Kick start the new school term with a smart, fast breakfast

Love Food Hate Waste.

We may not be looking forward to going back to school and work after a few weeks off over the summer, and often the last thing we think of in the rush to get out of the house, is breakfast.

A recent survey has suggested one in eight adults don’t eat breakfast, and say lack of time is the main reason.

These quick and easy tips from Rochdale Council’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign will help busy families get off on the right foot this new school term.

A good breakfast is the ideal way to kick-start the day for children and grown-ups, but every day in the UK we end up throwing out nutritious food - including fruit, eggs, yoghurt and bread - that could have made tasty breakfasts.

This is a waste of money for families at what can be a costly time of year, when school uniforms, clubs and bus fares need to be paid for too.

Every day in the UK we throw away 1.6 million whole untouched bananas, 1.3 million unopened yoghurts, 600,000 whole, uncooked eggs, 1.2 million untouched sausages and 20 million slices of bread.

Councillor Irene Davidson, cabinet member for environment and sustainability at the council, said: “Preparing for the new term-time routine needn’t be stressful if we plan ahead before the rush. We can all have an easier start to the day if we make the best use of food we already have, benefit from throwing less food away, and keep our shopping costs down.”

Beat the rush – Love Food Hate Waste breakfast tips:

Fruit: If you’ve bought fruit on offer, or better still, have a glut from the garden and have more than you’ll eat immediately – such as berries – try storing them in the freezer ready to use a handful at a time in smoothies. Simply blitz from frozen with milk, juice or yogurt. You can take this nutritional drink with you if you really have to run.

Instant toast: Many of us end up throwing out bread and bakery products. Pitta breads, sliced bread and halved bagels can be stored in the freezer instead of the bread bin, and simply toasted straight from frozen at breakfast time.

Super quick eggs: Whip up a two minute omelette with some leftover cheese, ham and a couple of eggs – a fantastic hot meal as the weather gets cooler.

Four Star liquid food: Milk is a breakfast staple and yet every year we end up tipping gallons away. We often run out of milk towards the end of the week, but it freezes really well to keep for later. Why not pop a litre in the freezer when unpacking the weekly shop and defrost in the fridge the day before it is needed? (It will go yellow while frozen – but defrosts back to normal)

Milk keeps best stored between 1-5ºC, so what about investing in a fridge thermometer? Did you know that leaving the milk out overnight can make it go off a day early?

Money saver: Keeping an eye on date labels helps us eat the food that needs eating first and stops it going off before we realise. The most important label is ‘use by’- we should eat these foods before the end of this date. Foods like bread and fruit with a ‘best before’ date are safe to eat after this date. One exception is eggs - never eat eggs after the ‘best before’ date. We can all ignore “sell by” and “display until” dates.

Food on the run: Yoghurts, cheese and apples or bananas make ideal ‘take-out’ breakfast food when we can’t stop to eat at home, and make great snacks at work or in school lunchboxes.

Any leftover sausages or salad from the weekend BBQ can make a tasty “free” lunch-pack for you to take to work. Don’t forget plain yoghurt or crème fraiche which needs eating makes a great salad dressing with chopped cucumber, mint, or squeezed lemon which you can take to work with a salad or leftover cooked veggies in your lunch box.