CHILDREN got creative for Tasty Toastie competition organised by Worcestershire County Council as part of its Food Savvy campaign.
The contest challenged schools to come up with an imaginative toastie which used up leftover items.
Toasties were then submitted to the judges, with the winners receiving £250 to spend on food related projects.
The top toastie title was awarded to Aston Fields Middle School pupil Alex Eastough who used Alphabet Spaghetti, bacon, mushrooms and cheese in her toastie – all of which are often left in pots in the fridge.
Cropthorne-with-Charlton CE First School submitted some lovely sweet and savoury toasties, including a curry and poppadom one and Amber Jenkins from Bredon Hill Academy made the judges laugh with her ‘Piggy in the Middle’ recipe.
Rachel Bratton, Aston Fields Middle School’s director of design technology, said when she saw details of the Tasty Toastie competition she thought it was a great concept and a lovely opportunity for her pupils to get creative with the important message of food waste at the forefront of their designing and making.
“Pupils had lots of fun exploring their options and trying to find ways of incorporating ingredients that might otherwise find themselves being overlooked or even thrown away.
“I was really impressed with the ideas the pupils had but Alex’s idea shone out as a strong contender for the competition winner.
“It was resourceful but most importantly very tasty.
“Alex will help make the decision on how we should spend the prize money within the Food Technology Department at Aston Fields Middle School, and I will continue to enjoy making lots of tasty dishes with my pupils in the future.”
Bread was chosen as being central for the contest as the UK bins on average 20million slices every day.
Coun Richard Morris, Worcestershire County Council’s cabinet member for environment, said he was delighted with the designs.
“Through Tasty Toastie we challenged our young people to show that, with a few odd pieces of bread and some leftovers from the cupboard or fridge, you can create a tasty meal and that’s far better than just throwing it in the bin.
“The average family in Worcestershire wastes about £60 of food a month, so cutting back on food waste will not only help our planet but will save them money too.”
Visit worcestershire.gov.uk/food-savvy for more food saving tips.
