15p out of every £ spent on food is thrown away....what a waste

jexygirl

I have 14 hens (ex bats, and we only use the eggs for staff / personal meals as we have an Inn) who eat the majority of my none meat, none fish scraps (ie. all veggies, mash, chips, salad etc) I have not read that they shouldnt have it, And I get severely moaned at by them (the hens) if there are no scraps! It has reduced my waste significantly, and I also compost as much as possible that the hens cant have.
I keep stock to a minimum, cook from fresh wherever I can, and we have all the recycling bins we are allowed - we dont have a plastic one so I save our bottles and go once a week to a local depot with them.
Restaurants that waste so much food (or the owners) need to look at A) the chef and his/ her GP / stocktaking ability, and ability to use everything up where possible and portion sizes. I dont scrimp on portions, and my waste is at what I consider to be a minimum, to the point we have been able to reduce our waste bins by half.

When I was in Co op the other day, I asked where the out of date stuff went, as I watched an old secret millionaire, and thought that the woman running the "free food for people with low incomes" charity shop thing was amazing, and the checkout guy said it was all thrown away as they are not allowed to sell anything out of date. (it came about as I was buying a whoopsied loaf that had been put in wrong and he said he couldnt sell it to me as it was out of date).
I hate waste, and I plan in order to avoid it. Im not psychic, but I have a freezer and staff and outselves to feed! In fact, the staff reckon i should put their meals on the specials board! (I also eat the same as the staff in case you thought I didnt!)
Plus Im the one paying the bills! Its amazing what a difference that makes, Ive taught a few agency chefs a thing or two I can tell ya!
Jex

SallyForth_2

I blame the obsession of putting display by, best before and use by dates on everything. In my opinion, there is only one date that would be helpful and that would be a 'produced on' or 'picked on' date.

That way people can decided for themselves when something is no good.

susyrosy

jexygirl wrote: »

I have 14 hens (ex bats, and we only use the eggs for staff / personal meals as we have an Inn) ...

Hi - I've just started a very small B&B and I'm using my four free range hens and their eggs as an inducement to visitors, so I was interested to read you don't serve your hens' eggs to your customers, but you do to your staff. Is there a reason? My hens' eggs are always very fresh, because there are only four girls, so the turnover is pretty quick.

Susy

Gigervamp

With regards to feeding scraps to chickens, I think that only applies if you sell the eggs, so if it's only you and family who eat the eggs, carry on feeding them the scraps.

Since we got our girls, when we have a bbq, they keep trying to pinch the bread rolls! We end up breaking a roll up and scattering it about to get them away. They do love a burger bun!

tara747

Totally agree about the BB/use by dates.

That girl from McDonalds is a decent person, good for her.

zippychick

My neighbour is obsessed with use by/sell by dates. She won't use food on the day it is due to "expire" and will only use meat the day before hand. The amount she throws out! Sometimes she will give it in to me.

I was down at my Mums and noticed a massive bunch of browning bananas in the kitchen bin. I debated about lifting them out, went back into do it, and her partner had emptied it in the wheelie bin! So i couldn't rescue them. I just couldn't believe it - Mum said they were "off" but they were just browning, and getting to that incredibly sweet stage!:eek:

nannyboo1

spike7451 wrote: »

A friend of mine worked for M&S & any food going out of date is sold off to the employees on the cheap & any leftover is given to local homeless charities.Mind you that was in the mid 90's so maybe it's changed now.

I think the rules changed. My mum used to work in an old peoples home in the 80's/early 90' and they used to receive a delivery of food from M&S but it had to stop due to H and S regulations.

ginnyknit

Gigervamp wrote: »

With regards to feeding scraps to chickens, I think that only applies if you sell the eggs, so if it's only you and family who eat the eggs, carry on feeding them the scraps.

Since we got our girls, when we have a bbq, they keep trying to pinch the bread rolls! We end up breaking a roll up and scattering it about to get them away. They do love a burger bun!

Thanks for the info! I couldn't keep my girls if I didnt feed scraps so I do - I was just aware of the DEFRA rules - thanks for clearing that up. They are the best eggs in the world aren't they

gunsandbanjos

nannyboo1 wrote: »

I think the rules changed. My mum used to work in an old peoples home in the 80's/early 90' and they used to receive a delivery of food from M&S but it had to stop due to H and S regulations.

My hubby did some volunteer work for a homeless charity recently and they were regulary given M&S food.

charlies-aunt

I throw very little food in the bin ... we buy frugally - basic/fresh foods rather than convenience/processsed, don't do massive portions and as we love our grub - there's not usually much left on our plates at the end of the meal.

Anything uneaten at the end of the meal is turned into either another dish such as bubble'n'squeak, added to a casserole or used for pack-ups. We use up what needs using up before starting anything new

We don't eat a lot of meat and it seems a crime to waste it when an animal has been killed to put the meat on your plate...