Lunar New Year – 29th January 2025

29^th January marks the beginning of the Lunar or Chinese New Year and for many people it’s an opportunity to indulge in some delicious Chinese-style food and have a celebration.

Whether you are getting a takeaway or cooking your own feast, our tips will help you to make the most of your celebration.

Cooking your own?

1. Think about how many people will be eating and make use of a portion planner for your special meal or party.
2. Use a list and buy only enough food or ingredients for your needs. Avoid buying ingredients for a recipe you might only use once, seek an alternative recipe containing more versatile ingredients instead.
3.  Don’t shop or cook when you are hungry – it increases the chance that you’ll buy or cook more than is needed.
4. Eat your leftovers – cool leftovers down as quickly as possible and store them in appropriate containers in the fridge (or freezer). Most foods will keep for three days in the fridge and will be safe to eat once thoroughly reheated. Frozen items will keep indefinitely, although it’s best to use them up within 6 months to avoid deterioration in quality.

If you are looking for inspiration on what to cook, check out the Love Food Hate Waste inspired recipes here.

Getting a takeaway?

1. Only buy the amount of food you are likely be able to eat – ask the restaurant for advice if you are unsure of their portion sizes, and don’t be afraid to ask for your food to be tweaked to suit your preference (if you don’t like specific ingredients – ask that they are left out; don’t like it spicy? – let them know).
2. Don’t serve it all at once – you are unlikely to want to reheat food that’s been served up once before and scraped off a plate. Keep some food reserved in the takeaway boxes so you can pop it in the fridge to be enjoyed later or the next day
3. Save the leftovers – it’s absolutely fine to reheat takeaway meals. Cool leftovers quickly and store them in the fridge. Reheat thoroughly and serve the next day. However, use caution with rice, especially egg fried rice which may have been reheated once before (which is the traditional way of cooking it). Our video below might be of some help.
4. Keep those takeaway containers – if your food comes  in plastic boxes, wash them and keep them for storage. If you don’t want to keep them for reuse be sure to wash away food residue and recycle them. Foil containers can be recycled over and over again once they’ve had a wash [link to Metal Matters]

Video – How to make the most of your leftover rice – https://youtu.be/2iUEqwLOfWI

Clothes, Gifts and Decorations

Don’t forget that each year when we celebrate it is easy to buy items such as new clothes, gifts or decorations for celebrations. However, It’s worth remembering that if you buy items that are good quality you can save them and reuse them year after year

• Store items well – take a little more time after the celebration to work out how to keep items safely. Consider things like removing batteries before storing items.
• Gifts – can you give items that will last, buy second hand or even swap the way you wrap them to reduce waste?
• Clothes that you may not wear again can be sold or donated so someone else can enjoy them. Maybe you could buy an outfit that’s second hand but is new to you ?