In our battle to end food waste we collect as much food as we can and feed as many people as possible! I spend my days driving our van all around County Durham and sometimes up to Newcastle, collecting anything from KFC chicken to jars of tempeh, mountains of yoghurt and towers of cereal boxes.

But still there is more to save! We are not trying to build an empire on food waste, we are trying to put ourselves out of business as food waste becomes a thing of the past. So we spend a lot of our time trying to educate those who eat with us and those we collect from to be mindful of food and its value.

Even though something has gone soft or as a little bit of mould on it, it still has value and can feed your belly not the bin. Cut the mould out, use the rest as normal, or grind down what was soft to make a rich sauce. As we collect fruit and vegetables day to day, we have to slice, blanche and freeze a lot to retain it for future use at events. Some freeze better than others. Don’t freeze salad leaves and expect anything but mush to come out, but freeze peppers/onions/cauliflower/broccoli/swede/chillies /peas/leeks/carrots (I could go on) and you will get a very similar result to fresh when used in cooking.

Don’t be afraid to use food in a different way to your norm. Experiment with things, be creative, and let us know how you get on – we could always use fresh ideas to help us save more food!