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

newlywed

I used to be one of those who threw lots of food away. Stale bread by the half loaf, loads of veg that went bad , milk, eggs, yoghurts....

Then I found MSE and OS . Now the only things that get thrown are the odd potato that goes bad (these are under the sink and I never remember to check them ). Everything else gets used. I never throw any meat away as it gets frozen as soon as I buy it (unless the meal plan shows it will be eaten before its date). All veg gets used as I use up whatever will go bad first, or else I make a veg curry or veg soup with it all.

Hate throwing stuff away. Even veg peelings - but we don't have a garden to add compost to.

newlywed

Just found an article about this if anyone missed it (like I did).

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/16032007/325/homes-throw-third-food.html

Supermarkets could also help by putting fewer items in packs of meat, fruit and vegetables.

"If you want three pork chops, they shouldn't sell you four," she said. "If you eat half a bag of salad, you should be able to reseal it and eat the rest the next day."

Hmmm, so you can't take a chop out of the pack and freeze it??? You can't use sticky tape to reseal the salad bag??? Surely if the supermarket uses smaller packs then we waste even more packaging, which they say is half the UK's waste already!!

liz545

I think it has something to do with people losing confidence in their ability to know when food is 'off'. How many posts are there on here asking whether you can freeze an item of food, or whether it's ok to eat something that was cooked a few days previously? Sadly I think many people don't have the same understanding of food that former generations did, and don't trust their own instincts when it comes to smelling and tasting food. Also, the number of food scares means that a lot of people 'play it safe' and throw away perfectly good food, as you don't know how long it's been sitting in a supermarket chiller.

WRT the woman who's upset that pork chops come packed in 4's - why doesn't she just go to the butcher? Or freeze the extra one?

fizzel81

wow! and i must admit i used to throw quite a bit away

kittiwoz

Obviously the best solution is to buy things that aren't pre-packed. Then you can buy just how much you want. Putting fewer items in packs is a dumb idea. If there were three pork chops in a pack and you wanted to buy four you would have to buy two packs and then you would have six pork chops, two of which are unwanted so I don't see how that would help. Plus, as you say, it is even more packaging waste. It is ironic really that packaging which is supposed to cut food waste is being fingered as one of the culprits in creating it.

[Deleted User]

I have weaned myself away and no longer shop at any big supermarket and have zero waste :T

I have just placed an online order at goodness direct and ok I have to think in advance but I have left the impulse-buying generation far behind. Craigfarm organics meat order is coming today and riverford veg came yesterday

I am just making an allsorts soup ie items which need to be eaten and this week I am using a squash, some jerusalem artichokes, carrots. I also want to take a couple of items out of my tiny freezer so I have thrown in some cooked pulses and some leeks I froze when there was a glut in the box

lol if all else fails then make a soup with leftovers

newlywed

kittie wrote: »

I have weaned myself away and no longer shop at any big supermarket and have zero waste :T

I have just placed an online order at goodness direct and ok I have to think in advance but I have left the impulse-buying generation far behind. Craigfarm organics meat order is coming today and riverford veg came yesterday

I would love to get a veg delivery like that. Unfortunately most box schemes only deliver at certain times and I work full time. Not sure the boss would appreciate a veg box delivered to work!!

I live in a flat so nowhere to "hide" the delivery till I get home and not sure one of the lock boxes would be there either (unless you could bolt it down :rotfl: )

:rolleyes:

LittleVoice

I think that the move to doing grocery shopping less frequently has an influence too.

I think that going back to daily shopping means you get what you need and don't buy things that become unusable or forgotten.

Starting an earlier thread someone wondered about calling in at a shop on her way home from work instead of having things at home which then didn't get cooked because her partner had unpredictable times for evenings. The general view, I seem to remember was that she should not go in daily as she would spend more but instead to have a shopping list and to use a slow cooker. Though I didn't join in that thread, I did think that her idea of calling into a shop on her way home would actually cut back on waste in her circumstances as by that stage she would know much better what would be required.

[Deleted User]

I am also amazed by the amout of food that is wasted .I was brought up during the period in this country when rationing was the norm .My Mum had no freezer or fridge to put stuff in anyway .At one point she only had us three children, and her beloved wireless, and we had been made homeless due to a large gift from Herr Hitler and his jolly Luftwaffe:eek:
Still I digress,she managed to raise three children with ideas instilled into us that absolutely NOTHING was ever wasted. Food was never thrown out as there was little enough to go around anyway.
In todays society there is this conviction that if a thing is a minute over it's sell by date then it must be thrown out .I have survied well over 60 years by eating things that on occasions were maybe past their best and I'm still here.Cheese with a bit of growth on and the odd jam sandwich where the jam was a bit hairy as well,but you scraped it off and I survived o.k.
A lot of the problems arise sometimes by the bogof theory .You buy the stuff and blow me if it has a short use by date .I couldn't nessesarily eat 12 yoghurts ain the space of three days ,nor would I want to.
Considering the amount of cookery programmes and cook books on the market we should all be Nigellas but there are many folk out there who struggle to boil an egg .Look in any supermarket freezer department and you will find frozen ommelletes for goodness sake why ?
Bring back basic cooking skills to schools for both boys and girls .Scouts don't consider it sissy to cook bangers on a camp fire so why should men think it's 'girly' to cook at home .
people are keen to save the planet so why are we filling landsites with perfectly edible food stuff. This sell by date or use by date only appeared with the rise of the supermarkets I believe it's a ploy to brainwash folk into thinking 'Mm, it's yesterdays date so I mustn't eat it ,throw it away and I'll go and buy some more' .We seem to live in a society of throw -away everything .
Go to a third world country, and see what those poor devils have to eat .They don't have the Wests obsession with throwing things away.
Far more folk die from obesity in this country than die from food poisoning. My late mum used to say that to throw food away was to feed the Devil, and as children we believed her:eek:
To me throwing out good food is disgusting and bad management on behalf of the wife /husband/ or whatever . With our up to date freezers and fridges there is no excuse for throwing out anything

COOLTRIKERCHICK

JackieO wrote: »

I am also amazed by the amout of food that is wasted .I was brought up during the period in this country when rationing was the norm .My Mum had no freezer or fridge to put stuff in anyway .At one point she only had us three children, and her beloved wireless, and we had been made homeless due to a large gift from Herr Hitler and his jolly Luftwaffe:eek:
Still I digress,she managed to raise three children with ideas instilled into us that absolutely NOTHING was ever wasted. Food was never thrown out as there was little enough to go around anyway.
In todays society there is this conviction that if a thing is a minute over it's sell by date then it must be thrown out .I have survied well over 60 years by eating things that on occasions were maybe past their best and I'm still here.Cheese with a bit of growth on and the odd jam sandwich where the jam was a bit hairy as well,but you scraped it off and I survived o.k.
A lot of the problems arise sometimes by the bogof theory .You buy the stuff and blow me if it has a short use by date .I couldn't nessesarily eat 12 yoghurts ain the space of three days ,nor would I want to.
Considering the amount of cookery programmes and cook books on the market we should all be Nigellas but there are many folk out there who struggle to boil an egg .Look in any supermarket freezer department and you will find frozen ommelletes for goodness sake why ?
Bring back basic cooking skills to schools for both boys and girls .Scouts don't consider it sissy to cook bangers on a camp fire so why should men think it's 'girly' to cook at home .
people are keen to save the planet so why are we filling landsites with perfectly edible food stuff. This sell by date or use by date only appeared with the rise of the supermarkets I believe it's a ploy to brainwash folk into thinking 'Mm, it's yesterdays date so I mustn't eat it ,throw it away and I'll go and buy some more' .We seem to live in a society of throw -away everything .
Go to a third world country, and see what those poor devils have to eat .They don't have the Wests obsession with throwing things away.
Far more folk die from obesity in this country than die from food poisoning. My late mum used to say that to throw food away was to feed the Devil, and as children we believed her:eek:
To me throwing out good food is disgusting and bad management on behalf of the wife /husband/ or whatever . With our up to date freezers and fridges there is no excuse for throwing out anything

:T :T :T :T :T :T :T