Q I was signed up to an organic box scheme as a Christmas present. How can I prevent a pile of unpopular vegetables?

A Lucky you. One of the benefits of joining a box scheme is that you get to know vegetables and you learn what is in season. Meals become less about what you feel like eating and more about what’s available. Goodbye boring old broccoli; hello kohlrabi and curly kale.

If you’re signed up with Abel & Cole (abel-cole.co.uk ), surplus legumes won’t be a problem. You can customise your box, putting certain things on your “dislikes” list and marking others as your “favourites”. Keith Abel, the company’s founder, had food waste in mind when he wrote Cooking Outside the Box (Collins, £17.99), a book full of recipes to make the most of likely leftovers.

For more ideas check out the organic box scheme round-up at the food section at timesonline.co.uk.

WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) recommends making a plan of the week’s meals. In its Love Food Hate Waste campaign (lovefoodhatewaste.com ), it suggests soups and stews to use up leftover veg, and breakfast smoothies to make the most of excess fruit.

If you’re still concerned about neglected cauliflowers and forlorn-looking fennel – the least popular inhabitants of my box – I would venture that it is usually how you cook them rather than the vegetables themselves that makes them unpopular. Once I discovered that roasting fennel with a slug of olive oil and lots of black pepper removes its aniseed flavour, and that cauliflower can be boiled briefly then stir-fried with cumin seeds, they became the first items to be swiped out of my box. Still not sure? You could always empty your portion into the compost bin, the existence of which is the perfect way of illuminating waste-induced guilt.

Q I want to replace the conventional light bulbs in my home with energy-saving ones. Should I wait until their natural life runs out?

A The Energy Saving Trust suggests that you invest in green products when you need new ones, rather than chucking perfectly workable items and rushing out to buy environmentally superior versions.

But when it comes to bulbs, I’m not sure that I agree.

In my experience, if you don’t seize the day and make the most of the spark of good intention that the new year brings, you’ll find an excuse not to bother.

I would argue that it’s worth throwing a few of the old bulbs in the bin to get your energy-saving ones in place, especially if you’re keen to reduce your electricity bills (which you will be, if another of your green resolutions has been to swap to a green energy supplier, such as Good Energy). And let’s not forget that an energy-saving light bulb uses 75 per cent less energy.

My flat is now spectacularly and virtuously lit after I decided a few months ago to change all my bulbs. It was a decision inspired by my Electrisave energy monitor (recently rebranded Owl, theowl.com ), and by the Government’s plan to phase out inefficient bulbs by 2011.

Despite initial misgivings – my boyfriend was certain we would be plunged into gloom – we barely noticed the changeover. Efficient bulbs have come on in leaps and bounds in the past few years.

What to do with old ones, I admit, was a problem. Few local authorities accept them as part of collection schemes and recycling companies, such as Rabbitt Recycling (rabbittrecycling.co.uk ), collect only from larger organisations. As for painting them and reusing them as decorations, I’m simply not that green.

Instead, being squirrel-like by nature, I stashed them away for a rainy day, or until someone comes up with a decent bulb recycling scheme.

timesonline.co.uk/ecoworrier

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