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

spiddy100

PS I had the book out of the library and don't have it here so am paraphrasing - I think I got it right.

TKP_3

I used to throw out loads of food stuff :eek:
The I joined OS :T

Now, I plan my meals and only buy the fresh stuff I need for the week, that is on the menu). If I only need 1 apple or 1 pepper, that's what I buy. (Fruit and Veg from farm shop)
Meat is in the freezer - I get what I need from the butcher (also planned for the week), I portion it out to what I will need for each meal, then freeze (always labeled)
Milk is delivered by milkman, and we have enough to get us through a week, if I need more I phone up and order extra for the next delviery (we have 3 deliveries a week)

Meat scraps (excess fat, carcess etc) goes out for the foxes. Excess bread (after freezing enough for breadcrumbs) goes to the birds.

Tomorrow I sort out the compost bin for peelings, tea bags etc.

I only need to put my (general waste) bin out every 3 to 4 weeks (2 adults). A big difference to a year ago before I became OS.

molesworth

We don't waste food apart from fruit - I have problems with this. I find it hard to plan ahead to when someone will want to eat an apple or whatever! At the same time I worry that fruit won't be there when someone wants to eat it so I over-buy and some of the fruit goes bad.

I work odd hours so can only shop once a week. We don't eat desserts so no point in stewing left over fruit etc. If anyone has a good buying formula I'd be very interested!

dinomad4

molesworth wrote: »

We don't waste food apart from fruit - I have problems with this. I find it hard to plan ahead to when someone will want to eat an apple or whatever! At the same time I worry that fruit won't be there when someone wants to eat it so I over-buy and some of the fruit goes bad.

I work odd hours so can only shop once a week. We don't eat desserts so no point in stewing left over fruit etc. If anyone has a good buying formula I'd be very interested!

what i do is when i get my main shopping delivered i use up the fresh items first so by the end of the week there should be a little or none left.
buy less fruit.

the_optimist

We don't waste food apart from fruit - I have problems with this. I find it hard to plan ahead to when someone will want to eat an apple or whatever! At the same time I worry that fruit won't be there when someone wants to eat it so I over-buy and some of the fruit goes bad.

I have the same problem and used to throw lots of fruit away. I also used to buy all those individual yoghurts which often didn't get eaten and had to be thrown out.

Now I buy big pots of plain yoghurt and when I see fruit going off I throw it in the blender with the plain yoghurt. Some of the combinations look disgusting but we haven't had one that tasted bad.

lil_me

I shopped around loads for fruit and now have it delivered, it usually lasts the week aswell, only ever soft fruits like strawberries etc I've had go a little funny but I usually put them in yoghurt or on cereals. I buy stacks of fruit and make sure it gets used. Did an apple crumble with some granny smiths which were starting to wrinkle and was lovely. Banana muffins made on Thursday have already been eaten.

Things that have been thrown out in the last month or so (I keep a diary)

Bread- out for the birds, one of these days DP will close the bag/box
Mushroom - went off with flies in as left on bench overnight
Cheese - in dog, DP not closing things again went hard
Kids yoghurt- poor fridge rotation my fault


When I say I was bad before, I kept a diary for a few month, and threw out over £20 worth of food in just one week. I was shocked and embarrassed. My downfall was overbuying with lack of space, small fridge and freezer. Have since reduced my spending a lot, and am looking at buying a second freezer.

DawnW

it is OK to use cheese that has gone hard, grated, for cooking:) No need to throw it away. Use it as a topping for lasagne or another baked/ browned under the grill pasta dish, or shepherds pie, for example, in a quiche, for cheese straws etc.

[Deleted User]

back to the all important carbon footprint:

I`m just pondering here as my steamer is cooking

I have the whole meal in my steamer so am using only one source of heat for a total of 25 minutes
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magimix-11240-Stainless-Vapeur-Steamer/dp/B00009OWFP

fish, carrot, potato, chopped green mix ie purple sprouting + celery + sea kale

I did have peelings from the potato and carrot and bits of stalk from the broccolli

I do have a waste disposal unit as mentioned by mikeywills but I also contribute to this charity
http://www.wateraid.org/uk/donate/affiliates/4480.asp

I don`t use my waste disposal because it uses an awful lot of water and water waste is, to me, as obscene as food waste. I used to have hens and they would eat all the peelings and of course they would be re-cycled as yummy golden-yolked eggs

[Deleted User]

another goodie for using up excess fruits and certain veg is a juicer

This is the one that is permanently out near the sink in my kitchen. Expensive machine, yes. I have used it a lot for the past 15 years and I would buy it again. I am going to have spare carrots and apples this week so will juice them with a bit of fresh ginger. Great for keeping the colds away. I can also get the juice from spare greens but you have to be used to the taste and we drink it fast in a shot

http://www.juiceland.co.uk/item--Green-Star-Juicer-GS1000--FV004.html

nodwah

I used to think I was buying stuff to put them straight in the compost, we must have the most expensive compost in the country. All the salad bags that go slimy overnight and my biggest bugbear- pears that go black all at once. But the new me is trying to be self sufficient in salad. I'll never buy those bags again and I try to catch the pears and apples and puree with a bit of cinnamon and then freeze it , I remembered how much the kids loved this when they were weaning. I'll put most veg into soup unless it's actually slimy!
Kids yoghurts get frozen now when they're nearing their date - my favourite thing in the 70's was a frozen ski yoghurt eaten straight out of the freezer (we didn't have much else)-i know you're not supposed to but since when do any of us do that??
My OH will eat ANYTHING, my thing now is if it looks ok and smells ok it is ok but he'll eat things that I won't and is never Ill. We're both microbiologists (of sorts) and he reckons he has a good mixed population of gut flora to protect him.
I am more careful when it comes to the kids stuff tho'