[Closed] So how much food do you throw away?

Make up a menu every week for lunches and dinners ANC buy accordingly and practically never throw out any food. Like the OP in the case of excess veg (celery etc) just make soup or snack on it.

very little indeed. I always cook more than we need for a dinner as the rest becomes Jr's lunch for playskool the next day. Any veg that's been lingering gets turned into soup with stock made from all bones/carcasses.

Occasionally I might have forgotten Ive bought a pack of crumpets that then go green at the back of the bread bin.

And sometimes Mrs S makes a soup so inedible it has to be filed in the compost heap 🙂

All-in-all, my middle-class-track-world conscience is clear.

I do the cooking and the food shopping so I tend to buy what I think we'll need rather than "Ooh, that's a good deal, I'll buy it."

If there is a good deal on fresh stuff, chicken for example, then I may cook up a larger dish than normal and freeze the rest for "ready meals" through the week.

Also by and large ignore use by dates.

I am stunned at the suggestion that 50% of all food is wasted in the UK and USA though - there must be some epic wasters if the average (or is that median? I never know) is 50%!

The media or IMechE is playing fast and loose with the data.

'It is estimated that 30–50% (or 1.2–2 billion tonnes) of all food produced on the planet is lost before reaching a human stomach.'
http://www.imeche.org/Libraries/Reports/IMechE_Global_Food_Report.sflb.ashx

is an entirely different statistic to
'The report said half the food bought in Europe and the US ended up in the bin'

And if you actually look at the reference, it says 20%
'UK households throw away over 7 million tonnes every year, around 20% by weight of that purchased'
http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/solutions-around-household-food-waste

And I still don't believe that.

I know since we got better at composting all food waste it's more than we thought ...but 20%? No.

Co-incidentally, I like this I saw today: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/shortcuts/2013/jan/09/can-you-trust-an-infographic

Very little for about the last 12 years. Odd bit of bread...but that goes to the birds, so it's not completely wasted.

Pretty much what ever is left over from the evening meal gets eaten for lunch the next day.

I didn't realise how I'd got until I was back at my Mum's with my sister over Christmas....Christ, the amount they threw away had me foaming at the mouth!!

My mum, who lives alone, has more stuff in her fridge (which will go out of date before eaten generally) than we as a family of 5 have.

Has me spitting bullets!

I've got one of those small recycling / compost bins that the council collect and it's rarely 1/4 full. Very rarely any wasted food though, it's usually just genuine waste stuff like orange or banana skins and veggie pealings etc. I guess the one thing I do through out is the odd black banana - hate them when they've got overly ripe!!

Not much wasted.
Same as Albanach,menu planning FTW.
Makes it much easier to shop for what you will use,rather than what you think you need.

black banana - take from skin, place in bag, freeze.

Eat as 'ice cream' the next day.

I take real issue with wasting food. It was just the way I was raised.

I had real issues over Christmas which was at our house this year.
The inlaws who were staying with us kept buying excess food what was never going to be consumable by us, and had no issue binning stuff just to make room in the fridge for more.

I think those figures are probably accurate cause the people who don't have a conscience wasting stuff would bin loads.

very little really.

bakery waste goes to the birds in the garden
veg waste goes into compost
meat waste goes to the cats

If you look at the details of those numbers, it's actually 12%, because they say only 60% of that 20% of food waste could have been eaten. Presumably the rest is onion skins, potato peelings etc.?

Not sure how good we are, we cook things, so we don't throw too much packaging away.

We plan menus too. I think it is easier if you only buy basics in bulk though - we buy things like onions, potatoes etc. and store cupboard stuff in bulk every so often, but we are helped by the fact that we're both quite flexible time wise, and only work 4 days a week each, so we have time to pop to the shops in the week and pick up things for the next few days of meals.

Generally nothing is wasted, peelings off veg etc go into soup and get frozen if not used right away. I grew up quite poor and hate food waste. A friend and his family seem to chuck loads out, he was cooking sausages, cooked the whole packet and they only ate half of them, rest was destined for the bin till I had them. It is annoying to think of what's wasted.

Next to nothing. Only thing would be the last slice of bread. We use a Breadmaker everyday, because it isn't laced with preservatives it doesn't last. Other than that nothing. Could explain why I'm so fat.

My parents stayed with us for 3 months last year and the amount of waste they generated was shocking. Not just wasted food but they didn't try to use the recycling bins and we went from barely half a black bag of rubbish each week to 2 or 3.

Oh, and we do obvious things to avoid some packaging like not buying individual yoghurts, just buying the big pots and putting them in ramekins at the table with syrup or jam or fruit in. Tastes nicer (most of the small pots are rubbish low fat yoghurt with tons of sugar in), and is quick to do.

My not wasting food waste stroke of genius this week, when someone left some christmas cake at ours that was getting a bit dry and wasn't going to get eaten up (as we've still got some of ours left) was suggesting christmas cake trifle. Christmas cake, mixed berries out of the freezer, custard, whipped cream + cherry liqueur, decorated with spare chocolate buttons left over from Father Christmas, voila, one fabulous pudding!

I think we're only good at not wasting because of my wife though - I'm a recipe cook for anything more complicated than risotto, pasta, curry, fried rice or stir fry. She can take an idea (like 'christmas cake trifle'), and go with it until it is actually something yummy.

As a single man, I'm still adjusting my food purchase habits. My bread consumption has plummeted so some is getting binned. And I always seem to be binning some veg and fruit. I may move to a "prep, parcel and freeze" strategy for the veg.

As a student, I don't really throw anything away as it's a waste of beer funds. I shop every couple of days though, and decide my evening meals based on what's reduced in the supermarket. Pork belly, chickpea and chorizo casserole last night 🙂

I was a bit annoyed that I was wasting bread. So I made a bread & butter pudding. Then had to throw half of it away 🙁

Virtually nothing. The very occasional piece of fruit as the missus seems to think I like the stuff and buys accordingly. Luckily I will eat food I don't like rather than bin it. I doubt we could fill one of those small recycling bins a year. Oh yeah and now the last dog has gone there may be the odd scrap of cabbage etc which has to go to the compost bin.

I menu plan and batch cook, ignore use by dates and anything that looks a bit iffy gets turned into soup so you can’t see how manky it looks any more.

The only thing that gets thrown away really is what that boy doesn’t finish off at meals. I used to eat it all instead because I hate waste but realised how tubby it was making me so have stopped! If it can be saved, I do so but we do end up throwing away much more than I like, because you can’t predict what a nearly 2.5yo will or won’t eat!

Our council have given us a [url= http://www.hungry-harry.co.uk ]Hungry Harry[/url]. Great idea, as on the one hand it stops the food just becoming landfill, and on the other lets you physically see the amount you are throwing out. Which, for me, has been enough to make attempts to reduce the waste.

None. I can't afford to throw away good food.

dry bread

Use it to make croutons or put in blender to make breadcrumbs or make tuscan bread salad.

Hardly a scrap. Anything left over goes either to the dog or the chickens.

really gets my goat in a bad way this, probably as I come from a background of have not/make do and mend, so none.

*I think the figures are 'probably' 'complicated' by supermarket etc type 'waste' - sell by date, incorrect colour/size etc, however I also think we've reached the stage where seagulls might be more appropriately renamed as ediblestreetlittercollectorgulls

I'm also taking a liking to some signs I now see appearing in the 'all you can eat restaurants' - along the lines of 'If you don't clear your plate there will be an extra charge'

Everyone seems very thorough and good about this. I wonder if it's only STWers who don't waste food who replied.

The OH won't throw anything away, she'll try and turn it into something. I'm a bit more wasteful, I ignore use by dates, but if something doesn't pass the "looks ok/sniff test" then I bin it. We don't have any food waste recycling in our area so it does usual get binned rather than recycled.

Anything extra that has been cooked the OH will freeze or turn into a dodgy/stodgy soup, which I avoid. But I always finish whatever food is put in front of me (might pick out the kidney beans from a chilli).

All our stale bread is turned into breadcrumbs and frozen. I emptied the food waste container last night, which contained only peelings, egg shells and bones - so no edible waste at all. It's really not difficult.

I'm also taking a liking to some signs I now see appearing in the 'all you can eat restaurants' - along the lines of 'If you don't clear your plate there will be an extra charge'

Agree with this. Should do the same at hotels with buffet style hot/cold food.

Really bugs me people who stack their plate high and then leave loads. It's something Jnr used to do until I beat it out of him*. I have no problem looking greedy and making multiple trips, but then I don't put so much on my plate each time.

*not literally

I sometimes buy green stuff to appease myself, as all the food I [i]actually[/i] eat, once removed from its extensive packaging, is beige. Apart from the cheese.

I think of it as a sort of garnish, to brighten up the fridge. Once it start to turn an earthier tone of the original green, I bin it all and buy some more.

I occasionally get fruit too. I find apples look nice in the fruit bowl on the table in the dining room, as I've got candles the same colour. I'm actually more likely to eat one of the candles, so they get binned after a bit too

but then I don't put so much on my plate each time.

looooooooads. used to chuck very little but then kids came along. Fussy buggers

Hardly any.

I have 2 teenage boys so waste is usually about zero - they eat ****ing everything including some stuff I am sure is actually inedible.

When the wife bakes, the tray of buns can be consumed without ever leaving the cooling rack unless armed guards and tripwires are deployed.

It's like living with mobile wate disposal units wandering about the house.

I've just enquired about a food waste bin thanks to this thread, no idea they did them.

We waste next to nothing. Probably limited to whatever the kids drop on the floor.

Then again, we produce next to no (non-human) waste of any description - couple of small bin bags per fortnight.

I end up binning way too much as well 🙁 When I'm shopping I tend to just do a quick mental check to make sure the stuff I'm buying won't go off (it's usually on consequtive dates for ready meals/veg as neither has a long shelf life) before I use but but then I might fancy a take-away, go down the pub, round a friend's etc. and not end up eating the meal I'd planned so I then either throw it out or eat it a day later than planned which then means the next day's planned meal goes past it's use by date...
I should basically stop trying to buy 5 or 6 days worth of meals in one shop but I hate going to the supermarket (there's no other options within 10 minutes drive around by me) and not sure I trust online grocery shopping yet, I'm pretty fussy about condition and dates on stuff - don't they just pick the crappest quality/closest use by date stuff? Might give it a go though as I probably throw out £10 of stuff a week.

Before I left home and started communal cooking in shared accommodation, I didn't realise that people paid any attention to use by dates. People would actual throw food away because of a number printed on the side of the packet rather than using their olfactory system, evolved over millions of years to stop us eating stuff that makes us ill.
Madness!

fuzzywuzzy this is why batch cooking works so well. I actually do a main shop for the month (will do tiny top ups for fresh veg only really) but when I make a meal I will do 3 meals worth, eat one and freeze two. then you have a bit of flexibility about when you eat what you have made for that month.

Ie I shopped on Sunday for this month, I have already frozen thai red curry and macaroni cheese w courgettes and bacon, and Saturday will be making beef in ale cassserole and freezing that too. you also get the bonus of a homecooked healthy meal without acutally having to cook it when you are feeling lazy. can't go wrong.

"Use by" is less of an issue for me as a veggie; I'm not likely to die from, say, spoiled chicken. The OH is a carnivore though, so I've no control over what doesn't get eaten there as I can't just go "oh, I'll eat it then."

I do throw out way too much stuff, but am trying to get on top of it. As Fuzzy says, '**** it, I'll get take-out' is a killer, and working at two ends of the country between us doesn't help either.

I made a concerted effort a while back to plan a week's meals when shopping, largely prompted by the OH joining Slimming World (or one of the others, I forget) and requiring set menus. The amount of food, and money, I saved by shopping like that is frankly startling, and I can't recommend it enough.

Sadly though, I've slipped into my old ways. But, just for you, STW, I'll sort it out.

I've just enquired about a food waste bin thanks to this thread, no idea they did them.

Oh yeah, batch cooking is also really helpful.

When I'm on my own, it's a PITA to cook a proper meal for one, so I started making two meals and saving the second one for lunch at work the next day. I should really ramp up the scale and start freezing stuff.

I waste very little. Buy and cook from scratch daily and only stock up on tinned stuff/dry pasta etc.
I just dont like waste. Not because i was brought up eating coal, infact thinking about it my folks always food shopped at M+S and probably could'nt really afford it. My mum still shops there and definitely can't afford it!

The whole best before date thing is crazy. I have seen how much a tiny supermarket chucks out at the end of the day and its crazy- i worked at Terminal 5 doing night shifts during/after the construction phase. M+S would close at midnight and we'd grab loads of 'free' grub once they'd got rid of it as we had our break at 1am. £3 smoothies still cold etc. Once they got wind a security guard was posted outside the refuse room to foil us! Was funny/daft.

it's a PITA to cook a proper meal for one, so I started making two meals and saving the second one for lunch at work the next day.

ashamed face

What about the food that never makes to the supermarket because it rejected for being the: wrong size, colour, shape, over stock. Loads of produce gets thrown or simply ploughed back into the ground. What ever the percentage we can argue but in a starving world we waste shed loads of food. Given the water it takes to grow, process and general mess with all types of food, we really do need to wise up to the planets limitations.

What about the food that never makes to the supermarket because it rejected for being the: wrong size, colour, shape, over stock

Have you never been to Unicorn Organic Supermarket in Chorlton? You pay premium prices for that stuff!!!

One of my favourite routines is a chicken roast on Sunday. Meat and veg that doesn't get eaten becomes chicken pot pie on Monday. Chicken pot pie that doesnt get eaten on monday becomes lunch for Tuesday and Wednesday. The carcass gets boiled down for stock. Clean, dry bones only in the bin.

Numerous times in the past (not so much now since wheelie bins) I've seen chicken carcases hanging out of bin bags in the street that the cats have ripped open which have got easily another serving still on them. Disgraceful.

Almost none - we have a dog, who will literally eat anything.

We also tend to do stuff like the chicken roast, then chicken-stew-or-soup-the-next-day routine. Cook six portions of stuff in one go, eat two, fridge two, and freeze two. That kind of thing.

Biscuit Powered - absolutely. I have a lovely chicken broth recipe for left over roast chicken, including boiling the carcas for stock. Last week it was chicken and asparagus risotto for a change. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

we're pretty badly organised on food so either do batch cooking or buy on demand - no weekly/ monthly shops.
I cannot abide throwing food away though so generally throw away very little - if anything it's veg that we have had to buy in packets and ends up not being used - like celery or parsley or potatoes - you just can't buy supermarket potatoes loose anymore, apart from baking potatoes.

we got a big sack of potatoes given over Christmas which really annoyed me as we don't eat a lot of potatoes so will probably end up throwing most of them away.

we only stick out 1 bag of non recyclable/compostable a week (i refuse to have a compost bin in the garden as i just dont have the time or space to get it working for me..... and having spent a large portion of my youth removing other folks "compost" - read spoil heap and taking them to the tip as they also didnt do anything with them and they were jsut attracting pests)

There is the odd occasion where ill have a clear out of cupboards and find a tin or two thats well out of date - found one on the last clear out that id missed and missed.... a tin of pink salmon that had a best by date that preceeded the last two house moves !! not only that - no one eats the stuff in our house. The girlfriends gran gives us stuff and the girlfriend cannot throw it out because her gran gave it us.

Waste.

if the food makes it to my plate it generally goes down the hatch. We also do the batch cooking and meal planning which helps - especially if we are both riding late at night , stick pre frozen meals in the fridge the night before - give it 5 minutes nuke attack and your eating.

Only non-consumables.

I have this irrational fear of dying whilst leaving behind a fridge and cupboards full of food so tend to only buy a weeks worth at a time.

Would still be a rather annoyed last breath if I knew there was a nice steak waiting for me. Worth a haunting, even...

also , do none of you own a freezer ?

we freeze all meat unless they will be eaten today or tomorrow when bought and also all bread unless bought specifically for a meal today or tomorrow and toast or defrost as required.

voila no off meat or stale bread - id LOVE a bread machine but no space currently in kitchen for it 🙁

It really depends. Uusally not that much.

We plan our meals everyweek and as such, if we stick to it we waste very little (and that goes in compost anyway).

Where it goes wrong is when things change and we don't stick to our planned meals. In that instance, what can be is frozen but there's always some waste as a result.

we freeze all meat unless they will be eaten today or tomorrow when bought and also all bread

the freezer is generally full of 23 portions of chill and 18 portions of chicken cacciatore. chicken breasts are the only meat that get frozen.
Fresh bread is the only bread we eat; defrosted bread is nasty.

"Fresh bread is the only bread; defrosted bread is nasty. "

in what way ? i just toast as required 😉 - or stick it in a plastic bag and by the time lunch time comes around its exactly as it would have been coming from the breadbin - that doesnt say much , hovis et all are ****ing garbage bread but needs must.

fresh bread(as in from the bakery) does taste rank when defrosted , goes all airless and soggy.

Is no-one here willing to own up to being properly wasteful then?

Powerbar wrappers on the trail don't count as food waste btw.

The elderly in-laws are sadly obsessed with date stamps and will bin food that is a day out of date as if it will somehow get up and walk out of the kitchen on its own.

Have reasoned with them a number of times but they still do it.

Their buying habits are very strange they buy 'whoopsies' from Aldi/Lidl/wherever simply because they've been reduced, eat a few and bin the rest.

By the same token they have a curious hoard of baked beans and corned beef under the stairs 😕

in what way ?

toasting it is ok, but it seems to dry out if eaten 'raw' and loses it's lovely bready bounciness.

im the opposite to that statistic.......over 50% of my food comes out of the bins.
ive been collecting food out of the supermarket bins for years (illegally) the amount of stuff in there that isnt even out of date is truly shocking.
i collect 2-3 bin bags of food every visit
this time of year is fine but i do lay off in the summer once temps go up but by then im eating out of my garden

we're pretty wasteful..

we buy the ingredients each week to make certain meals.. then maybe have something else or eat out..

loadsa waste

awful people.. my compost bin loves us to death though

When I'm home alone.. 😐 I often buy two of most everything, certainly if working away or back home without MrsBouy. Which inevitably means 2 bags of rocket, 2 of watercress.. yadda yadda. Thing I find annoying is 1 bag of each will last two days as is, so the other two get thrown away cos’ they’ve turned back into compost in the bags. 🙄 and 4 days of salad is enough to turn a Man into a raging Homo.. 😆

Not much for us- occasionally a few mouldy slices of bread, or an onion or last couple of spuds that have got lost at the back of the cupboard or something but that's generally about it.

By the same token they have a curious hoard of baked beans and corned beef under the stairs

are they preppers?

Have you looked behind the piles of baked beans and corned beef?

I'm betting there will be gas masks, a shot gun and enough ammo to wipe out a small town

buy my ingredients for specfic meals so next to no waste - usually just waht the kids have left.

You lot have just reminded me I've forgotten to take the bin out this morning. Bollox - that's 2 weeks till the next collection (it should be full by then).

Frustratingly, we still waste too much food. We're much better when I'm in control of cooking and shopping (I write a weekly menu and refuse to shop without a list; Mrs North is the opposite). But Toddler North is even fussier than me when I was her age. Yes, I know I'm a fatty now (which doesn't bode well for her).

id LOVE a bread machine but no space currently in kitchen for it

Making it by hand only takes 15 mins prep and then two minutes knocking back and shaping. I make all of mine by hand at the moment.

Back from work: mix, knead and set to rise - then head out for a ride/run. come back and knock it back then get dinner on. half an hour before bed bung it in the oven and then take it out and leave it to cool overnight.

I quite like the routine to be honest. It gets a bit more tricky if you like heavy doughs or sourdough though.

I only really buy what I need as food waste has always been a pet hate of mine. It really pissed me off I had to throw some out just before christmas as I had the Norovirus and it went off.

are they preppers?

Have you looked behind the piles of baked beans and corned beef? I'm betting there will be gas masks, a shot gun and enough ammo to wipe out a small town

It must be great being old 🙂

Very little.
All bread is from the local bakery, sliced and then frozen. Just take out however many slices you need.
Lucky enough to shop locally and buy stuff when I need it and most meals are cooked from scratch, as I can't afford takaways or meals out atm.

Peelings, fruit of veg waste goes into compost heap and I grow some stuff.

Meals are often used for lunch if any left over.
Always been like this, as can't abide food waste.

Oh and what mt says above is important too.

The statistics quoted in the article are average figures - clearly the rest of the nation are massive wasters seeing how much everybody here appears to be bringing the average down...

Following on from a previous comment, I am not certain the mantra of always leaving a clean plate is a good one. It seems to be in-grained in people of a certain age, but what may have been a good idea at a time of rationing may not be so great in today's consumer society.

I have a concept for a diet based on the premise you must always leave food on your plate. The idea being over time your average portion size decreases as a natural reaction to avoid excess wastage. And which is better from the perspective of providing food for the global population: putting 3 potatoes on your plate and throwing out one, or to eat 4 potatoes and being a bit chubby?

My diet idea may not actually work by the way.

Ab1970 - i was described as more meat on a musket loading pole - my diet obviously work - how ever we exercise portion control.

Took bad going to the states - your not supposed to finish the meal. My and my mate went to pappa deauxs a
L week and worked through the chefs specials - each day the portion got a little bigger

Speaking with the barman we were being served by all week - he pointed out we kept finishing our portions !