What can be done to reduce food waste?

LameWolf

missbiggles1 wrote: »

If you throw away the animal fat/lard you produce at home, that's one of the most wasteful things you can do.

I don't use lard at all! *shudders at the thought*
We've also long since given up deep frying anything, and of course we don't get dripping, because we don't have meat to begin with.
I do remember my mother tucking into slices of toast slathered in dripping for her lunch - the very thought made me heave, even as a child!

moneyistooshorttomention

LameWolf wrote: »

Now I remember why I never ever visit the chip shop!_pale_

You should be okay in your area of the country for chips being fried in oil.

I honestly didnt realise they could be/might be done any other way - until I moved. It may be down to the particular mindset of my home city in some respects and businesses have to "tread warily". But I think its the widespread way to do it in the South of England.

Try ringing and asking the shop in advance what they do their chips in - I'm sure they'd take the same stance the chippie near here did = they'd rather tell you in advance if they're done in lard then have you "raise heaven" complaining afterwards because you hadn't been told and you'd just paid for them and/or eaten them.

The chippie where the assistant had the sense to tell me in advance lost one persons business (I didnt buy anything from them at all then - and had to go hungry:(). But - if I'd found out after the event - they would have lost the business of a lot of other people I then complained to about them not saying. Easy to do in this day and age - just tell Facebook....

EDIT; Quick google later and found a Trip Advisor post from 7 years ago expressing astonishment at most Scarborough chip shops doing them in lard and Mumsnet comments that Northern England ones probably would be, but South East Scotland ones probably wouldnt be.

missbiggles1

LameWolf wrote: »

I don't use lard at all! *shudders at the thought*
We've also long since given up deep frying anything, and of course we don't get dripping, because we don't have meat to begin with.
I do remember my mother tucking into slices of toast slathered in dripping for her lunch - the very thought made me heave, even as a child!

Sorry, didn't know you were veggie.

VfM4meplse

My proposed solution to wastage have an underlying health mission. First could be to make fruit and veg more affordable at some supermarkets (I'm not talking about Aldi or Lidl), and hence stop perfectly good produce rotting from not being sold.

Conversely tax sugar and processed products with long expiry dates upto the eyeballs, to discourage them from being bought in bulk and to be seen as a genuine treat. The lower turnover will be of benefit to everyone, the fact that they last longer will mean that production can be ramped down.

I also rather like PN's suggestion of returning to rationing. Perhaps have a mechanism that forced people to fast twice a week, slashing T2 diabetes in the process.

moneyistooshorttomention

I think I must be having "sense of humour failure" at the thought of the Government telling me to fast ever......:cool:

I think the occasional one or two day fast might - possibly - be a good idea for peoples health. But if I have never been able to persuade myself into doing so voluntarily - then the thought of any Government trying to compel me into it comes under the heading of "living dangerously" (ie the Government would be doing so...:rotfl:). My stomach is very regular in its demands to be fed and I could soon see it "going on strike" and refusing to comply if I tried to do any
different.....

Now that would be a unique form of protest against any Government policy of that description, ie us all saving up our food waste and dumping it right outside any Government offices/MP's surgeries/etc we could find - after duly notifying local media...

ariarnia

Taking a slightly different approach...

Require businesses with more than x (10?) number of on site staff to provide food storage and heating/cooking facilities (microwave, fridge, kettle, maybe toaster) and food waste (recycling) facilities.

Use incentives (thinking relaxing benefit in kind rules) to encourage businesses to run and employees to use subsidised canteens where possible - ensuring staff have access to at least one 'cheap' hot low waste meal a day.

Two cross cutting suggestions which would reduce national food waste and impact on key health objectives.

Spencerx

I very rarely waste any food. I too wish supermarkets wouldn't sell so much prepacked food, sometimes I only want to buy 2 or 3 tomatoes but end up buying a pack of 6 which I end up eating even when I don't want to. I do try and buy in a greengrocers then I can buy what I want but some of these sorts of shop are doing similar to the supermarkets. It's good that some supermarkets are giving some of their left over fresh produce to charities and food banks but surely they shouldn't be ordering so much in the first place.

ViolaLass

I wonder how the waste by institutions e.g. prisons, schools, care homes compares to that of individuals.

I see lots of food getting thrown away at my school. It's the nature of mass catering and presumably harder to tackle. That's not about teaching the kids to cook.

VfM4meplse

ViolaLass wrote: »

I wonder how the waste by institutions e.g. prisons, schools, care homes compares to that of individuals.

I see lots of food getting thrown away at my school. It's the nature of mass catering and presumably harder to tackle. That's not about teaching the kids to cook.

When there are people queuing up at food banks, it's more a question of effective distribution.

mnbvcx

Reduce the cheapness of food so that people value it more. Change the expectation that food is cheap. Make sure everything is made with proper ingredients, pay the producers properly, and outlaw all the nasty practices that the cheap food manufacturers use. If something is valuable people won't throw it away. This has the added benefit that people will be healthier, and the food production industry is better off too.