So how much food do you throw away?

After reading this report I thought I would put it to the STW Collective – how much food do you waste?

We sometimes end up with dry bread that gets binned (I’ll eat most stuff but can’t abide dry bread) otherwise I try to eat anything we buy – making up recipes to use it or, in the case of overbuying of yogurts for the kids, find myself snacking on them just to use them up.

Hasn’t helped recently with my wife thinking she ordered six carrots from Tesco Online but actually ordering six 1.2kg bags of carrots.

Carrot & coriander soup for me all week this week…

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 Hungry Harry. 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 actually 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.

Yeah I never understand why people pile their plates high at buffets – all that happens is that they end up eating cold food.

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 **** 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.

yeah they’re good? I used to eat a lot of the stuff my kids refused, now I chuck it in the compost and feel slightly less guilty and a lot less fat 🙂