Throwing food away

savvy

moonlitsparkle wrote: »

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?

I know, I think it's ridiculous too, especially when you aren't feeling well and don't particularly want a huge meal, mind you half the time the kids meal are just processed tripe :rolleyes: I think you might find some of the independent restaurants are okay with it

What you really need is my eldest, he's 6'8" and our resident hoover, so if anyone has anything left over he soons finishes it off

Streeg

I try not to put more on the plates than each person will eat, but as I have little kids often I misjudge how hungry they are... I don't use the leftovers off the kids plates as they tend to mush it all up, but if something is untouched I will keep it for later. And leftovers in pans/dishes ALWAYS get kept - often my husband will take them for his lunch the next day or I will dish them up in some other form at another meal.

The only exception to this is leftover salad that has been tossed with a dressing - it goes BLEUGH and soggy if it is kept so that does go in the bin.

It is rare that food goes bad in our fridge I try to use it up before that happens

thriftlady_2

I'm cross with myself tonight. Made a delicious lentil and chicken curry using chicken leftover from a roast yesterday. The chicken was thoroughly reheated but there was some leftover curry. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I couldn't have kept the leftover curry and reheated it again could I? It would have been cooked 3 times by then. I wish I'd left the lentils out then we might have finished it all in one go.

katiep_2

Hubby and I were watching Dumped on Sunday and when the issue came up started talking about how much food we chuck out. We currently spend £8 p/w on an organic veg box and they put so many in, we end up throwing a lot of the potatoes and carrots out! We've just decided to cancel the veg box, and spend the same amount per week at the local farm shop, but only buy what we know we will eat. We also save stuff after a meal, then end up throwing it out, unused a week later :rolleyes:

Sooo, after reading this thread yesterday, I saved last nights leftovers and I'm determined to make sure they get eaten tonight!

ceridwen

.... and in my role of - you name it I have a book/or two/or three on it:

"Bubble and Squeak - the leftover cook book" by Jan Arkless is to be recommended for ways to use up leftovers. It is organised as to what type of food one needs to use up - be it vegetables, rice, pasta, eggs, cheese, milk, fruit, fish, milk, cheese.

... and I've just checked on Amazon - there's copies currently available at the huge price of £0.01 !!!! - don't all rush at once! form an orderly queue here.

lordswood

Veg plate scrapings go to be recycled as eggs by our hens, meat scrapings go to the dog, past their best uncooked veg go to the guinea pig, veg peelings are composted. Malnourished maggots in our rubbish bin.

odds-n-sods

yup, you could have reheated the curry again. As long as you have kept the chicken in the fridge, it would have been fine.

About restaurant meals - adults dont' usually get to order the childs portions because they are priced for a child, and usually the person who asks is simply being cheap. Why dont' you order the full meal, ask for half to be doggie-bagged right away and the rest served to you. Or have a starter??

milkydrink

~daisy~ wrote: »

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 !!

This is what I used to do, so I've given up saving (except meat).
Mind you we are all on Weight Watchers now, so I cook to receipes & there is virtually no wastage, I buy to recepies as well, so the only wastage is fruit, veg & salad - but not as much as before.

~daisy~ wrote: »

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 ?

I got 2 chicken for £5 last week. Cooked 1 between the three of us. We had to practically scrape the bones to get enough to eat of it. Hubby hates all those bits.
I'm thinking it would be cheaper & less hassle for us to get a large breast each (as we don't really like the rest of it). Anyone else do chicken breasts with a roast instead of a bird because of this?

daisyroots_2

~daisy~ you asked how people made one chicken last for several meals, this is what my Ma used to do. The same chicken could appear at our table for several performances

Roast, with supporting cast of roast potatoes and veg.
Cold with salad - and maybe a matinee performance in a sandwich or two
(She stripped the carcass of any meat she could get off easily, and boiled it for stock. Then she got any remaining meat off the carcass, and chucked it. One of my jobs was to stand there, wait till the carcass was cool enough and pick all the little chicken bits off, while listening to the Home Service)
Rissotto made with chicken stock and chicken bits.
Soup made with rest of chicken stock and any leftover rissotto and veg

This is how my Ma made a big chicken feed four people at four meals. I often do part of this process, rarely all these days.

[Deleted User]

I usually go to my youngest DDs for Sunday lunch and often bring home the left over joint as she would only bin it .I rarely have any left over food unless I cook extra in which case when cold, it gets frozen. I was brought up to use every bit of food as it was rationed when I was a little girl so frugality has been a way of life to me all of my life.I don't think I could bring myself to throw good food in the bin ,there are far too many people starving in this world.