Save More - Activity 13

Activity 13 - Fixing Perfect Portions
Plan ahead
Know your dates
Savvy storage
Perfect portions
Love your leftovers
This activity shows how to stretch or use up food
if you do sometimes cook too much or too little,
saving you money by reducing food waste.
Who is it for and how long will it take?
1:1 or in a group, working in pairs. Takes 20 - 25 minutes.
What is needed?
• Too Much, Too Little Sheet, 1 per person
• Pens
• Spaghetti measurer, rice measuring cup or scales, if available
RUNNING THE SESSION
Before you begin
Introduce the topic: “One of the reasons we sometimes waste food is because we cook
too much to make sure there is enough to go round. This activity is all about what to
do if you have cooked too much - or too little.”
How to run the activity
1. If working with a group, divide people into pairs.
2. Give each person a Too Much, Too Little Sheet. (Allow about 10 minutes to work
through the Sheet.)
3. Ask people to discuss: “What could you do if you have cooked too much?”, and to
write down their ideas for each food item in the first column.
4. Then ask: “What could you do if you have cooked too little?”, and to write down
their ideas for each food item in the third column.
5. Discuss the ideas and compare them with the suggestions.
After the activity
7. Ask how people currently measure portions. Or, why do they make too much or too
little?
8. Do they ever find they cannot use up the leftovers? How much money do they think
that wasted food costs them?
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Activity 13 - Fixing Perfect Portions
What have we found out?
• Ideas for stretching meals to make them go further if you have cooked too little.
• Ideas for using up food if you have cooked too much.
• That wasting less food, by getting portions perfect, saves money.
What else could we do
• Make a pledge to measure portions. This doesn’t always need expensive kitchen
equipment. Everyday objects can be used. See Perfect Portions (Activity 12).
• Run Perfect Portions (Activity 12).
Want to know more?
Take the guess work out of portions with the Love Food Hate Waste portion planner:
http://lovefoodhatewaste.com/portions/everyday
Watch Cheryl measure the perfect portion of rice here:
http://vimeo.com/47179934
Download the free Love Food Hate Waste App:
http://lovefoodhatewaste.com/content/download-new-love-food-hate-waste-free-app
Read the A to Z of Food Tips.
Love Food Hate Waste - Save More
www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
Twitter: @LFHW_UK Facebook: Love Food Hate Waste Community
Activity 13 - Fixing Perfect Portions
Too Much, Too Little
Fill in both columns with your own ideas. Add another food.
Don’t sneak a peek at the suggestions sheet!
What I would do if I had
cooked too much:
Food item
What I would do if I had
cooked too little:
Potatoes
Rice
Pasta
Vegetables
Own choice
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Twitter: @LFHW_UK Facebook: Love Food Hate Waste Community
Activity 13 - Fixing Perfect Portions
Too Much, Too Little
Here are some other suggestions to add to your own ideas.
What I would do if I had
cooked too much:
• Cool as quickly as possible,
What I would do if I had
cooked too little:
Food item
Potatoes
ideally within 1-2 hours, and
then store in the fridge for up
to 2 days.
• Use in a salad.
• Slice and add to an omelette.
• Cool rice as quickly as
basic tinned potatoes.
• Serve with bread as well.
Rice
• Bulk up with beans or
possible. Cover and keep it in
the fridge for no longer than 1
day. Re-heat until piping hot.
• Make another meal for the
next day: try frying rice with an
egg and vegetables.
• Freeze for another time.
• Add to a soup or a salad.
• Cover and store in the fridge
peas.
• Use up any leftover
vegetables in the fridge to
make fried rice.
• Serve naan bread from the
freezer as well as rice.
Pasta
• Serve with garlic bread
for up to 2 days.
• Make pasta salad for lunch.
• Add to a chicken or vegetable
soup.
• Make another meal to freeze:
bake with vegetables, cheese,
sauce or leftover soup in a tray
bake casserole.
• Add to a pie or tray bake.
• Make a soup with them or add
to another soup.
• Try adding a cheese sauce and
baking (e.g. cauliflower and
broccoli cheese bake).
• Heat up store cupboard
from the freezer.
• Bulk out with leftover
vegetables or a tin of
beans and cover with
sauce and/or cheese. Top
with breadcrumbs and
bake.
Vegetables
• Heat up tinned or frozen
vegetables (such as peas)
that cook quickly.
• Add spices or curry paste/
tin of tomatoes/tin of chick
peas.
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www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
Twitter: @LFHW_UK Facebook: Love Food Hate Waste Community