wholly scientific experiment to confirm that freezing is good for you!

As you may have seen on one of my previous tweets, I can now announce that I am a mumbassador (mum/ambassador – in case you weren’t sure ) for the www.thenewiceage.com.

As I am passionate about helping households save time, money and waste through innovative products, food practices and tips/recipes etc., working with thenewiceage.com is a perfect match. By using frozen food, households can not only prepare tasty meals quick and easily, they can also dramatically reduce the amount of edible food that can unnecessarily go to waste. Frozen food is convenient to use, you can stock up in advance so you don’t need to shop daily, the goodness and taste is locked in and you can more easily control your cooking portions, avoiding cooking to much and throwing excess away.

As a mumbassador, I will not only have my own section on their site www.thenewiceage.com, I will also be blogging and tweeting about how I use frozen food to help me save time, money and waste and how you can too. I don’t know about you, but with summer upon us, I’d rather be spending more time in my garden with my family and less time in the kitchen and shops, whilst also enjoying the fact that I’ve got some extra cash in my purse for the summer essentials. Pimms anyone?

The countdown is on and I am very excited and nervous – why do you ask? Because on 3rd July I’m going to be meeting lots of friends I’ve met online at the UK’s premier mummy blogger conference, Cybermummy.

I am lucky enough to have been sponsored by www.thenewiceage.com to attend the conference and I can’t wait. As you may know I have a young family and through finding I was wasting too much food and money by throwing food away unnecessarily, I came up with the idea of Count On It® labels, a simple memory jogger that lets you know how long something has been opened or stored.

Since creating Count On It® labels, food waste has become a bit of a bugbear for me, so much so that I have dedicated my design-orientated mind and business to it, not only to spread the message of how easy it can be to reduce food waste (and money) but also to develop other products which can help us reduce our food waste and be more efficient with our food/in our kitchens (more on this later).

That said, it fits perfectly that I’m being sponsored to attend Cybermummy by thenewiceage.com as frozen food can help families easily reduce the amount of food they waste, without comprising on taste and quality. Portion control, which attributes to the rise in edible food waste, is also much easier to estimate with frozen food, just cook the amount you need and pop the rest back in the freezer, no waste. To find out more information on the benefits of frozen food plus hints and tips on how to get the most out of your freezer, just visit their brilliant website Www.thenewiceage.com .

So, having read so many fabulous blogs on subjects such as cooking, frugal living, budgeting with young families, household inventions and new products to name a few, Cybermummy is going to be a great opportunity for me to meet these people in person. It’ll also be interesting to hear the experts, discover new ideas and to share ideas with my ‘cyber-friends’, it’s going to be a great day.

Finally, following on from Carly at Mummy’s Shoes great idea of a pre-conference meet and greet, here’s my details:-

Name: Lyndsey Young
Blog: www.count-on-it.co.uk/blog
Twitter ID: @mummypreneur
Height: 5” 2” (hope you’ll spot me down here)
Hair: Short, blonde
Eyes: Blue
Likes: Inventing and inventions, food, trying new things/experiences/challenges, singing, good design, buxus bushes (nice, round, tidy!)

Despite the recent rise in grocery costs, an estimated 8.3 million tonnes of household food waste is still produced each year in the UK, most of which could have been eaten (WRAP 2010).

The main factors that lead to high household food wastage is due to:
- Overbuying and not using food in time
- Inadequate storage of food
- Over-sized portions
- Confusion over food date labels, use by and best before

Not only does this waste good food and cost us money, it has an adverse impact on the environment. One way of curbing this wastage, whilst saving you time and money is to get re-acquainted with your freezer.

Recent research commissioned by theNewIceAge.com http://www.thenewiceage.com/ identified that when it came to wastage, when cooking with fresh food there was 36.77% more waste than when cooking from frozen.
This is because when cooking with frozen food it is easy to control portion size, simply take only what you need and return the rest to the freezer. Unlike fresh food, which is stored in the fridge or store cupboard, it is also impossible for bacteria to multiply on frozen food (making it safer than any other form of food preservation), meaning you get the most out of your food by using it in time.

But many people assume that whatever they cook fresh is healthier than frozen, but this is not necessarily the case. Did you know that frozen vegetables have been proven to often contain more Vitamin C than ‘fresh’ vegetables. This is particularly true when ‘fresh’ vegetables have been left languishing unloved and unnoticed in your fridge or cupboard. Apparently ‘Fresh’ spinach loses 77% of its Vitamin C after just two days, but when ‘flash frozen’, the process which freezes water in the food into smaller ice crystals and minimizes cell structure damage, the nutrients and vitamins are naturally ‘locked in’ with no need for preservatives.

Celebrity chef, Aldo Zilli is also a keen supporter of frozen food and incorporates frozen food into his award-winning meals, which he serves daily at his Soho restaurant Zilli Fish.
Zilli says, “Cooking with frozen does not mean lowering ones standards on freshness or nutritional value. On the contrary, frozen can often be fresher, especially when dealing with seafood and fish,” he goes on to comment that with the British consumer being very financially mindful and environmentally conscious, “frozen food allows consumers certain luxuries without comprising on taste, lowering wastage and ensuring great value for money.”

As well as ready frozen produce, your freezer is fabulous when storing chilled meals to be used at a later date. Just look out for the ‘suitable for home freezing’ logo on the packaging, then simply pop on a Count On It label http://www.count-on-it.co.uk/ and mark off the date when it has to be used by – it’ll usually say ‘Can be frozen on day of purchase and kept up to 3 months’ or similar – so, if you bought it today (27 May) just pop on a Count On It label and scratch-off the date 27 August – job done.

And finally, don’t forget your freezer for storing your leftovers, batch-cooked meals and split portions in. Leftovers make a fantastic quick and easy meal, just pop the uneaten leftovers in a storage tub and put on a Count On It label so you can keep track of when it was first prepared and stored. Or to give yourself a night off from cooking, when preparing the days meal simply cook a larger portion than is required and freeze the rest, one meal for now, another for later. Finally, the dreaded ‘buy one, get one free’ or bulk purchases, again save yourself time, money and waste – just split the pack, put some in the fridge and the rest in the freezer – you’ll have food to hand whenever you need it and you’ll have saved yourself a trip to the supermarket and some money into the bargain.

So there we have it, your freezer – your ally in the war against waste.

To see how comedian Sue Perkins gets to grips with her freezer, here is a great little clip from the LoveFoodHateWaste website – enjoy.http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/about_food_waste/sue_perkins_.html

Count On It labels, the easy peel label, freezer label. These removable labels are perfect for jars, freezing leftovers and baby food storage, freezing baby food. No need for Sharpies, Count On It labels self adhesive labels can be used on freezer bags, food storage tubs and glass storage containers. Ideal for safe food storage, they make First In First Out – they are an easy to use food storage calculator. Count On It food storage labels for safe food storage.