Hugh's War on Waste

Gigervamp

Exactly Mrs L. And those wasted parsnips, I thought, looked better than the skinny ones they put in the plastic bags.

I like big parsnips, so you can cut them into decent sized chunks for roasting. The skinny ones, when roasted, get hard and chewy, like toffee.

honeythewitch

There is bound to be waste if most of our shopping is done in places that only sell pre-packaged food (even fresh meat, fruit and vegetables) so some people are forced to buy more than they need.

PasturesNew

Pollycat wrote: »

And why don't people cling film stuff like bacon when it's been opened? No wonder it had gone discoloured.

If I've anything that'd discolour once the pack's been opened, then first I open it carefully, then I place it carefully into a plastic-lidded-takeaway box, having 'resealed' the package as best as I can even though I know it's going into a box.

For me, the beauty of the boxes, too, is that you can move stuff around in the fridge without it coming a cropper. Many people have paper bags of cling-wrapped cheese that've been shoved into the fridge without closing/folding - and the minute they're pawing about looking for things, those items can either fall out or become more exposed to air.

They're great. Clean, cheap, easy to use, you can see the contents and they're movable/stackable.

honeythewitch wrote: »

...some people are forced to buy more than they need.

I only buy what I know I can use, in its entirety. This means either eating the darned thing multiple times .... or going without. I often go without, thus reducing my food repertoire.

I think modern recipes are partly to blame too. Nearly every soup recipe says "cream" - I've never bought cream.... I wonder how many people'd buy something like that because a recipe says it's needed, then lob out most of the pot as it's gone off. Me.... I'd never make a soup with cream in the first place, so I'd go without.

Every chef, keen to flog their book, seems to invent new recipes with 10-20 ingredients that you don't really need..... they create waste through their books and people following those recipes, not liking or not making it again.... but loads of stuff that needs throwing out at some point as it's not a regular item for them to buy/use.

[Deleted User]

They did didn't they GIGERVAMP, I'm with you on preferring the chunkier parsnips they give a much better end result when you roast them than the thin ones. I'm lucky in that we grow enough on the allotment to see us right through the winter, 6 x 16 foot rows this winter and He Who Knows has brought me home 3 clonkers this morning, mmmmmmm yummy!

honeythewitch

PasturesNew wrote: »

If I've anything that'd discolour once the pack's been opened, then first I open it carefully, then I place it carefully into a plastic-lidded-takeaway box, having 'resealed' the package as best as I can even though I know it's going into a box.

For me, the beauty of the boxes, too, is that you can move stuff around in the fridge without it coming a cropper. Many people have paper bags of cling-wrapped cheese that've been shoved into the fridge without closing/folding - and the minute they're pawing about looking for things, those items can either fall out or become more exposed to air.

They're great. Clean, cheap, easy to use, you can see the contents and they're movable/stackable.



I only buy what I know I can use, in its entirety. This means either eating the darned thing multiple times .... or going without. I often go without, thus reducing my food repertoire.

I think modern recipes are partly to blame too. Nearly every soup recipe says "cream" - I've never bought cream.... I wonder how many people'd buy something like that because a recipe says it's needed, then lob out most of the pot as it's gone off. Me.... I'd never make a soup with cream in the first place, so I'd go without.

Every chef, keen to flog their book, seems to invent new recipes with 10-20 ingredients that you don't really need..... they create waste through their books and people following those recipes, not liking or not making it again.... but loads of stuff that needs throwing out at some point as it's not a regular item for them to buy/use.

I freeze (yellow sticker) cream into ice cube trays for the odd blob into soup or coffee, but I find if I dont use proper labelled containers or bags in the freezer things tend to lurk in there forever.

PasturesNew

honeythewitch wrote: »

I freeze (yellow sticker) cream into ice cube trays for the odd blob into soup or coffee, but I find if I dont use proper labelled containers or bags in the freezer things tend to lurk in there forever.

I shop so infrequently that I never see YS stuff. I might manage to get two YS items/year. I've never bought cream, or used it, so it'd be something just cluttering up the freezer. I've also some "fears" of using some frozen things - and cream frozen would make my stomach turn more than using fresh.... my mind would imagine it turning and curdling and tasting gross....and I'd end up binning it

YS is so rare that to even look for/find one pot of reduced cream would probably take 4-5 years to get a result.

Goldiegirl

Justamum wrote: »

Last year for the first time I grew courgettes. Planted 12 seeds which all grew, gave 8 plants away, planted 4 in the garden two died and I got quite a decent crop from the ones which were left. This year I planted 6 which all grew so I put them out, two were chomped by slugs or snails and another one just died. Out of the remaining three I got very few courgettes this year.

We grew courgettes for the first time last year, and we were awash with them. Yet this year, we planted the same amount of plants and we ended up with a few tiny courgettes.


I must admit I only saw part of the show last night.


The question of parsnips. I suppose the logical thing would be for farmers to grow less, and for the supermarkets to allow mis-shapes to go onto their shelves. But even so, supermarkets will have some wastage, as, I'm sure there'll be unsold parsnips, which are starting to 'turn' and people won't want to buy those. I'm not sure if sending perishables to food banks would work. From what I've seen, it tends to be canned goods in the food banks. If people suddenly started to be given fresh parsnips, would they know what to do with them? They could end up in the bin anyway, as people might not be able to work out how to cook them.


If it turned out to be a bad harvest year, there wouldn't be any 'back up' parnsips, so there'd end up being a shortage, and prices would rise.


I don't think there's a simple answer for this, but at least the show has got people thinking about waste, so that must be a good thing

Goldiegirl

honeythewitch wrote: »

I freeze (yellow sticker) cream into ice cube trays for the odd blob into soup or coffee, but I find if I dont use proper labelled containers or bags in the freezer things tend to lurk in there forever.

I think that's a good point - we often see people saying they freeze leftovers, but if it's never used, is it just another way of throwing it out? If it surfaces two years later, and you can't remember what it is, then it'd probably get thrown out anyway

PasturesNew

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I don't think there's a simple answer for this, but at least the show has got people thinking about waste, so that must be a good thing

I think the reality is that people who don't waste watched it and are continuing to think about waste.

People who waste were watching another channel and couldn't give a t0ss.

Goldiegirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

People who waste were watching another channel and couldn't give a t0ss.

Cynical..... but probably true!


At least it's got us talking on this thread