BANG!’s simple, no-nonsense guide to sustainability

Sustainability is a word that gets thrown around quite a lot these days. But what is it? And why should we care? With a background in science, our founder Shelly has always been interested in ways we can improve our relationship with the environment. ⠀⠀

So…here we’ll break down some simple steps on how you can become more sustainable through what you eat, how you cook and the way you shop.

 

Say no to food waste! 

In the UK, it is estimated we throw away 6.6 million tonnes of household food waste each year. Want to know how you can help reduce this?

 

Plan ahead. By planning your meals in advance, you reduce the risk of over-buying. In turn, this reduces the risk of having excess food to throw away.

 

Love your freezer. In our eyes, Sundays are made for chilling, batch-cooking and freezing. When you’ve got a bit of time to spare, cook a load of meals in bulk using whatever you’ve got lying around and shove them in the freezer for a rainy day.

 

Know how to store your food. Improper storage can lead to premature ripening and, eventually, rotten produce. Once you’ve got the hang of proper storage, you’ll see a huge difference in the amount of food that goes off before you get the chance to use it!

 

Compost if you can. Home composting is a great way to reuse food scraps, transforming food waste into energy for plants. 

 

Don’t ditch the leftovers!

Make leftovers your new best friend. Yesterday’s lunch can be tonight’s delicious dinner. There are SO many ways you can make use of leftovers, here are just a few…

 

Turn leftover rice into lunch for tomorrow and make egg fried rice – BANG! Style. Place rice in a frying pan, heat with a fraction of oil, crack in an egg – season and scramble the egg on a high heat. Add in other leftovers to make it into a hearty lunch.

 

Turn leftover dahl into a filling for wraps. Heat any leftover dahl so that it becomes really thick. Spread it in wraps with some sliced peppers or your own choice of salad. Roll into a wrap for lunch.

 

Transform leftover roast potatoes into a Spanish omelette. Beat your eggs in a bowl, season, and fry in a splash of oil. Add some flattened roasties and place in an oven to bake.

 

Left over curry? Make a biryani! Simply mix your leftover curry with rice in a pan to make a ‘next day’ biryani – yum.

 

Keep it seasonal

Remember those strawberries you were munching on last Christmas? Or the pumpkin you enjoyed in summer? Not only does eating non-seasonal produce have a huge carbon footprint, but it means you’re not minimising the time it takes for the fresh produce you buy to get from the ground or tree to your plate!

 

Eating food that’s in season means your food has a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable trip to get to you. Choose an in-season apple from the farm down the road over an out of season pineapple from West Africa. Plus, produce that is picked when it’s fully ripened tastes amazing. It hasn’t had to travel miles to get to you, so will be fresher, juicier and more flavoursome than ever.

 

Don’t forget to have fun along the way

Being more sustainable doesn’t have to be boring. Why not challenge yourself to be more sustainable in 2021? And if it’s a challenge, there should be rewards…right? Being sustainable also doesn’t mean making drastic changes to your lifestyle – it’s small changes like these which could help you to lessen your environmental impact. Have fun with it, and help the planet whilst you do!