Food waste (or waste not)

TastyReuben said:
MrsT doesn’t like them at all, so they’re all for me. When I’m buying broccoli, I usually try and get stemmy ones.
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TastyReuben said:
Another one who eats the broccoli stems (and potato peels…and apple peels) - I prefer the stem to the florets, actually.
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I like the stems just fine, but I buy only florets because DH won't eat the stems at all (unless they are drowning in cheese sauce)...but even the florets have enough stems on them for me. I don't love apples but the skin is fine if I am eating one (unless it's cooked apples, no skin then). I like potato peels and the skins quite well. I used to love to make twice baked potatoes where you bake the potatoes, scoop out the inside and mash mixed with sour cream and cheese and then topped with bacon, then stuff back inside the skins rubbed with butter and coarse salt, then baked again--but the few times I did that when my kids were young everyone ate the insides of the potatoes and left the skins (even my DH). So now I just bake the mashed potatoes with the other ingredients in a baking dish. Why go through all that bother for them to waste it?
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
We've eaten broccoli and cauliflower stems and leaves for decades here.
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There's a lovely broccoli stem Thai recipe I've got somewhere. Probably too spicy for some, but I think it's a mixture of tender stems, carrot, radish and cabbage, topped with fried onion & garlic - and plenty of chiles.
I will say this, however. When using the stem, I try to ensure it's "whole", ie., no woody column in the middle. Just the yummy green bits.
 
Barriehie said:
BROMELAIN: Overview, Uses, Side Effects, Precautions, Interactions, Dosing and Reviews
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The enzyme found in all bromeliads. I've got hundreds of different varieties in the garden, including variegated pineapple. I eat the core as well, providing the pineapple is fresh; when it gets older, the core tends to harden.
 
If everyone is here and it’s a simple meal with only one veg I’ll do three heads of broccoli because that’s about right for the broccoli lovers here. I use only the florets. Then I fine dice the thick stalks and stems as a part of an Asian pork noodle stirfry mix for spring rolls with hoisin the next day.
It always tickles me when I get two days worth of veg out of one lot of produce and tasty, nicely textured stuff too.

So imagine my irritation when this substitution turned up
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“Crown? CROWN? What do you mean crown? I pay more to have less product? I’ve been swindled!!”

Except Waitrose don’t charge more for substitutions but even so where are my stems 😠
 
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SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
If everyone is here and it’s a simple meal with only one veg I’ll do three heads of broccoli because that’s about right for the broccoli lovers here. I use only the florets. Then I fine dice the thick stalks and stems as a part of an Asian pork noodle stirfry mix for spring rolls with hoisin the next day.
It always tickles me when I get two days worth of veg out of one lot of produce and tasty, nicely textures stuff too.

So imagine my irritation when this substitution turned up
View attachment 124200

“Crown? CROWN? What do you mean crown? I pay more to have less product? I’ve been swindled!!”

Except Waitrose don’t charge more for substitutions but even so where are my stems 😠
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While 1 bunch of broccoli is usually a uniform price no matter what the weight here, when I buy the florets they are most often sold by the pound. I rather like that.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
While 1 bunch of broccoli is usually a uniform price no matter what the weight here, when I buy the florets they are most often sold by the pound. I rather like that.
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Same on the head of broccoli, they can be tiny or huge. I have to check what you mean by florets, are you referring to the crown pictured above or this sort of thing

IMG_2954.jpeg
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
Same on the head of broccoli, they can be tiny or huge. I have to check what you mean by florets, are you referring to the crown pictured above or this sort of thing

View attachment 124203
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For my store, the florets you have pictured above would be sold bagged. The whole broccoli is typically sold two ways:

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Crowns, which means most of the stem has been tossed, and priced by weight, though they give a rough estimate of the per-piece price.

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Bunch, which includes the stem, and are rubber-banded together in pairs, and priced per pair, not by weight.

I usually buy the bunch.
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
Same on the head of broccoli, they can be tiny or huge. I have to check what you mean by florets, are you referring to the crown pictured above or this sort of thing

View attachment 124203
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The florets are small trimmed pieces with very small amount of stem. Where I live, the florets are often loose (always sold by weight), the crowns are sold in one piece (depending on the store could be sold by unit or are sold by weight), and the broccoli bunch with the long stem is sold by price per unit.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
The florets are small trimmed pieces with very small amount of stem. Where I live, the florets are often loose (always sold by weight), the crowns are sold in one piece (depending on the store could be sold by unit or are sold by weight), and the broccoli bunch with the long stem is sold by price per unit.
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If they sold them loose and the price per kg was ok I could see me trying that out but I’d need three of those little packs pictured above and spending £8.25 on £3 worth of broccoli is something I can’t bring myself to do.
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
If they sold them loose and the price per kg was ok I could see me trying that out but I’d need three of those little packs pictured above and spending £8.25 on £3 worth of broccoli is something I can’t bring myself to do.
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Yeah the price per pound here is about $2 a pound for the loose florets and is a better value IMO than buying a whole bunch of broccoli, which could cost considerably more--I generally only buy about .25-.5 lbs of florets for us two because we really prefer spinach, salad, or peas (little green round things that SSOAP doesn't like). In my house I would end up throwing away much of the stalk unless I pureed and put it in soup. I too am a value shopper but different people have different needs and it's just the two of us here, not four, so a big bunch of it isn't a value for me if I am going to end up throwing much of it away!
 
JAS_OH1 said:
Yeah the price per pound here is about $2 a pound for the loose florets and is a better value IMO than buying a whole bunch of broccoli, which could cost considerably more--I generally only buy about .25-.5 lbs of florets for us two because we really prefer spinach, salad, or peas (little green round things that SSOAP doesn't like). In my house I would end up throwing away much of the stalk unless I pureed and put it in soup. I too am a value shopper but different people have different needs and it's just the two of us here, not four, so a big bunch of it isn't a value for me if I am going to end up throwing much of it away!
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Absolutely. When it’s just me n Mr SSOAP I’m shop quite differently. It’s usually easier higher end ingredients. I love the two different approaches to cooking.
 
badjak said:
I just planted the "crowns" of mine.
Lets see if they root
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Hope so! Just give it plenty of water.
The pineapple is a bromeliad, so it is like the orchid or the anthurium. The function of the roots is to keep the plant secure, rather than to absorb nutrients (but you probably knew that already!). I dumped my variegated pineapple plants in possibly the worst place in my garden (on a rocky slope, sun all day long) and, as you can see from the photo above, they just loved it. You should be able to grow pineapples with no problem at all.
 
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