A new cookbook helping people deal with excess food will also help those with next to none.

The OzHarvest Cookbook launched this week offers “food rescue” recipes using leftovers, and each book sold will provide 60 meals for the needy.

OzHarvest CEO Ronni Kahn says the book features recipes from forty-four chefs glad to support the charity. OzHarvest provides meals for the needy by rescuing food intended for landfill. “It’s good quality food,” stresses Kahn, explaining that they collect the excess from eateries and stores, and then distribute it to charities supporting the vulnerable. 441,500 meals are delivered in Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide and Brisbane each month.

Every Friday, one delivery is made to the one1seven Anglican church in Sydney’s inner city suburb of Redfern. Lead pastor Matt Johnson says they set up their food ministry about eighteen months ago.

“A local couple knew a number of people doing it tough in Redfern’s housing commission area,” he explains. “They hit on the idea of asking eateries in the vicinity to donate leftover food, asked the church to help, and soon we were handing out cooked food on Friday evenings.”

When the couple was unable to continue, the church took over, calling the service One4Food. More and more people kept coming, and the church approached OzHarvest for help. Now 50-70 people turn up on Fridays for a hot meal.

“We can never tell what we’ll receive, but it’s good food every week. They deliver six 8-litre containers full of cooked food from restaurants and food outlets. We reheat and serve things like mashed potato, meat pies, spring rolls, noodles and other Chinese food – all of which must be consumed on-site.”

Sometimes OzHarvest delivers fresh milk, fruit, vegetables and bread which can be taken home. “These are all food items which shops have removed from their shelves because the use-by date is close, or for some reason like that. If not consumed, these items would be thrown out.

“Why waste when we can bless people with it? There are many in the Redfern area who are in need, and the food makes a difference in their lives,” says Johnson. “Sharing food, and minimising waste, is good stewardship of resources.”

The OzHarvest website shows some alarming statistics on Australian food wastage. On average, we throw one out of every five bags of groceries we buy, and 47% of municipal waste to landfill is food and green waste. Yet there are 60,000 low income working families in the country who go without meals or who are food insecure.

Organisations like OzHarvest, and some commercial ones too, are helping by recycling good food. Their work also raises awareness about food wastage, and society’s need to manage food resources well.

“Today, we are very close to engaging in gluttony. TV cooking shows project perfect food that is supposed to make us happy. Food is a gift of God, to sustain the body and to be enjoyed, but we must be careful not to make it an idol. We must also do what the Bible teaches, and that is to share. Having a food ministry is one way the church can communicate the love of Jesus.”

Johnson says working with OzHarvest on the one4food project has rubbed off on his own family’s food habits. “With four children, we don’t usually have leftovers,” he laughs, “but we have become more conscious about the amount of food we prepare and consume – and that includes Christmas time.”

For some it would take a mind-shift not to celebrate with copious amounts of Christmas fare. Should it be too hard to change right now, there is the option of sharing the love and the Christmas ham… straight out of the oven, or through a hundred recipes for leftover ham.

The OzHarvest Cookbook at $59-95 is available at www.ozharvest.org and at selected retailers including David Jones. Proceeds from each book will help provide 60 meals for the needy.