Hugh's War on Waste

[Deleted User]

Well, that was interesting, wasn't it. The guy said that during years with a bad harvest all the mis-shapes went into the supply chain and were consumed without anyone noticing. So the problem is one of oversupply then, and not mis-shapes at all. The fact that the waste happens to come from the ugly portion of the harvest rather than the pretty is neither here nor there, the reason that some farmers are working for nothing is because they're producing more food than the population can consume.

If 25% of the harvest is going to waste, the idea that you can solve the problem by making smoothies and soups is ridiculous, the population is obese enough as it is, without consuming a third more food than they already do.

mhe

For several reasons since September this year my family and I have eaten a wartime diet. Our veg intake has increased vastly and our food wastage has decreased hugely. It made me realise how wasteful we were before even though I thought I was being careful.
There is just so much choice when you go to the supermarket. Whilst I was shocked at the waste I also wondered would all those parsnips be eaten if they went for sale?

Butterfly_Brain

It shows that consumers are not the major wasters, it is the farmers and supermarkets over supply
.Like many on the OS boards I grow my own organic vegetables at home, wonky or not we eat them because they taste so much better. But I still use Aldi for their super six because I can' t grow enough for a whole year and I have never done well with peppers or mushrooms

[Deleted User]

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

It shows that consumers are not the major wasters, it is the farmers and supermarkets over supply.

Well, yes and no. It's the farmers who are creating the oversupply, but they wouldn't be doing it if the consumers didn't keep buying food to throw in the bin.

Pollycat

tuskel wrote: »

And indeed exactly what the Morrisons customers said in the program! I was really surprised that none of the farmers wanted to talk to him, though, and it seems that even the family that did, only did it because they knew they were going to pack it in anyway, so they could say what they wanted...

I too was appalled about the waste of parsnips - but not at all surprised that farmers didn't want to be interviewed on camera.

2 opposide sides - the parsnip farmer said Morrisons had put pressure on them not to talk, Morrisons said they didn't.
I know who I believe.

Actually, if I'm doing roast parsnips I quite like ones that are 'top-heavy'. The spindly ones would be fine in a stew or soup.

Re rejection of 'not perfect' fruit & veg - it was mentioned earlier in this thread.
I said I had a vague recollection about one of the big supermarkets introducing a range (not value) that said something like 'maybe not as pretty but just as good'.

As for the programme on the whole, I cringed at some of the obvious staging.
Kathy coming out with a bag of bacon & eggs she was throwing away ust as Hugh was emptying her bin? Puhleeze.
And why don't people cling film stuff like bacon when it's been opened? No wonder it had gone discoloured.

And shame on KFC for trying to pull the wool over HFW's eyes about giving unused food to charity - but well done for starting the scheme.
How many chickens thrown away? :eek:

As someone who wastes very little food (I was a bit annoyed that I had to throw out a nub-end of a half cucumber bought yellow sticker for 6p) it didn't teach me a lot.

I thought it a shame that HFW didn't mention charity shops when he was doing the bit about clothes/ bric-a-brac waste.
Maybe that will come next week.

Justamum

moments_of_sanity wrote: »

The holding a gripe thing sounds just like my DD2. She is a vegetarian and I fully respect her wishes but what I don't need is a daily ear bashing about us 'awful meat eaters', not a day goes by where one of us remaining 3 meat eaters gets a lecture for our meat/food choices/animal welfare etc! Being vegetarian and militant, in my opinion, seem to go hand in hand!

No it doesn't. In my own experience vegetarians and vegans tend to keep quiet about their food choices unless asked because they get an ear bashing from meat-eaters. I know this because I've been vegetarian for 32 year, vegan for the last 16. My children have all been brought up vegetarian and don't go on about it to their friends, but get criticised for it.

Caterina

Just watched on catch up, I am glad he is bringing such important issues to the attention of people, and thst by his status he has the clout to get supermarkets to respond.

Re. Vegetarian, Justamum I know what you mean. I was a super militant vegetarian as a young woman, but also got a lot of stick and aggro from meat eaters who just had to take the mickey, interminably and boringly. Including members of my immediate family. It remind me of a couple of years ago when, eating a nice veg soup that I had cooked, at my mum's, my brother sneered at me and said it would be so much better with bacon in. I just lost it, gave everybody a right mouthful, said (screeched more like) that i was fed up that after 30 years of being vegetarian I was still having to take that sort of cr*p and that I had enough. I was so angry I left the table in tears. I should have done it much earlier because since then I have had no trouble. Mind you, I also don't associate with my brother and his family all that much anymore, we are just too different.

Pollycat

Caterina wrote: »

Just watched on catch up, I am glad he is bringing such important issues to the attention of people, and thst by his status he has the clout to get supermarkets to respond.

Re. Vegetarian, Justamum I know what you mean. I was a super militant vegetarian as a young woman, but also got a lot of stick and aggro from meat eaters who just had to take the mickey, interminably and boringly. Including members of my immediate family. It remind me of a couple of years ago when, eating a nice veg soup that I had cooked, at my mum's, my brother sneered at me and said it would be so much better with bacon in. I just lost it, gave everybody a right mouthful, said (screeched more like) that i was fed up that after 30 years of being vegetarian I was still having to take that sort of cr*p and that I had enough. I was so angry I left the table in tears. I should have done it much earlier because since then I have had no trouble. Mind you, I also don't associate with my brother and his family all that much anymore, we are just too different.

I would never have a go at anyone for being a vegetarian or vegan and likewise wouldn't expect anyone to bang on about how I shouldn't eat meat or wear leather shoes.

I remember my MIL trying to sort out dinner for one of her young daughter's friends (probably 40+ years ago) & she offered her the gravy boat. The girl was horrified & said "but it's made with meat juices". Bless her.

moneyistooshorttomention

I've just watched it on catch-up too.

I thought it was a good programme actually - not one of those disjointed soundbite type ones made for the short attention spans so many people seem to have these days. It followed through the theme well I thought.

I was laughing at Hugh's parsnip stall right outside Morrisons - thinking "Sock it to 'em baby":rotfl:. That's the thing - because he's well-known and comes from that Background that Breeds Confidence he can do this and get results. Any "ordinary person in the street" probably either wouldn't have that confidence level his background breeds (ie would be too "meek and mild") or might even come over as Aggressive Chav in their attitude (ie downright offputting). That's where having someone like him front this does help.

I found it personally helpful to see what happened to the stuff for recycling and also to get the general "just bung it in" idea of chucking fruit in with juice or yogurt to make a smoothie (was sitting there thinking "Duh Money...you're still too darn dependant on following a recipe exactly...must try a bit of 'just bung it in' smoothie with those pears I have in the kitchen right now".

lessonlearned

Great programme.

Hugh is very likeable with just the right combination of charm and determination to front a campaign.

And I learned a new trick. Grating tomatoes - who would have thunk it......:rotfl: I had no idea - just goes to show you can teach an old dog new tricks.

I am loving my new frugality. I have always been canny but the more of these kind of programmes I watch, the more I read websites like this, the more I learn.

I come from a working class background but my mum was an indifferent cook, bless her she hated cooking so our meals were "interesting" ........:rotfl: so of course she had no cooking skills to pass on to me.

I went to a very posh all girls school - cooking and domestic science type subjects were not on the curriculum, so I am entirely self taught, which is why I'm still learning.

I also watched Nigella last night - that woman is gorgeous - again some nice tips for me to borrow.

Back to Hugh, yes some of it was obviously staged for tv but so what - it got the points across in a nice humorous gentle way without lecturing or badgering.

Surely that's the point, make it interesting, add a bit of fun to the mix and you might win over a few more converts to the cause.

At least Morrisons have been shamed into making some changes and KFC have gone on public record with a promise to give 50per cent of unused chicken to charity.

A good start.

On a personal level I have made great improvements reducing both waste and my food budget - also lost some weight too - 11 lbs - wahoo.:D

I shall keep watching and learning.