Do you waste food?

[Guest The Pom Queen]

I have to admit we do end up throwing a lot of food away.

I remember a very old relative who would not throw out anything, she completely ignored sell by dates, if mould was growing on food she would cut it off or scoop it out. It got to the point that when we visited we would always look at the use by label. She was very old school and didn't believe in the sell/use by dates. I suppose in the olden days they couldn't afford to.

 

This was in the paper today.

 

Across the country seven million tons of food, worth more than £10billion, is thrown away annually – costing the average household £480 each year.

Of the food binned by families, from fresh fruit and veg to tinned and packet produce, £1billion worth is still within its sell-by date and good to eat.

The report, by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, says that up to three quarters of vegetables grown in Britain ends up never being eaten, with large amounts being left in the field or rejected by supermarkets for being too ugly.

 

 

Author Dr Tim Fox, head of energy and environment at the IME, said that over a lifetime an average household will throw away up to £24,000 worth of food.

He said: ‘Between 30 and 50 per cent of food bought from supermarkets is thrown away. It gets home from the shops, placed in the cupboard or fridge, and then up to half of that food goes in the bin.

 

 

 

 

[memmymooch]

We are very guilty of this am trying to be better though for us it's often fruit that's gone bit manky by end of the week or a packet of something that has just not been used up in time before expiry date. With prices of food now here and especially in oz need to start managing things in more organised way

[Guest JK2510]

Fruit and veggies yes.....leftovers go to the dogs(gravy meals,chicken,rice etc...) and the OH who is a peddle bin...step on his toes and his mouth opens!

[Guest The Pom Queen]

It's terrible up here though as you buy a loaf of bread and the next morning it's gone green, we keep the bread in the freezer now. We have two freezers which we have never needed before we moved here.

[Guest JK2510]

Cause you get warm weather all year round....whilst we're freezing our bits off in the winter your grumbling that its only 25.c and cold.....:wink:

[dmjg]

Never throw food out.

 

Oh makes smoothies if fruit looks like its starting to die, then drinks or freezes it.

 

Veg that look like they're on their last legs I will make into a stew. The stew can then sit and mature for 3 or 4 or 5 days in the fridge and be used for quick lunches or meals for the kids.

 

Bread. No idea, I eat too much of it. A loaf lasts 3 days. Never a chance for green in 3 days in Melbourne.

 

I do refuse to reuse tea bags. My nana did, maybe that's what has put me off tea?

[ali]

We try not to but do end up throwing some out of date stuff away. I tend to make home made soups with veg that's going a bit soft - Cauliflower and potatoe today. We're certainly a lot better at being less wasteful than we used to be

[Guest GeorgeD]

My wife wastes food all the time. She cooks it.

[Guest Guest26012]

Try not to throw food out. If. I can, I use it the next day. If I've made a sauce or curry etc, I just add it to something for another meal.

[Petals]

Can revive the veg, just like flowers, carrots that go bendy in a bowl of water and they come up crunchy again, same with mos veges.

 

We do not throw a lot of food away but then we tend to buy day to day. Any veg left over goes to the worm farms.

 

Bread birds or worm farms

[blossom]

We hardly throw away a thing.

Meat the cats or chickens will eat if we don't.

Veggies either go to the worm farm (most often) or the compost heaps. Even tea bags, coffee grounds, kitchen towel if no oil etc on it, all go in the worm farm (after being blended first, the worms have their own dedicated blender). Same with veggie peelings etc.

 

The only things that get chucked is if I find a jar of pickles etc that are out of date.

Bread goes to the chickens or cats. Well it is put down for the chickens, but two of the cats try to eat it. The chickens will peck it straight out of their mouths lol.

Any leftover pasta, rice etc goes to the chooks. Not that there is generally much.

 

Bones is about all we normally chuck.

[NicF]

We hardly waste any food. I plan my meals for the week and make a shopping list that I usually stick to. I know how much of things we need during the week and buy the right amount. If we eat mor than normal then we have another shopping trip for the things we have run out of. If we eqt less I plan what's left in to the next weeks meals (soup and stew are great for left over veggies). I have a large freezer and make good use of it. I don't have left overs very often but I do have extra portions of things that I freeze. If I'm doing something like a roast chicken then I will plan meals for the leftover chicken so it doesn't go to waste. As a general rule the only food that gets thrown away in this house is peelings, bones/fat and stuff from when the kids can't quite finish what they are eating. None if it goes in the bin though - the local council collects all food waste, cooked or raw, including bones, and composts it.

[Freckleface]

I'm starting to feel a little bit guilty after reading everyone's posts.

 

I'm afraid our motto in the kitchen has always been - if in doubt, chuck it out. :embarrassed:

[NicF]

I'm starting to feel a little bit guilty after reading everyone's posts.

 

I'm afraid our motto in the kitchen has always been - if in doubt, chuck it out. :embarrassed:

 

I'd chuck things if they were going off but because we mostly only buy what we need then things don't have a chance to go off. We did have to throw a few things when we first got here as I have two fussy eating kids and we were buying things they hadn't tried before, but we were quite skint so me and the OH would finish most things off. And I found that honey cheerios made excellent chocolate crispy buns. :biggrin:

[windswept]

We tend to buy stuff like meat and salad/vegies on a day to day basis. That way if neither of us can be bothered cooking, at least we don't feel guilty about not using food that might need to be cooked that day.

 

All fruit/vegie scraps or that are too old get buried in the garden, as does stuff like tea bags, etc.

[flybyknight]

i think the biggest problem is the sell by use by dates, so many people throw out perfectly good food because of these dates.

that coupled with offers like 2 for 1, mean you have more in the cupboard than you're likely to use!

and the sight of loads of a product in your cupboard subconsciously programmes you to buy more next time you shop.

its not so much the individuals fault, its modern culture.

just don't forget to wash your rubbish before you throw it out. we've loads of water its fine!

[Guest shaunoss]

i think the biggest problem is the sell by use by dates, so many people throw out perfectly good food because of these dates.

that coupled with offers like 2 for 1, mean you have more in the cupboard than you're likely to use!

and the sight of loads of a product in your cupboard subconsciously programmes you to buy more next time you shop.

its not so much the individuals fault, its modern culture.

just don't forget to wash your rubbish before you throw it out. we've loads of water its fine!

 

We rarely throw anything out. I was brought up by my grandparents, who thought that waste was a sin! If ever there was the slightest hint of blue mould on a slice of bread, we ate toast for the next 2 meals, or until the loaf was finished. "Best before", and "sell by" dates didnt exist in the 60's and 70's

 

Within the last hour, Sky News has aired a report that globally, we waste 50% of food produced! I found that quite shocking, given that 30% of the worlds population are starving and under-nourished. A large proportion of this waste was put down to these best before dates and the multi-buy promotions that are offered by supermarkets.

 

Shaun

[Love Shoes]

I am trying to not waste as much, I go shopping, think 'ah they look nice, we will have them ....' Mainly veggies ..... And then I forget and end up chucking stuff out .... Most of the food I throw out is normally after my DH has been trying his hand at the BBQ :wink:

 

we don't chuck out much these days though, the trick is to keep me out of Coles :cry: my therapy is going well :wink:

[NicF]

i think the biggest problem is the sell by use by dates, so many people throw out perfectly good food because of these dates.

that coupled with offers like 2 for 1, mean you have more in the cupboard than you're likely to use!

and the sight of loads of a product in your cupboard subconsciously programmes you to buy more next time you shop.

its not so much the individuals fault, its modern culture.

just don't forget to wash your rubbish before you throw it out. we've loads of water its fine!

 

I pay very little attention to best by/use by/sell by dates and trust my eyes and nose instead. They are mainly there to protect the manufacturers rather than the consumer - stops them getting sued if something goes off because they have said you should have used it by that date.

[NickyNook]

I pay very little attention to best by/use by/sell by dates and trust my eyes and nose instead.

 

Same here. I don't take any notice of Use By dates. I rarely have to chuck out food and no member of my family has ever been poisoned by anything I've fed them.

 

I was horrified when I saw my sister-in-law go through her weekly fridge ritual before doing her weekly shopping. She would throw away everything that was within a day or two before its Sell By date. This was stuff that was unopened. She wouldn't even open the packaging to check the contents - it was straight into the garbage. She then went out and re-bought it all. And probably threw most of that away the following week.

[SaffanZimbo]

We ignore sell by dates as a rule unless it is fresh produce and no harm done so far!

 

I only cook large meals on 3 nights of the week and we eat leftovers "with a twist" for the other 2 nights and very little gets wasted tbh.

 

Weekends we eats fajitas, spag bol, easy chicken with veg or similar quick meals on Saturday evenings (cold meats, rolls and salads for lunches or as a "treat" hot dogs) and usually a roast on a Sunday (with just enough left to go on sandwiches on Monday if we are very lucky!).

 

With 2 growing girls in the house we get through an amazing amount of fruit, fruit juicies, cheese, cucumbers, ham, salami, yoghurts and veg.

 

We have been trying to cut costs so now buy Tesco own brand cheese, bread (£1.09 vs £1.35-1.45/loaf) etc as we go through a lot of cheese and 3-4 loaves of bread a week (sandwiches for work/school lunches, morning toast etc!).

 

Food does not get a chance to go off in our house. Bananas barely get to the ripe stage before being demolished and I have to hide 4 bananas out of site if I want overripe ones for a banana loaf!

 

Tea bags are not reused but are saved to put on some of the pot plants (a trick from my MIL!) as fertiliser.

[Dawny]

Not too bad in this house, Bread use to be the worst for waste, pay a little more on decent bread and it does last longer. certain left over dinner goes to the dogs etc, veggies don't stand a chance to go off as what isn't always eaten by us, goes to the guinea pigs or the parrots!! Also the compost bin may get some if it is lucky!!

[Guest]

I found the key was to buy every couple of days as we need it. Not buy once a week doing the shop. So I use the local greengrocers or pop into the supermarket before picking my son up from school. Has cut down on what we throw away.

 

Like others I make soups, stews and so on with veg that is going over.

 

With meat I am a sniff it and see kind of gal :cute: I don't go by use by dates much, more if it smells like its going off or gone then it gets binned. We don't waste meat though. I also always boil any bones or carcass to get a few pints of stock to freeze for making a risotto or something at a later date.

 

Bread we freeze and I take out half a loaf at a time. The odd bit gets wasted but not too much.

 

Anything we do throw out goes in the brown recycling bin and the council collects all food waste weekly and composts it. Bones, peelings, cooked, raw, you name it, it gets composted down by them. Brilliant.

[dmjg]

Re smelling meat. Growing up my butcher grandfather used to bring home the cuts that had been sitting waiting to be sold for a bit too long. He used to give them a rub down with vinegar then fry off as normal. We never got sick and they were very tender.

[NicF]

Re smelling meat. Growing up my butcher grandfather used to bring home the cuts that had been sitting waiting to be sold for a bit too long. He used to give them a rub down with vinegar then fry off as normal. We never got sick and they were very tender.

 

My attitude to meat that has been sitting around for a while is as long as it doesn't look green then just make sure you cook it well to kill off any bugs. Haven't heard of the vinegar thing so might try that one.