Passionate about reducing food waste and full of handy tips, Masterchef Kate Bracks shared valuable knowledge on how to make four different meals for two from a whole chicken at the first Love Food Hate Waste winter workshop yesterday.

She started by showing the 20 participants “one of the greatest skills” she ever learnt- how to break a whole chicken into several different cuts, including breasts, drumsticks and thigh pieces.

From there Mrs Bracks made stock from the leftover scraps, which can be turned into chicken and sweetcorn soup, and made honey glazed chicken skewers, curried chicken rice and chicken burgers from the different cuts.

 Mrs Bracks said there were a variety of different ethical and economical reasons why it was important to make the most of all food products.

“For everybody, reducing the amount of waste we put into the ground, into landfill, makes sense. It’s something we all need to be looking at,” she said.

“Our farmers work hard to produce the food we eat, so I think we should really be respecting that.

“Also if you meal plan and buy only what you need it can save you a lot of money because you’re not throwing wasted food away.

“It’s not hard stuff, and it’s something people should know about.”

Each household in NSW throws away $1000 worth of food every year, which equates to about 800,000 tonnes across the state.

To combat this, Foodcare Orange and NetWaste teamed up to host two series of three free workshops to give Orange residents the tools to make significant savings in their food budget.

The summer series was held in October, and two sessions remain in the winter series, on May 27 and June 3 at Glenroi Community Centre.

They are free to existing clients of Foodcare and those eligible to join Foodcare, with a limit of one session per person.

Contact Sue Clarke on 0400 336 508 for more information.

One of the recipes she shared at the Love Food Hate Waste workshop.

Honey-glazed Chicken Skewers, serves two

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, trimmed

4 wooden skewers, soaked for 30 mins in water

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup honey

2 tsp white vinegar 

1 tbsp warm water

salt, to taste

Method:

1. Slice chicken breast into one centimetre strips.

2. Weave loosely onto soaked skewers.

3. Heat olive oil in large frying pan over medium-high heat.

4. Season chicken skewers with salt and cook until almost cooked through (only one to two minutes).

5. Add the honey, vinegar and water to the pan and swirl the pan to coat the chicken skewers.

6. Continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through and the liquid thickened and caramelised.

7. Remove skewers to a plate and drizzle with any remaining glaze.