Don't Throw Food Away Challenge

[Deleted User]

meritaten wrote: »

<<I hate throwing food away - if a pepper goes a bit wrinkly and soft I chop it up and add it to the bag of chopped peppers in freezer - eventually I have enough to make a huge pan of red pepper soup! >>

My DD gave me a big bag of peppers (about 5) as she is going away on Friday and they are starting to go a bit wrinkly can you post a recipe for the red pepper soup as I really don't want to bin them and I'm a bit stuck for space in my freezer at the moment
Cheers
JackieO xxx

catkins

I hate food waste and can never believe the figures of how much is supposedly wasted in this country.

I very rarely throw any food away. I usually keep bread in the freezer and get out what I need. If any does go stale I make it into breadcrumbs and freeze or else a nice bread pudding or bread and butter pudding. Any veg past its best is made into soup as are the stalks and leaves from veg like cauliflower, broccoli etc.

If there is any leftover food from a meal I will use it to the next day. I might have it for lunch or if there is enough or I can turn it into something else, me and OH will have it for our evening meal. Even little amounts of foods can be made into a meal. A small portion of left over mashed potato can be made into a potato cake or an ingredient for bubble and squeak.

I am always eating food past it's sell by date and I have never been ill. Mind you me and OH are vegetarian so I am not talking meat or fish, which obviously you have to be a lot more careful with. I look at the food, smell it and have a little taste - so much more reliable than a date!

I cut mould off cheese and eat the non mouldy bit. I also eat potatoes when they have massively long sprouts (don't eat them if they are going green though). I know my parents and my sister will throw cheese away if it has any mould on it.

StarMummy_2

just a quick not e on the supermarket waste bashing, i work for waitr*se at weekends and we used to donate all our produce that hadnt sold at the end of the day to the local homeless shelter, they started refusing it so now it just goes in the bin. the amount of waste really upsets me as a farmers daughter where i was brought up to just scrape the mould off cheese and bread etc.

SallyEddis

i plan my dinners before i go shopping as i used to throw so much stuff away, or just buy a few days dinners at a time. good luck!!

jenster

StarMummy wrote: »

just a quick not e on the supermarket waste bashing, i work for waitr*se at weekends and we used to donate all our produce that hadnt sold at the end of the day to the local homeless shelter, they started refusing it so now it just goes in the bin. the amount of waste really upsets me as a farmers daughter where i was brought up to just scrape the mould off cheese and bread etc.

ty for that BUT that begs another question WHY are homeless shelters refusing perfectly good food ? :mad:
- my guess is some so called Big-Wig Do-Gooder thinks there above that , I bet it aint the poor homeless person who would love a decent dinner from what ever source they can

StarMummy_2

at our branch, can't speak for others, but we have a massive drive on reducing waste. looking at order schedules, stock rotation and reducing goods. from a business point of view if we sell something for ten p it's ten p towards the value of the produce if its just thrown its a total loss to revenue (and then profit) in reality a lot of our waste is to do with naughty customers who pick things up, change their mind and dump it somewhere unsuitable, fresh in the freezer, frozen hidden behind toilet rolls etc. also waste from damaged good such as bread packets with holes in, or split yoghurt pots. of course there are things we can do above and beyond what we do now but they aren't the only guilty party. i think the whole of society needs needs a shift in attitude, for so long we have been a throw away society, shops like primarni survive on 'throw-away' fashions. for too long a lot of people have had it too good

lynsayjane

jenster wrote: »

ty for that BUT that begs another question WHY are homeless shelters refusing perfectly good food ? :mad:
- my guess is some so called Big-Wig Do-Gooder thinks there above that , I bet it aint the poor homeless person who would love a decent dinner from what ever source they can

More likely someone got sick and sued, charities wouldn't be able to afford the comp so won't risk it.

jenster

lynsayjane wrote: »

More likely someone got sick and sued, charities wouldn't be able to afford the comp so won't risk it.

i thought we were talking about a near date not passed it -
seriously red tape has gone mad in the country

now aint the goverment talking about making the jobless work for there benefits

seems to me you could with supervision get them to use the food that would be wasted making meals /distributing food for homeless, jobless/ meals on wheels - all before its best before dates "

and honestly a lot of problems could be solved if red tape and common sense were brought back in

dreaming

I sometimes wonder if the BOGOF culture we seem to encounter everywhere now is partially to blame? Although I do take advantage of such offers if it is something I use regularly and can store easily, I have also been tempted by buying 2 lots of foodstuff (because it's on BOGOF) and then not being able to use it up before it goes off. Fresh fruit and salad have been the main culprits for me I'm afraid but I have become a lot more disciplined. I can see that for families these offers can be used to their advantage but I also think that it is too easy to be swayed into thinking you are "getting a bargain" and then thinking that it doesn't matter if it gets thrown away as it hasn't cost you any extra.

Greenqueen_2

Did anyone see the TV news article where they filmed a young mum removing things from the bottom of her fridge?

Grapes, cauliflower florets, a lettuce and something else---apparently they "had to go". Why? They looked perfectly good to me.
:question: