Food Waste Audit Diary May 2019

tighteningthebelt

Great to see how everyone does things! thanks for all the constructive comments and taking the time to write and post them, its fascinating.

today there were 2 for breakfast, 1 for lunch, 1 for tea.

since i'm still eating the setasides from the big prep the other day i haven't made much waste again today.

declaring 95g unavoidable in the form of eggshells, coffee grounds, teabags (a miracle... just 2 today, its been hot so more water and squash)apple core, pear core.

tighteningthebelt

Evening!
today; 2 for breakfast, 1 for lunch, 2 for tea.
about finished the setasides now.

today 90g unavoidable teabags, salad bits, pear core, coffee grounds.
5g avoidable bit of dodgy looking carrot and perfectly serviceable radish bottoms

themadvix

Morning!

Those amounts are going down TTB - impressive! I, on the other hand, have thrown out rather too much this week... and I've discovered the problem. I know what needs using in my fridge and remember to use it.... However, DH is not as good at knowing/checking and I forget to communicate clearly to him sometimes. He's responsible for (fridge bottom) stir fries (usually Friday, but also last night this week)... and twice this week we've had to throw things because he's not used them in the stir fry and they've gone mouldy. Better communication is needed (it's not intentional on his part, but he is forgetful - drives me up the wall!).

I've been thinking more about the avoidable/unavoidable/possibly avoidable thing and I guess there is a need to categorise *all* waste for this sort of research, so that things don't just sneak into the wrong category and get missed. It also means that analysis can be extrapolated about the quantities - if councils collect weights of food waste, but from studies they know that x% is unavoidable, they can make estimations about how much *is* avoidable, iyswim. (Perhaps this was hugely obvious to others, but it's taken me a while to get there!)

trailingspouse

It's ironic that prepping 'real' food produces more unavoidable food waste than using ready meals etc - all those peelings and stalks and egg shells and so on. BUT - ready meals result in more packaging to chuck out.

And as many people have pointed out, at least the unavoidable food waste can be put to other uses, whether that's on the compost heap or out to the birds, or fed to the dog. And there's still food waste when ready meals are made - it's just not created by us, it's created at the factory - we're just shifting the waste (and the blame, I guess) around.

Unavoidable food waste so far today - nil. But - eventually there will be a cardboard cereal box with a plastic inner, and a plastic milk bottle to dispose of (and I won't be able to put them on the compost heap).

[Deleted User]

today really pleased as this was unavoidable waste
one banana skin
the core and seeds from a red pepper
stalks from a handful of grapes

tighteningthebelt

sorry for the delay! a funny couple of days.
thursday 160 unavoidable
friday - lost waste before i counted it (ds being helpful) but guessing 150g unavoidable and 10g avoidable from memory
saturday 210g unavoidable 85g avoidable (including potato peelings... i wanted mash!)
i'm back on it now.

tiredwithtwins

tighteningthebelt wrote: »

eggy pan scrapings came from overcooking scrambled eggs because i was faffing about saving 5 breadcrumbs from the bread bag into freezer.

haha, that's the sort of thing I do ..




with regards to the wasting of pesto .. my pesto tends not to get wasted cos I could easily just eat it out the jar ha, but if im not going to use it for a while, scrape down the sides of the jar, so any stuck to the side is in the jar with the rest, then pour a thin film of olive oil over the top .. keep in fridge and I find it makes it last a bit longer. if you don't like pesto too oily, either pour it off before using the pesto, or use the oil to mix with pasta or to fry ...

tighteningthebelt

Hi
declaring 125g unavoidable (peel from 2 oranges, teabags, eggshells) 10g avoidable (two squishy grapes and some cake crumbs left on worktop)
Must also declare today was unusual... dad brought tea and pudding for us... have only accounted for what went in my bin!
I'm busy boiling up some kidney beans for tomorrows peeling frenzy!

tighteningthebelt

tiredwithtwins wrote: »

with regards to the wasting of pesto .. my pesto tends not to get wasted cos I could easily just eat it out the jar ha, but if im not going to use it for a while, scrape down the sides of the jar, so any stuck to the side is in the jar with the rest, then pour a thin film of olive oil over the top .. keep in fridge

fab tip. thanks. I do get my money's worth out of my spatula!!

HelenPetersBeads

Kidney beans for a peeling frenzy????

This sounds intriguing!