Know Your Food: Bread

Bread is the world’s favorite staple. Every country has its version, and with tons of different styles and flavors available at the stores, it seems the world can’t get enough of it. Nevertheless, according to research done by Tesco, almost 44% of bread bought goes to waste.

So, the real question is, how can we keep this dietary essential from going to waste in the first place?

As a crowd favorite, bread tends to get bought in large quantities as it is an affordable and filling option, but it goes stale and gets dumped- fast, leading to bread waste. Learning how to make use of stale bread can help reduce waste. For instance, if you end up with leftover food from your dinner parties, toasting it is a delicious way to refresh it. Stale bread is also great as a binding agent when making patties or for coating in any other breaded dish. Knowing how to make use of leftovers is key to reducing waste.

Bread can also help you make use of excess in your kitchen. If you’re into baking, you can use leftover dried fruits and nuts such as raisins and walnuts or even fresh fruit in your dough to create artisanal tastes. You’ll not only discover new flavors but also save any leftovers in your kitchen from going to waste.

Eating habits also contribute to bread waste. Only eating certain parts and other serving habits such as cutting off the crust and dumping the rest is not only wasteful but also keeps us from getting the full benefit of its nutritional value. For instance, eating only the crust provides only some of the vitamins and minerals in bread because most of the nutrient content in the crust decreases from close contact with the oven heat and oxygen exposure. Cutting off the crusts to only eat the soft part, on the other hand, can be hard to digest.

So making the most of bread isn’t just useful for avoiding waste, it is also better for us to consume it in a balanced manner, from a nutritional perspective.

Since bread goes stale fast, knowing how to store it properly to extend its shelflife, is essential for cutting bread waste.

How To Store Bread

First off, don’t leave bread out. Either wrap it with a cloth or keep it in a sealable bag. If the bread has already hardened then, you can wrap it in a moist cloth and put it in the refrigerator. Soon you’ll see that it has softened.

Sources:

https://www.toastale.com/bread-waste/https://www.ecoandbeyond.co/articles/much-bread-waste-uk/https://www.ecoandbeyond.co/articles/much-bread-waste-uk/