What can be done to reduce food waste?

[Deleted User]

What they asked was what can be done to reduce food waste and from that I took it that they wanted ideas from Joe Public that Joe Public thought would be the answer.

I guess the only answer really is for people to be taught to buy less in the first place and then taught to use what they do buy before going out to buy more. How that is achievable is through a public education programme.

Nick_C

Sorry if I'm repeating something that has been said before. I've only just seen this thread and don't have time to read it all.

I suspect the extent to which we are throwing away good food is being exaggerated.

Our Council runs a weekly food waste collection, and we probably put out about a kilo of food waste most weeks. However, it is largely vegetable peelings, fruit stones, egg shells, and coffee grounds.

I suspect that everything that Waste Authorities collect on a food waste collection is feeding into the figures, along with figures derived from waste audits.

As for genuine waste, the most effective education is already being delivered by the TV companies.

Councils should probably be concentrating on encouraging people to do more home composting instead of putting their food waste out for collection. (My compost bin is full of grass clippings).

Nationally, perhaps health awareness campaigns could emphasise that tinned and frozen food is at least as nutritious as "fresh" food. Processing (freezing/canning) food produces less waste (an industrial potato peeler will waste less than most people peeling spuds by hand). Waste from food processing is contained in one place, and can efficiently be sent back to the farms to be ploughed in, or sent for commerial composting or anaerobic digestion.

And using frozen and canned goods produces no waste at home - apart from the packaging which can be recycled.

ash28

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

1. Educating people about the concept of "working the other way round" when it comes to preparing meals for themselves. Instead of "see recipe/work out what food items to buy for it" - then have them "see what food items they have and decide what to make from them".

I was given a copy of the book "Eat Well, Waste Less - an A-Z guide to using up leftovers" by Bish Muir that is based on that concept. I believe it was my, then, County Council that was giving them out and hence where I got my free copy from.

2. https://www.facebook.com/olioex/

is the Facebook group re Olio.

The only shame is many of us can't access Olio - as it's an app on a mobile phone and many of us only have basic style mobile phones and can't access apps. It would be useful if there was something similar to this scheme that could be accessed via computer (as many more of us have computers than have "fancy" type mobile phones). It would also be useful if there were a similar scheme to this for those that don't even have computers.

3. It would certainly be handy for those keen gardeners/allotmenteers that find themselves producing surplus produce to have a readily accessible way of giving away the surplus. Obviously, we look to give surplus to friends and relatives first. A few people (very few!) put it outside their front gate inviting passersby to help themselves. That still leaves a lot of produce "going spare" for redistribution.

4. This initiative needs to be nationwide. Is it nationwide - or just in England?

On point 3, last week I picked up a marrow from a garden gate in our village. I couldn't think of anything to do with it, in the end I made a curry as marrow doesn't have a lot of flavour I thiought I would put in a flavoursome sauce. I made the curry sauce from scratch, tin of toms, an onion and a few spices. It was delicious and it must have cost under 60p to feed four of us including the rice.

I am one grateful recipient of "garden gate" largesse.

Blue_Doggy

Here is a recent episode of food waste right from my kitchen: in a temporary fit of "back-to-the-land"itis I bought a pack of fresh broad beans in the pod . The pods went into the bin , all of them, and so did the shrivelled beans which had never come to much (average one per pod). I did think of asking on here for ideas for using the pods, but then I didn't. (I'm sort of off composting for the moment since last year's episode of the wasps' nest in the compost bin.)

The action I am going to take to mitigate this food waste, having recovered from the -itis, is to go back to buying frozen broad beans.

Like some previous commenters have said, I also meal plan, make my shopping list according to the plan, and shop to my list (which always includes as an item "5 impulse buys" for flexibility).

LameWolf

lobbyludd wrote: »

I would love to see more on this thread of people's experience of what has worked for them.

Ok, I can do that.

1. Shopping list. I keep an ongoing list, and when something is running low, one of us writes it on The List. When there's enough written to make a trip viable, or when we need something Now, (usually milk), we grab the list, and go to the shop. I also stick to the list when I get there - no extras creeping into the basket.

2. Wouldn't work for everyone, but I don't do a "main shop" - this ties in with the bit about shopping lists, I guess. We shop "little and often" but in fairness, we're both retired, so we can spend the time doing this. I also use a basket rather than a trolley, unless I know I need to get a lot of very bulky stuff - this started because DH finds it easier to maneouvre (sp?) my wheelchair with a basket on my lap than with a trolley attached to the front, but it does limit the amount I buy in one hit.

3. Meal planning. Only a few days ahead, and always with the option of swapping days around if I don't feel well enough to make - for instance - the cheese and tomato quiche I'd planned, so I'll do that tomorrow and we'll have tomorrow's baked spuds tonight. It works for us; I couldn't possibly plan a month in advance, simply because my health is so wretchedly unstable.

4. Keep a very sharp eye on perishables, so that I don't get stuff going off; and I also make sure to use everything, including cupboard staples in rotation, so that I don't end up with a 5-year-old tin of tomatoes languishing at the back of the cupboard.

5. Please don't laugh, but I keep a spreadsheet detailing what I have in stock, both in the cupboard and in the freezer. It helps with meal planning, and also I don't over-buy because I've forgotten I already have some.

6. Cook the amount we're actually going to eat - no leftovers. If I make Shepherd Spy (as DH calls it) or a vegetable stew, those meals do two days, but it's understood we will eat the same thing two days running. Again, this is easy for us because the household is just two adults; harder if you have fussy children to cater for, I'd imagine.

Anyways, for what it's worth, that's my contribution.

Money_saving_maniac

I've been thinking about this again and I come back to...is there really 'a problem' with food waste? (Not that I like to see anything wasted personally hence I'd like to see pigswill reinvented for the modern age)

Why does the govt have nothing better to do than to get their knickers in a twist about food waste in the UK, even to the point of thinking of legislating about it?

Without even touching on the big issues that should be on the govt's mind, eg the failure to repatriate criminals, the waste of public money on defending said criminal's human rights (anyone remember the romanian murderer who is going to be awarded a huge amount of money from the taxpayer), tackling youth criminality, drug usage, sink estates, terrorism and the general breakdown in cohesion in society, the alienation of the public from politics, the use of NHS services as a free drunk tank on a Saturday night etc....even without thinking of those things I can come up with some they should be focussing on before blithering on spending their time gossiping about food waste and what legislation might be helpful...

for example, great on the plastic bags,now how about tackling the huge amount of litter from takeaways? How about tackling the plague of plastic bottles? How about introducing a Sweden style penny on the placcy bottle, just like we used to have with glass ones? How about preventing supermarkets from using plastic packaging for food, cos it never breaks down, and if that means a slight increase in food waste for a reduction in shelf life (no nitrogen pumped into packaging) then so be it.
After all it's not like anything useful is going to be done with any reduced food waste really, it's not going to be sent to countries dealing with war or famine as aid. It's not really like there is a moral imperative to reduce food waste, as there certainly is when it comes to stop killing wildlife and polluting the planet with plastic.

I'm starting to think that this whole thing is really just political 'virtue signalling' to make us the public think that the government is 'taking steps'. I think they could be taking a whole bucket load of more useful steps.

moneyistooshorttomention

I have to admit that there is a valid point.

The government is in a position to legislate against supermarket practices and also in a position to start up classes for people on this.

But it is true that this is an "easy win" thing for a government to do and there is a lot of other stuff that would affect our quality of life a lot more - and yep....terrorism/the refugee problem/the state of the NHS are things that concern me a heck of a lot more.

There IS only so much time/money/etc available and one has to choose priorities. Still - could be worse - there are some parts of the country where an arm of the government is spending money many people strongly disagree with. At least - we all agree food waste is a problem....

ash28

For me food waste begins with education and the first thing I'd try and tackle is the meaning of Use By/Best Before/Sell By/Display Until labelling.

So many people use these dates as a bible and throw out anything that has reached a date on the packaging, often unopened perfectly good food.

I'm probably preaching to the converted here but:

Best Before relates to quality not food safety. So foods past their "best before" won't be unsafe to eat but they may be a bit past their best. For instance, yesterday I made Slimming World Mini Quiche muffins with an unopened tub of cottage cheese that was over 3 weeks past its Best Before date. I regularly use yoghurt that is past its best before date, if it's unopened then I'm happy to use it.

Use By relates to food safety and I think here you have to use your common sense. I regularly use milk that is past its use by date, and have even been known to make pancakes or scones with sour milk (my grandmother never made scones with anything else). If I have meat in the fridge on its use by date I usually freeze it or use it and if it's past its date I use my eyes and nose and make sure it's thoroughly cooked if I decide to use it.

Display Until/Sell by are dates used by shops and can be ignored.

So many people throw away perfectly good food because they think it's unsafe to eat when in most instances it is fine to use.

Grumpmum

The points Blackandwhitebunny made echo the ones made by my teacher friend. (Sorry, couldn't quote as technology not behaving itself today.)

This thread has shown us that food is wasted in a variety of different ways, for different reasons, in lots of different places. So any solution will have to tackle the problem on personal, business, societal and educational levels. Again, this complex issue needs a multi faceted answer.

I have really enjoyed reading this thread and have enjoyed the anecdotal stuff. Personally speaking I find this interesting and inspiring. I like that there are a variety of different perspectives. i feel that it is important to listen to everyone's ideas (hope you're listening gov)

missbiggles1

lobbyludd wrote: »

But much of this thread has become (as these things often do) a collection of opinions on what posters think "other people" are doing wrong. This not what the OP asked for - which was anecdotal evidence of what has helped people personally cut food waste.

so - things that have helped me personally cut the food waste we used to have are -

i) meal planning
ii) shopping for that meal plan on a monthly basis, delivered, with the odd top up for fresh veg and milk.
iii) reading other people's meal plans (like the thread on here) and seeing how they approached the week/month ahead, with the associated chat because that also gave me ideas for/reminded me of meals for fussy eaters or quick things etc.
iv) searchable databases of recipes where you can plug in the main ingredients you have and come up with recipes that you can make with those.
v) experience of my parents cooking/planning - although invaluable - the OP cannot provide parents with this knowledge for people so it's not a useful suggestion in this context.
vi) a fairly repetitive and monotonous diet - not ideal, and I'm sure for many people not necessary, but in truth this has helped us not waste food because I only cook things I am fairly certain I can persuade the children to eat.
vii) cooking more than one meal at a sitting - I prefer more variety than my children so I cook an "enhanced" version of whatever they are having which they are free to try (spicier/more added veg, a sauce etc).

again - I'm not expecting anyone else to agree with this or it work for them, and I fully expect that this will not chime with some people's moral views on parenting/shopping/cooking but it does work for us, and it has (as a byproduct) cut down on food waste.

I would love to see more on this thread of people's experience of what has worked for them.

I agree with much of your post but just felt I needed to highlight that point. I feel quite strongly that quite a lot of waste happens because many parents have allowed their children to dictate what they (and indeed the parents themselves) eat, rather than what's put in front of them.

Obviously, there will be a couple of things that each child won't touch with a bargepole, just as happens with adults, but allowing children to be as picky as many are leads to waste at home and waste at school, much of which could be avoided.