The MSE Food Waste Challenge Thread

Florence_J

Hi all,

I have had an idea for a thread. It was inspired by the thread posted by the Government on this forum about combating the problem of food waste.

That thread was very informative, lots of great suggestions, but I thought we could go one better.

My own suggestion was to keep a food waste diary. This was based when I used to work in catering and at the end of the shifts we would record how much food and drinks had to be thrown away because they had reached their sell by date. We would also record how much the item cost so that the managers could keep a track of how much money was being lost.

So I propose that we use this thread to record how much money has been thrown away in terms of food and drink. Now, I know that posting on the Old Style board and asking people to record how much food they throw away will probably result in no posts as everyone is a master at not wasting anything :rotfl: but I am sure there has been the odd occasion when something slips through, whether it is a slightly slimy lettuce, or some furry tomatoes.

The idea is you post on here about something you had to throw away as well as the value of the item, and hopefully the talented old stylers will come up with suggestions as to how to prevent it next time.

For instance today I had to throw away 12 eggs! This is because I had to unexpectedly stay at my in laws after I had done a big food shop, and my OH doesn't eat eggs. I even used the water test to see if they were still ok, but sadly they weren't.

Therefore today I wasted 1.60.

My other tips is this. I use the app OLIO which is designed to be a food sharing/food waste prevention app. If you have a smart phone and hate food waste this could be for you. You upload a photo and description of the item you want to pass on (most cases you are advertising the item to be collected with no payment desired, but you can place a price on the item if you like) and people in your local area can search for items they may want to collect. I uploaded about 7 items today that I won't use in time, but aren't practical to be donated to a shelter or charity.

I hope there might be some interest in this thread. Come along and say Hi if you like.

mrs_motivated

Hi Florence....what a great thread idea.

I am getting much better with waste, but still at the end of each week find a few things lurking in the fridge that get thrown away. This week is was 2 tomatoes , 1 onion and a large pot of natural yogurt....I'm particularly annoyed about the yogurt which I had bought to eat with granola for breakfasts and completely forgot about. Not sure about the exact cost, but will have a guess at about £1.50

Slowly57

Two things work for me

1. A list of use-them-ups on the fridge door for left overs/getting close to past their bests - very satisfying to tick them off lol.

2. Moving my fridge shelves so I have one at eye level to store all my use-it-firsts on.

Being careful with yellow sticker stuff that can't be frozen - that can be wasteful in and of itself! Also my freezer space is precious so I have no qualms about getting rid of anything lingering 'unfancied'.

Always ask MrGoogle if something is freezable; FYI on eggs - they will freeze if you've room - for instance https://www.popsugar.co.uk/node/37815902/print

I do sometimes throw things away (rarely these days) because, in the end I really cannot stand to eat them (hello kale! avocado!! olives!!!). And because I am not a dustbin, I don't feel the need to beat myself up about it If they are packs/tins in date and just not-to-my-taste they go into a food donation bin.

I think the thing is to keep on top of your fresh food - you can always trim a slimy lettuce, squishy tomatoes and wrinkly peppers can be roasted - slimy mushrooms - well in our house they don't get the chance lol, past-it fruit gets put under a crumble or poached and added to porridge/yoghurt. Loads of veg bits = soup or stir fry.

So to come back on topic - what have I whizzed this week?
1. a portion of HM extremely bland poached salmon in creme fraiche
2. some veg trimmings + lettuce leaves, to keep stored produce perky
3. one random slice of cooked chicken that had gone curly (packed lunch ingredient escapee)

I'm guessing I wasted about £2.00 (YS salmon) in total

lozzy81

i try really hard not to throw stuff away and use everything up.... but today i found a packet of mouldy pitta breads, may be 70p? they had to go in the bin :mad:

i have stared chopping up any veg that i don't think will be used and putting them in a zip lock bag then freezing, i saw that tip on a thread here but don't know which one.

t14cy_t

luckily i cant remember the last time i threw out any food. peelings and odds and ends go to the chickens and ducks, even egg shells and used tea bags go back in the garden soil!! bones go out for the foxes, where the dogs cant get them. i use my freezer religiously to stop waste. x

suki1964

Yep, having hens means no waste at all, and you get scrummy eggs in return. I would suggest anyone who has a garden and isn't too precious about it to get a couple of hens

Only food waste in my bin are onion skins or left over onions from the plate ( neither hens nor dog can eat those). Yesterday the hens feasted on the last portion of veg broth that was on the turn. Even the odd soft egg laid gets boiled up and fed back to them. As do the shells, they need the grit. All veg peelings get boiled up and fed to them. When the grandkids are here they get left over cereal, crusts etc

Today I shall be boiling a gammon. Stock will be pea and ham soup, the rind will go to the hens and every scrap of meat will be eaten. Even the veg I add to the boiling water will be used in the soup, celery leaves the lot

I honestly think, hand on heart, the last bit of food thrown away in this house, was a pack of beets about three weeks ago, that mum bought before she went on holiday ( only mother can go and stock up on bits she likes, two days before she heads out on a cruise lol )

Having pull out larder shelves means I can see what I've got at a glance, nothing gets hidden. Fridge is just veg, dairy and whatever meat I'm using the next 48 hrs, the rest is in the freezer. I even have pull out shelves in the fridge so I can see at a glance, nothing perishable gets hidden to the back. Not having a full fridge is also a great help in the war against waste. I buy only what's needed for the week. If I run out of fresh veg, then frozen veg or tinned veg comes into use

maman

It is a good idea for a thread Florence but you might be preaching to the converted on the OS boards.


We don't have chickens so vegetable peelings do go in the bin. If we were keen gardeners maybe I could compost it but we're not.


I know we waste very little because although we have a weekly bin collection we rarely put the bin out more than once a fortnight and then it's half empty.


Most of our 'waste' is unnecessary packaging especially the sort that can't be recycled.:(

[Deleted User]

I think perhaps my only food waste would be the outside leaves of a lettuce/cabbage, and egg shells. I suppose my rubbish bag (apart from the recycling one ) is usually a small free plastic bag from a supermarket once a week. I even get these from my DD :) as I try to only bin as little as possible. Too much stuff goes into landfill, and if I have bought it to eat then it will get eaten ,or frozen to eat later. But it will be interesting to see how this thread developes. I have at the moment in my fridge left over cream from Saturday which will be used up on cereal or in coffee today and tomorrow. Banana skins and potato peelings go into the rubbish bag, I have a garden but no composting bin as I rarely do anything out there ,my gardener chap comes and cuts the lawn and weeds and takes everything away with him. The flowers are in pots on the patio, as my joints won't let me bend very well, especially in the cold weather. I do my best to recycle as much as I can, and repurpose things as well.

Florence_J

Thanks for all your posts everyone

Was able to give away another food item on OLIO today. I find it is an interesting way of meeting people.

The only things that have been thrown out this week have been tea bags, I know I could dry them out and re-use them, but I feel once is enough :rotfl:

I think my problem is I know all the tricks-good freezing space and hens-but space constraints mean I cannot have either. We do have a small freezer, but it doesn't take much to fill it up.

My OH and I made the switch from mostly fresh vegetables to mostly frozen vegetables. My OH is quite fussy, whereas I have a cast iron stomach and aside from the fact I don't eat meat I wouldn't say there is anything I won't eat. I found that the vegetables and fresh items I like such as onions were just getting wasted so now I just buy a frozen bag in Iceyland and that way I have onions on demand with no waste.

One day when I have my own home it is my dream to have huge amounts of freezing space. I even went on at length to my OH about how there would be a drawer for YS bread, a drawer for batch cooking, a drawer for vegetables.....

Florence_J

Had to throw away a tupperware of defrosted veggie chilli as it had gone bad. Will say £1 was the total value of the chilli, so my wastes for October may end on £2.60 which isn't too bad. Not as good as £0 though!

Islandmaid

I use Sunday to have a bit of a fridge clear for the oncoming working week, today I used up 4 rashers of smoked bacon to make bacon and lentil soup for my lunches this week.

I did have to throw out half a cucumber. Now it's just us 2, I think I need to only buy a half cucumber at a time.