Competition winner crowned as Alex gets creative with a Tasty Toastie

The competition, launched as part of the County Council’s ongoing Food Savvy campaign, challenged schools to come up with an imaginative toastie that used up leftover items. Toasties were then submitted to the judges, with the winners receiving £250 to spend on food related projects.

The winner was Alex Eastough from Aston Fields Middle School, who came up with the idea of using Alphabet Spaghetti, bacon, mushrooms and cheese in her toastie, all of which are often left in pots in the fridge.

Rachel Bratton, Director of Design Technology at Aston Fields Middle School, said: “When I saw the details of the Tasty Toastie competition, it was a great concept and a lovely opportunity for my 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.”

Close behind were Cropthorne-with-Charlton CE First School who submitted some lovely sweet and savoury toasties, including a curry and poppadom one and Amber Jenkins from Bredon Hill Academy who made the judges laugh with her “Piggy in the Middle” recipe.

The competition, organised as part of the County Council’s new and innovative food waste prevention campaign, has been focusing on bread, as the UK bins on average 20 million slices every day.

Councillor Richard Morris, Cabinet Member for Environment at Worcestershire County Council, said: “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. We’re delighted with what they have come up with.

“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.”

Checkout Worcestershire County Council’s social media channels for regular food waste reduction tips.

More information is available on the Food Savvy pages.