Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
It's been a lousy couple of weeks to be a food lover. First, research into the causes of cancer reveals that absolutely anything we eat is going to kill us. Then, just as every last foodie has given up the will to live, it transpires that not eating food is a problem too.
Yes, according to figures released by the food industry, more than a third of the food we buy ends up in the bin and thence landfill, where it produces methane gas that will eventually - you're ahead of me here - kill us.
Campaigns have been launched across the globe to encourage us to reduce the amount of food we throw out but if you really want to get a grip on the issue, ask your grandmother. She'll tell you to eat less, plan more, make do and mend. Meanwhile, in the spirit of compliance, we have asked a number of chefs for top tips on how to save those unloved remnants lurking in our fridges. Bare in mind, though, that most of the experts we spoke to agreed that the single best way to cut down waste was the simplest - write a shopping list.
Cold pasta
According to Gordon Ramsay in a recent magazine article, most restaurants cook pasta to just short of done then plunge it into iced water. Stored in the fridge it is reheated to perfection in boiling water in the last moments before service. Doing this with leftovers will make your pasta 30 seconds the wrong side of al dente but, if Ramsay can reheat pasta for an exquisitely piled little entree and charge a couple of limbs for it, then it should be OK for us.
Soggy veg
Vegetables are the most wasted food type. Stuart Gillies, a hotel head chef, says: "All veg makes fantastic soup - even salads. Soup is quick to cook and one of the most nutritious foods you can eat, ideal for winter too."
Cold rice
Reheating rice is widely believed to be the culinary equivalent of Russian roulette. Uncooked rice can contain spores of bacillus cereus, which are not killed by cooking. Allowing the rice to stand around at room temperature causes the spores to develop into the bacteria, which can cause diarrhoea and vomiting. But if you chill any surplus immediately it can be reheated safely.
Meat
Smarter supermarket shoppers are now seeking out aged meat yet are surprised when, even a day or two past the sell-by date, it starts to look and smell unhealthily putrescent.
Farmer Andrew Sharpe explains: "Supermarket meat is usually 'wet aged' in vacuum packs so that when it's finally exposed to the air it goes off rapidly. 'Dry-aged' beef from a proper butcher lasts longer - particularly if it's not wrapped airtight in the fridge."
