Love student leftovers

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A digital cooking competition to reduce food waste

Post by Siana Dimitrova on behalf of Replenish

As a student lead of a digital cooking competition ‘Love Student Leftovers‘ hosted by Oxford Brookes University, I’ve been involved in a project to reduce food waste among students. The competition aims to increase awareness of food waste and how we can all take action to reduce our waste, while also saving money.

Join me as we explore how small changes in our habits can make a big difference in combating food waste, while staying within the constraints of a student budget.

Students’ views on food waste

Like many individuals, students think they cannot contribute significantly in the reduction of food waste. However, from what I have seen as a student living in both halls and shared university houses, I strongly believe that students contribute to the amount of food that is wasted and if they became more aware and made some small changes it could lead to a great difference. 

My experience as an international student in university housing

As an overseas student, when I first arrived in the UK there were many cultural shocks, such as the fact that giving handshakes when you first meet people might be too formal. I was also surprised by the number of ready meals that were sold at supermarkets. Something that particularly jumped out to me was the amount of food that was wasted each day. As someone who was taught to always keep their leftovers in the fridge and finish them during the next meal, I was very surprised to see things thrown away like unfinished pasta, or blueberries which were just past their best before date but still looked perfect to eat. 

How can students make a change?

A shopping trolley in a supermarket with tomatoes in the foreground

A great tip is to do one big food shop each week. It can seem like a lot of money is spent during that trip, but if it is carefully planned that will be the only food shop needed that week, so staying within a student’s budget! To make a plan for a food shop think about the meals you want to eat during the week and buy the ingredients to make them. Don’t mindlessly buy ingredients or snacks that look good in the moment, but actually are not sufficient to make a filling meal.

I would suggest swapping ready meals with home cooking. Having gone from relying on my mother’s cooking and at 18 only knowing how to prepare simple dishes, trying out cooking by yourself can be quite scary. However, it is not as hard as it seems especially if you know the basics and have access to the internet. There are so many recipes that you can try out yourself! As convenient as buying a ready-meal might be, home cooking feels very rewarding and can save money – important for a student’s budget.

A cheese topped caserole

Love student leftovers instagram competition

Students can submit photos or videos of dishes they have created. The competition is simple to enter, with a prize of £100 for the winner of each of the categories.

Competition categories

Ideas for using leftover stale bread Make breadcrumbs Make Italian Strata (Bread Bake) Turn into pita chips or croutons Make garlic bread Ideas for using leftover banana peel Make banana peel bacon by marinating and frying Add to curry Make chutney Boil with cinnamon, vanilla and water to make tea Ideas for leftover carrot peels Turn into sugared candy Add to carrot cake Peel them to create noodles Make vegan honey Ideas to use leftover onion peels Make veg peel stock Roast and grind to make smoked onion spice Boil while making soup or gravy Use as fertilizer for plants
1. Whole fruit and veg and commonly wasted foods

If you choose this category all you need to do is create a recipe using entire fruit & vegetables (including the peels that you would normally throw away) and commonly wasted foods such as stale bread that you could transform into a new dish!

Pictured are some examples of how you could use commonly wasted foods to make an entry in our competition!

2. Rescued and repurposed food

For this category you will need to reuse your leftovers or perhaps repurpose food picked up from apps such as Too Good To Go or Olio or even use food bought from the reduced section at your local supermarket!

Pictured are a few examples of how you could use apps such as Olio, food from the reduced section or the leftovers from your previous meal!

If you haven’t heard of these apps, take a look at this blog post about them.

Got old croissants from Olio Make croissant french toast Add to a breakfast casserole Use in croissant bread pudding Turn into croissant quiche Ideas for leftover take-away pasta Make Frittata di pasta Transform into mac and cheese balls Turn into leftover pasta fritters Use to make savoury muffins Uses for reduced milk from the shop Make rice pudding Add to curries or soups Turn into cottage cheese Make custard Use reduced garlic flatbread Add it to your soup Turn into garlic bread stuffing Throw on toppings to make pizza Transform into pot pie
Ways to use up vegetables Add to a soup or stew Turn into sauce Make veg lasagne Use as pizza topping Ways to use up fruit Puree and freeze to make popsicles Add to a fruit pizza Make fruit chutney Blend and dehydrate to make fruit roll-ups Ideas for yogurt Use in banana bread Transform into a dip Make yogurt biscuits Make yogurt brownies Ideas to use eggs Make egg florentine domes Make Korean egg bread Poach them to make Shakshuka Make pickled eggs
3. Throw-it-all-in cooking

For our final category you don’t even need to go out shopping. You can get creative and use up what is lurking in the back of your cupboard, freezer and fridge, throw it all in and rescue the food from your own home that was about to go to waste!

Check out the Good Food Cooking Toolkit from Good Food Oxfordshire for a guide to creating tasty meals without recipes.

For full details of how to enter, head to the competition website or Instagram page and do share with family and friends. The competition closes at midnight on 25 March 2024.

For more tips on cooking and growing nutritious food with zero waste, sign up to our monthly newsletter.

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