By student dietitian Genevieve Milesi
Is there truly anything greater than sliced bread? Bread is a nutritious staple of almost every household worldwide in various forms. However, are we eating all those great slices or unwittingly throwing most of the loaf away?
In Australia, food wastage costs the economy around $20bn each year; this equates to 7.3 million tonnes of food, equating to 300kg per person!
For every loaf of bread eaten, another half loaf is thrown away.
So how can we be more bread-wise and eat the whole loaf?
Freeze some before use: If you’re in a household that doesn’t get through the full loaf, a simple way to extend its life is to consider how much you think you’ll eat and freeze the rest. If your bread isn’t sliced, slice pieces before freezing to make it easier to defrost. The slices will be just as delicious after you defrost them the next week.
Now that you have a freezer full of crusts and slices, what should we do with them? Here are a few quick ways to whip up a snack or meal with leftover bread:
- Roast wraps or roti in the oven to enjoy with dip (like this great Mung Bean dip)
- Croutons (like in this Green Genius Breakfast Bowl)
- Panzanella salad
- Rye crostinis with smoked trout
- Breadcrumbs for chicken schnitzel or grilled fish
- French toast
- Bruschetta
- Bread sauce
- Stuffing for roasts
- Bread and butter pudding
It might be tough to stop all food waste; however, with the humble loaf of bread, we can easily all do our bit to use up every slice and reduce food waste together.