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As I was walking round my local town this morning I saw a council refuse bin driving past with a big advert on the side saying, roughly "Did you know that 1/3rd of the food we buy is thrown away?". That doesn't apply in my modest home so who is actually throwing away this much scoff?
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Those with more money than sense! Not us either...
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Not me. I'll take others' uneaten food out of the kitchen bin (and get a telling off from SWMBO), but not put it in.
EDIT: although I don't get much opportunity - the rest of the house is pretty good too
Last edited by: Focus on Wed 9 Feb 11 at 21:22
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I only cook what I'm just about to eat. The only waste I have is when I over estimate, or stuff like the end crusts of the loaf, fat from meat etc. But with 4 spaniels staring up at me, then that too gets eaten - just not by me.
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Hi Dave, virtually no waste here (3 Labradors and 2 of them working) However we do not feed them anything we would not eat ourselves so no fat at all. However Erin doors always prepares toooo much veg so there's loads left over for the 3 hooligans cos if she didn't then they'd get nowt from our leftovers!!
We used to live in skip in middle o road you know!!
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Close to zero here as well, all kitchen waste apart from meat products are taken by the council. We waste very little anyway. Ducks/birds even go without bread these days since the bread-maker arrived !
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>> We used to live in skip in middle o road you know!!
>>
>>>> thats disgusting
hope it had lights on, was registered to the council and you owned your own cess pit
:-0
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Nah. Paid cash......under the radar!!
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Well one loaf a week is more than we actually eat, but the surplus goes to either breadcrumbs for stuffing or birdfood, and thw 2 pints a week the milkie delivers is less than we use at home so some of that gets poured away. but precious little else does.
I think the key is that we eat very little pre-prepared food, so most of what we have is 'ingredients' and there is always something to do with them
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>> and the 2 pints a week the milkie
>> delivers is less than we use at home so some of that gets poured away.
2?? Approx 15 pints of semi-skimmed and 4 skimmed here. Used to use milkman but for that amount it makes financial sense to use Asda eg. 2x4 pints for £2.
Last edited by: Focus on Wed 9 Feb 11 at 22:31
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19 pints of milk a week?
WTF does it go!
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>> WTF does it go!
Our weekly order is eight pints of semi skim and same again in full cream. Practically all the full cream goes in the son, 16, either on cereal or in milk shakes.
Semi skim does tea & coffee for other three of who only SWMBO regularly eats cereal. Rest goes in cooking - white/cheese sauce etc.
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>> 19 pints of milk a week?
>>
>> WTF does it go!
I wish I knew! Although there are 5 in the household - 2 oldies + 2 20-something stepsons + son (14), and I think we all have cereals with milk for breakfast. Son usually has about half a pint as a supper drink. Lots of tea and coffee. Still seems like a lot I grant you. Perhaps not that amount every week, but I always get 2x4 semi + 1x2 skimmed for the Saturday shop, and often get the same again mid-week, so 19 isn't far off the mark. And I have to try to squash all the empties into the recycling!
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I suspect an awful lot of that waste is overbuying together with slavish adherence to use by and misunderstanding of 'best before'.
Most food well smell and look bad long before it's capable of making a healthy person ill (obviously, the young old and immuno compromised need more care). Poultry and shellfish need respect but cheese, yoghurt and staples such as bacon can be eaten long after UB dates provided they're properly refrigerated.
Mrs B ensures that any over purchased stuff gets used up or frozen. Leftovers are converted to one meal portions for the nights we're eating in split shifts. Her parents, and mine, lived through the war and through hard times before or after. 'Waste not want not' was dinned in from an early age.
Only food that goes in the bin is plate scrapings.
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Food waste goes into the dog. Except bread and onions.
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The last supermarket I worked in binned £10k of waste - per week!!!
In our house we used to bin a lot, SWMBO who does the shopping would open the fridge, pull out all the out of date stuff (that she had bought), put all the replacements in (of the same thing) and then repeat every week.
Of course we would get the blame for not eating it! Mind you, she was right when she said that never in her life has she had to chuck out crisps for having gone out of date.....
We now do several small shops a week instead of one big one, most nights we are driving past the supermarket anyway so makes sense to get little and often.
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Council gives us a Kitchen Caddy...this has a degradable bag and goes in the green garden waste bin when full.
All it gets fed is peel, bones, apple cores, etc Hardly any food gets chucked here. We have a milkman, 1 pint semi a day and 6 chucky eggs on Sat. Used to get it from the shop up the road but Billy the Milk needs the business and he does keep an eye on things around the area. We go to a local farm for fruit and veg...pay a little more but it seems nicer stuff and they have a little cafe there.
Mrs T can't really complain that I never take her out !
Ted
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>> and 6 chucky eggs
This term amuses me. For me Chucky Egg was a game on a BBC Model B in the 80s. But a few weeks back my wife mentioned chucky eggs (soft boiled for her reference) but the egg cups went in the house clearance in Dec 2009... now replaced.
Back to eggs.... egg shells can go in the so called kitchen caddy too apparently.
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Are chookie eggs related? Hard boiled, shelled, 2 in a cup, knob of butter, salt and pepper, battered with a knife then munched with toast. Loved that when I was wee. Still do love it but I don't have asbestos fingers like a time served woman in the kitchen... So I go without these days :-)
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>> Still do love it but I don't have asbestos fingers like a time served
>> woman in the kitchen
Mrs B insists her asbestos fingers have nothing to do with gender or kitchen and everything to do with being a graduate in chemistry.
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Like the OP, I have seen the 'a third of all food is thrown away' slogan.
And like the OP and everyone else, I just don't get it.
I perhaps don't buy as much fresh food as I should, but very little of anything is thrown away.
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At my local main tip there is a sign saying that the county recycles 83% of its waste, which seems a bit high but the tip accepts literally anything, used oil, long life bulbs with mercury in them, garden waste, the lot.
Vis a vis best before dates I am with those who go by taste, smell and the absence of coloured mould, except for specialist cheeses of course. The other day I was offered a can of Boddies at someone's home, 2 years beyond the date; it poured well, was a good clear colour and tasted as good as Boddies ever does, which isn't too good anyway IMO!
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Of course 1/3rd of food is wasted.
Either rejected by supermarkets - so unsold.
Or unsold by supermarkets - so thrown away..
I suspect waste by housholders is a very small % but neither the Gov't or supermarkets are going to tell you...
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We compost most of our uncooked organic waste, meat waste goes into the dog, very very little gets thrown away.
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>>
>> Council gives us a Kitchen Caddy...this has a degradable bag and goes in the green
>> garden waste bin when full.
>>
Here is a money saving tip. those degradable bags can cost 25 to 30p each. However, most councils - if you ask their "Recycling Advisory Officers" - will confirm that wrapping the waste in newspaper is allowed. They also allow using your shredded paper in the caddy to line it, as it can help absorb liquids in the food waste.
e.g.
Torbay: Special compostable sacks/corn starch liners
"You do not need to use them however, as you can use newspaper or nothing at all"
Milton-Keynes are very pro newspaper liners:
"we would prefer you to use paper liners or wrap your scraps in newspaper"
Richmond-upon-Thames
"Newspaper or paper bags as a degradable liner
Newspaper makes a great free compostable liner or wrapper".
Last edited by: John H on Thu 10 Feb 11 at 10:54
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>> What, even the sprouts?
yeah, even the sprouts.
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That'l make the dog f*** so bad that it will smell them and move put of the way.
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Our turkey eats all our green food waste...recycled as fertiliser...
Meat waste? What is that? We restrict our meat intake so nothing is uneaten...
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I've never wasted any part of a Big Mac, or a single chip.
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or microbite of their WiFi ?
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"I've never wasted any part of a Big Mac, or a single chip."
And the joy of treating the kids to a MacD is that you get to hoover up theirs as well.
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>> And the joy of treating the kids to a MacD is that you get to
>> hoover up theirs as well.
I only get the gherkins :(
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I'd never eat there again after what I saw.
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>> I'd never eat there again after what I saw.
The price list? It's not that bad :)
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It was your comment about the gherkins that gave me the flash-back !
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...It was your comment about the gherkins that gave me the flash-back...
Yes, the McDonald's gherkin has always divided opinion among diners.
I love 'em, but there's not much McDonald's sell that I wouldn't eat.
Except the fruit and salads, of course.
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I suspect waste by households is enormous. You only have to read Bobby's post earlier.
My parents were both alive during the war too, and experienced rationing (apart from when my father was in the forces). I'm sure that helps my parsimonious attitude compared to those of my contemporaries with younger parents.
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For a household of 4 adults and one teenager I think we do quite well to average between one and 2 black bags per week. We used to live next door to a couple and their 20-something daughter who would put out 8 bags (and no recycling). Couldn't work out where it all came from.
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Perhaps their toilet was blocked? LOL
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This is typically what happens
Man/woman goes to supermarket.
Finds Buy One Get One Free, Half Price, Reduced etc.
Feels tempted and buys loads of food just because it is cheap (rather than because s/he wants to eat them)
Tastes one item from the multi-pack.
Does not like the taste (if taste is good, food is used up quickly)
Stash inside fridge/freezer for later use.
Looks at old stock only when no longer can push new stuffs on fridge.
Discovers old stuffs are already past Use By date or even if not, does not feel appetite for eating them.
Food goes to bin.
The cycle continues.
Great Britain = Great Deals = Great Wastage :o)
I think a smaller car is better to prevent food wastage. If you can't carry too much home you can't waste.
Last edited by: movilogo on Thu 10 Feb 11 at 10:53
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Well I know we don't throw food away so I looked in the kitchen bin to see what's in there. And it is mostly non-recyclable food packaging, along with tissues, tea bags and some non-food packaging. Not easy to avoid it (ie. packaging) these days.
Last edited by: Focus on Thu 10 Feb 11 at 11:06
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>> Well I know we don't throw food away so I looked in the kitchen bin
>> to see what's in there. And it is mostly non-recyclable food packaging, along with tissues,
>> tea bags and some non-food packaging. Not easy to avoid it (ie. packaging) these days.
>>
tea bags are recyclable!
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>> tea bags are recyclable!
Yes, I realised that after posting. But I've been somewhat remiss and not re-established the compost bin we brought with us when we moved house, along with about 8 sacks of compost. SWMBO has great plans for a vegetable patch, and I'm waiting for instructions. Poor excuse I know.
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Wow, I hope mapmaker doesn't read that Focus, you'll incur the wrath of Hades:)
Pat
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>> Wow, I hope mapmaker doesn't read that Focus, you'll incur the wrath of Hades:)
I'll be hiding behind you Pat :)
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>> tea bags are recyclable!
You reuse them a couple of times too then?
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I don't think it's households who are most culpable with regard to food waste.
Next time you go out for a meal, check out how many people clear their plates. Restaurants, unfortunately, are in a bit of a pinch here; serve too little and they're accused of scrimping, too much and the customer wastes it. I genuinely feel sorry for the chefs in such establishments (my son is one of them) seeing all their hard work thrown away.
Unfortunately we now live in a society where such excess is the norm. My parents, who were born in the mid-1920's, were raised to waste as little as possible, and were genuinely embarrassed if they couldn't finish a meal. I was brought up to eat what I was given, not whinge and get several choices; furthermore I was also taught that if I didn't make at least a half-decent attempt to finish my main course, I didn't get a dessert.
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... I didn't make at least a half-decent attempt to finish my main course...
Quite right.
Seeing the mess and large amounts of food left by some diners in restaurants is quite dispiriting.
I wonder why those who leave lots of food are often those who leave the table looking like a bomb site?
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Never in living memory have I left anything (other than a fork an' knife) on a plate when eating out !
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It must be difficult for restaurants to hit it just right with portion size, but at least one we go to has found the answer.
On holiday we visited for the second evening on the trot and were agonising over making a choice from the menu.
The waitress asked if we needed more time and one of us said the problem was we wanted three course but couldn't manage to eat it all, so the choice we were struggling with was between starter and sweet.
She suggested we order one portion of whitebait as a starter to share, and was more than happy to serve it in the centre of the table with two lots of utensils.
Guess where we kept going back to?
Pat
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>>She suggested we order one portion of whitebait as a starter to share, and was more
>>than happy to serve it in the centre of the table with two lots of utensils.
>>Guess where we kept going back to?
Anywhere I go would be happy to do that. Often share a pudding.
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>> Anywhere I go would be happy to do that. Often share a pudding.
Indeed, do that a lot, every restaurant is happy to oblige. We often share two starters between 4 as well.
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During WWII, government posters urged the population to "Waste not, want not" and I've never forgotten that maxim. If it's put on my plate I eat it.
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Can we all use that excuse for our ever expanding waistlines?
Pat
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There is a Chinese eat-all-you want buffet which I use from time to time. They have a sign displayed which states that diners will be charged £3 for every plate of food that they do not finish! I do not go there often so I can't say if it is ever applied.
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>> Can we all use that excuse for our ever expanding waistlines?
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>> Pat
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Less of the "our " please.
I know you are svelte and slim Pat, as am I...
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>> Can we all use that excuse for our ever expanding waistlines?
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Speak for yourself, Lass....I'm wasting away with my new diabetic hormone injections.
Got legs like Charles Hawtrey now instaed of Charles Atlas !
Ted
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Food Waste - hobby
