Throwing food away

thriftlady_2

And what about all the extra garnish type food pubs and restaurants insist on filling your plate with. The amount of salad wasted on children's plates must be phenomenol. Not to mention the sheer size of the average sandwich/baguette in a pub these days.

I was pleasantly surprised last week in a cafe in Ambleside. I was explaining to the staff that my dd couldn't eat eggs or nuts and therefore the dressed salad waould be best left off the plate. I mentioned that none of my kids would eat the salad anyway :rolleyes: so they not only left it off the plate they refunded us the cost of the salad too. We didn't waste our money and they didn't waste their food.

jo1972

It's not just consumers it's the supermarkets too...take a look at this article in the observer highlighting how much produce is thrown away from the supermarkets everyday.

Oh and if anyone knows where the M&S is that we can pillage their bins please let me know

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,2149141,00.html

Cazzdevil

thriftlady wrote: »

The amount of salad wasted on children's plates must be phenomenol.

Not just children! We all stopped at a pub in the Lakes mid-mountain bike ride for lunch and all the sarnies came with a lovely pile of salad (peppers, celery, beautiful lettuce leaves, red onion etc...) and OH and I were the only ones who ate it all, I had half a mind to ask if I could have the other two lads portions too, I HATE seeing good healthy food like that going to waste!!

alfiesmum

I think that if you reuse food that has been on a plate already it can have some adverse effects on your health. When a fork goes in your mouth, it gets 'salivary amalaze' (sp?) on it. This then transfers to the plated food next time the fork goes to your plate. It then immediately starts to 'digest' the food ready for your stomach. - It's like when you feed the baby with a spoon, and go back to the food on the bench an hour later, it's gone more liquid like, that's the digestion process starting. So to have food that's already been partially digested by someone elses saliva (or my own tbh), would make me feel a bit yacky. I know that the OP didn't mean plated leftovers. But it's been mentioned since in the thread. Be frugal, but keep it safe all the same.

heavenleigh

I always cook far too much every sunday,
I plate up everyones dinner and leave extras in the pans to mash up and fry later.
I must admit if the kids leave food on their plates even if it has been swirled in gravy i scrape it back into the pan....it is only going to get mashed up and fried anyway!

savvy

Cazzdevil wrote: »

The boyfriend and I were on holiday in the Lakes last week with friends and they were having bacon and sausages most mornings for brekkie (turkey rashers & veggie sausages for me though), and on one particular day there were about 5 rashers of bacon left at the end and one of the lads just put them in the bin!!!!!! CRIMINAL!!! OH would have made a blt for taking with us for lunch or something...

I've never willingly thrown meat away, I don't know why but I always think that that poor animal died for no reason if meat is wasted

Suffice to say we eat predominantly vegetarian in our house now, so I don't get those guilty feelings so much, except when I see waste out and about

savvy

jo1972 wrote: »

It's not just consumers it's the supermarkets too...take a look at this article in the observer highlighting how much produce is thrown away from the supermarkets everyday.

Oh and if anyone knows where the M&S is that we can pillage their bins please let me know

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,2149141,00.html

HA somebody else like me then but more worried about the farmers - "The bin smelt fine but I suddenly felt ill, sick at the waste: I couldn't help but tread on the stuff. All that immaculate fruit from hard-pressed British farmers squelching under my boots."

Funnily enough this reminds me of my childhood in a way, my stepfather used to have the contract for the local landfill site, and many times he'd come back with loads of toys from toyshops, but the best was when the Tesco freezers broke, we got TONS of cheesecake then :D He used to intercept the lorries coming to dump the produce as they couldn't sell it when a freezer broke, and bring it home for us, luckily we had one of those massive chest freezers in those days Obvoislu we had other stuff, but of course I remember the cheesecake well!

moonlitsparkle

thriftlady wrote: »

And what about all the extra garnish type food pubs and restaurants insist on filling your plate with. The amount of salad wasted on children's plates must be phenomenol. Not to mention the sheer size of the average sandwich/baguette in a pub these days.

I always think pubs and restaurants should have different meal size options, or allow adults to order from the kids menu. I'm only 5ft tall and have quite a small appetite, I think it's silly that I have no choice but to have the same portion size as they would give a six footer with a large appetite! I often end up feeling uncomfortable when I eat out about the amount I'm unable to eat, and the money wasted.

Sometimes I've tried to ask if I can order kids portions but always get told no - I don't know why as surely it will make no difference to their profit whether I am an adult or an under 12?

Bogof_Babe

Welcome Moonlitsparkle, hope you will soon feel at home here. :beer:

You must be going to the wrong places if they won't let you order a child's meal. I could understand if you want a small portion of a regular meal, as they are probably pre-packed and frozen, but if you wanted to order off the children's menu then why ever shouldn't you?

Next time you are going out for a meal, try ringing ahead and asking. If they say that's fine then ask for the name of who you are speaking to.

~daisy~_2

i always tub up the leftovers from the pans put them neatly in the fridge - then promptly throw them out a week later !!!
and me a chef in a past life too !!

im trying to be better and put things straight in the freezer instead and im ''souping'' more as well

hub and i eat ''low carb'' so i always freeze all the bread and rolls for the children and use from the freezer and ive had to measure out there pasta in the dishes before cooking so i dont have any over anymore

one thing i am amazed at is how far some of you lovely ppl can make a chicken go !!
i buy the 2 for a fiver medium chickens from tescos and i roast it which gives us 2 adult and 2 children dinners - children have about 2/3's as meat as us - then hub and i will have cold chicken and salad for lunch the next day and i soup the rest - maybe we are just greedy ?