Hellman’s have joined forces with Love Food Hate Waste for a new campaign to help reduce food waste. As a part of the Mumsnet Blog Network, I have been picked as 1 of 5 bloggers to take part in their Sandwich of the Century’ (#sandwichofthecentury) challenge as part of their Love Food Hate Waste campaign.
Hellman’s are turning 100 this year, so they have chosen to celebrate with “The Sandwich of the Century”. So much of the food that’s being wasted in the UK on a daily basis could have been eaten – in fact over half of the produce that ends up in the bin could have been fit for consumption. Such a shame when you think of all those who are going hungry, and all the money that is being wasted too. Hellman’s challenged us to see whether we could put our left overs to much better use, by creating delicious sandwiches and saving them from the bin. Here’s what they had to say:
“For 100 years, Hellmann’s Mayonnaise has been at the heart of the greatest Sandwiches but did you know that every day we throw away 200,000 loaves of bread and are even careless with our fillings for example, nearly three million tomatoes, and one million slices of ham! At Hellmann’s, we love food and we believe eating should be a moment of joy. That’s why we hate food waste and encourage you to use your lovely leftovers!”
I will admit, I could do with reducing my food waste quite a bit. At time I am disorganised and find that I have left things to go bad as I haven’t planned my meals properly. I do feel really guilty about this and I know I need to change my ways and get the best use out of everything that we buy, so the Hellman’s challenge was an ideal opportunity for me to think outside of the box with some of our left overs.
To make my sandwiches I had a look through my fridge and found quite a few things that would have been going off within the next few days, and may have been at risk of ended up wasted. I had some quite unusual combinations but a sandwich of the century should not be an every day sandwich – so I decided to just go with it!
Some of my ingredients. I used:
- Left over vegetable fish fingers. I made this into a sandwich with a dash of Hellman’s mayonnaise to add flavour. Everyone knows fish finger sandwiches are one of the best comforting warm sandwiches you can get in winter, and this version was also very tasty with the added bonus of having vegetables in it!
- Left over vegetables (spinach and peppers), halal cocktail sausages, jar of red jalapenos, and some quiche. I chopped these all up and fried them together (I crumbled up a bit of the quiche!) to make a mixed sandwich filling. I was not too sure how this one was going to turn out, as it had so many “unmatching” things in it but actually it was nice. Again, I put a bit of Hellman’s mayonnaise which helped to bind all of the filling together before placing it in the sandwich.
The results…?
Ta-Da! My sandwiches made from a random combination of left overs, which actually turned into tasty, nice and warm sandwiches which were a welcome change from the usual plain sandwich ideas I end up eating when I’m rushing to find something. I definitely will remember to raid my fridge for left overs and use them for sandwiches in future.
I would recommend others to try the same challenge at home if you have left overs in your fridge, see what sandwich creations you could make as like me, you might be pleasantly surprised. And have a look on the Hellman’s Love Food Hate Waste page to get more information and helpful hints about best before dates, keeping your fruit and vegetables fresh for longer and portions and planning.
I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Network Research Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity.
