Never judge a book by its cover
Add article to favourites
Never judge a book by its cover
We’ve all heard the saying, yet my guess is we’re ALL guilty of judging a book by its cover.
If not literally, then metaphorically.
We make judgements on people according to how they look.
Manufacturers know the power of ‘first impressions’ which is why they spend millions of pounds on advertising campaigns and getting the packaging perfect.
Supermarkets are notorious for rejecting tonnes of perfectly good food because the colour, size and shape isn’t up to par…
I found myself in a similar situation the other day when I was cleaning out the fruit bowl and came across this banana:
One brown banana sitting in the bowl
It doesn’t exactly look appetising does it?
It looks way past its best and yes, it was a bit soft – the sort of banana you’re too scared to pick up in case it turns to mush in the palm of your hand.
But something stopped me adding it to the compost bin.
Probably the thought of you lovely readers if I’m honest.
So I tentatively peeled the banana and here’s what I found:
A tatty coat maybe, but all is well inside
Not too shabby eh?
Unbeknown to my two intrepid zero wasters, I cut the offending banana up into slices and threw it in a dish with a rather wrinkly looking sliced apple and some blueberry purée:
banana apple and blueberry puree
Next I made a crumble topping and baked it in the oven.
Et Voilà:
the perfect fresh fruit crumble
The perfect pudding made from food I might otherwise have thrown away.
Add a dash lot of cream and pudding is served!
Pudding is served
Tell me; what ingredient have you saved from the landfill or compost bin this week?
Readers who viewed this page, also viewed:
Privacy Policy This privacy policy governs the privacy policy of this website MYZEROWASTE.com and it’s users who choose…
Don’t throw it away… That's rubbish, just throw it away ... How many times have you heard that or said…
How to reduce food waste It was reported recently that in the UK, we throw away up to one third of…
Mrs Green needs your help to avoid food waste! A plea for help to prevent food waste today!
Private: Zero Waste Week 2012 Welcome to the fifth National Zero Waste Week! National Zero Waste Week takes place week beginning…
Genius to show us the photos – blackened bananas can be delicious if the person eating them doesn’t see them! I’ve just learnt to use toast and stale bread for breadcrumbs, sounds so simple but hadn’t thought of toast before. Also do nettle tips count – I’d normally just leave them in the garden, but have been having fun cutting off the tips and cooking in soups, and tried cauliflower cheese with nettle (it was good!). I am sure nettle pesto is a possibility. Now off on the hunt for black bananas as I need to make a banana cake for school’s pta on tuesday. nicola
I’ve got one of those. I find the flavour rather strong when it’s that ripe. I was hoping hubby would eat it with his cereal as he is wont to do. He is the one who likes to have bananas in the house after all. I don’t mind one occasionally but I’m not that fond of them.
If I had 2 or 3 ripe ones I could make banana and walnut bread. My mum used to do that when she bought some over-ripe bananas going cheap, but you don’t see them anymore, do you – not round here, anyway.
An avocado! It was very soft….the skin was black. I expected to find it totally brown inside, but instead, it was the perfect shade of green and was perfect to smash with some garlic and seasoned pepper to put on top of a tortilla with tomatoes, onions, a sprinkling of cheese, and a dallop of sour cream. The perfect lunch!
I have this problem regularly, or used to , as I shop once a week and bananas don’t like to hang around too long. I like a banana in my morning smoothie, so I’ve learnt to catch them a little before they get too far gone, and process them: I peel and chop them into chunks (skins go in the compost of course), then freeze ‘free-flow’ so the chunks are separate. I then store the chunks in a bag in the freezer and pop a handful into my smoothie each morning. Blend well and there you are, a delicious cold smoothie. I do have a very powerful blender, which is needed for jobs like this. Here’s a link for the one I use: http://virtualhealthclub.com/content/9/13/Blender
BTW, bananas are at their most nutritious when they are very ripe :o)
I had half a head each of broccoli and cauliflower that my friend had chucked in her trash can (they were on top and not all filthy, mind you). Admittedly, they were both very wilty and limp from being stored improperly, but I knew there was hope. I simmered them in water for about 15 minutes, then added a few splashes of milk, some cheddar cheese, a bit of this and a bit of that from the spice cabinet, and it made for VERY yummy soup!
Asparagus. It looked wilted and old and didn’t snap when I bent it. I cooked it up and ate it anyway. It was fine.
@nicola baird: Sounds like you have some great ideas Nicola – thank you for sharing and yes, I reckon nettles count; it means you’re less likely to buy something that might go off in the fridge if you can pick just the amount you need from the garden…
@Karin: Maybe freezing them as they turn black is the answer for you Karen? I’ve not experimented so I don’t know but I wonder if they would freeze already mashed with a bit of lemon juice? Hmmm, probably not; you might end up with black sludge. I’m not a banana eater so can’t really comment!
@Suse: Oh yes! I LOVE avocados and eat one most days; with garlic too – Mmmmm 🙂
@Leigh: I have the vitamix too and have saved strawberries going to waste by freezing them then using to make instant ice cream 😉
@CarSue: Broccoli and cheese soup is wonderful isn’t it? Well done you for rescuing that food and putting it to good use.
@Jennifer Ward-Pelar: Glad to hear you ate the asparagus; with such a short season and such a delicacy it would have been a shame to waste it.
I hadn’t thought of freezing bananas, Rae, I’ll try it.
Hope you found your bananas, Nicola. I’m wondering if you have discovered enough new ideas to Save Cash and Save the Planet to bring out an updated version of the book?
I had a couple of red cabbages that I knew I wouldn’t use before they turned sad, so last night I pickled them. We’ll see how well it worked in a couple of months…
Strawberries! they were getting a bit mushy but hadn’t started growing mold. I chopped them up, cooked them down with some sugar and pectin and had strawberry jam that my husband loved! I’ve done the same for pears, and they make a wonderful pear jam.
@Julia Goodfellow-Smith: Oh fantastic – I’ve never pickled anything; do give us a progress report in the summer time!
@joanna @ I Won’t Be a Hoarder Too: Sounds perfect! Thanks for sharing Joanna 🙂
Bananas again. We leave them for the elderly parents but sometimes they don’t eat them fast enough (truthfully: both of us bought some so there were too many). When they are too sotted and black they still taste good when whizzed up in cold milk. This time I gave some to the carer too. Pa-in-law reckons we should market this drink and the carer was amazed at how good this two ingredient drink is (and sh’d thrown away some bananas the night before because they were over-ripe. So I’ve proved to someone how nice it is now!
It is a great way also to use up excess milk if someone goes away and you suddenly have too much and you can also use the UHT milk (and not know that it is UHT) that you keep in the storecupboard for hot chocolate, custard …and banana milk!
@Jane: how wonderful; instant milkshake with trace minerals instead of colourings and flavourings 🙂 thanks for sharing your simple recipe; I reckon a tablespoon of cocoa powder would be good in that milkshake too 😉 Ya know, for the magnesium 😉