What do you always end up throwing away in your house?

[LondonStone]

In our household we can’t seem to get through a packet of raspberries or beansprouts without them going off.

Fancied some raspberries this morning and half of them are covered in furry mould and the other half are just brown mush. They were only bought on Friday night!

I’ve realised we quite often throw raspberries away so I think I probably won’t bother in future unless it’s for something specific.

Peaches and nectarines. They are just rock hard and tasteless for ages, then they are ripe for 0.2 seconds, then straight to wrinkly, mould mush.

Fennel, the outer layer as it’s often damaged or tough and we only eat it raw.
But removing that thick outer layer can turn what I bought from tennis ball to ping-pong ball size! Grrrr.

I rarely have room in my freezer for a loaf of bread, @JumpLeadsForTwo, it's not very big and is usually jammed packed. Sometimes I whizz it in the food processor and then freeze the crumbs, but there's a limit to how many crumbs I'll ever need.

It's about the only thing in the house that gets wasted though, I'm pretty good about using stuff up. Quite often my lunch is a weird smorgasbord of "everything from the fridge that will otherwise go off and have to be chucked."

@DinosApple freeze the mozzarella in it's bag and when you needed defrost and drain. I always use it in hot food.
@DinosaurDiana - I make my own hummus and freeze it in little pots.

I sometimes write on a small whiteboard fridge items and use by dates. If it gets near the use by date and I cba to use it in the freezer it goes. I've frozen feta, ricotta, portions of Thai red and green paste, tikka paste , double cream, natural yogurt etc etc. I write a list of what's in each each freezer drawer so I'm not rummaging and buying more than I have/need.

I cook any leftover salad from bags like I would spinach.

Leftover veg goes in a stew or curry.

Peel and unusable bits go in the compost bin.

Loaves, hummus etc, split into portions that will be used and freeze what you won' use.

Buy veg loose.

Boil more veg than you need if it needs using in a hurry and keep the leftovers.

Freeze soft fruits.

Milk that's about to go off can be used to make cheese or can be used in cooking.

Rasperries and bread raspberries go bad after about 5 minutes and we never seem to make it through more than 3/4 of a loaf of bread before it starts to go mouldy.

used to chuck away a lot of salad leaves that come mixed in a bag and fresh spinach
I could only eat so much, but nobody else would have it, then it would get pushed to the back and rot.

since we have chickens at least they eat up the leftovers. spoilt birds 😁
they give us stunningly yellow eggs though, apparently the more chlorophyll they consume the darker the yolk.

in fact they eat some other leftovers I really can't use up any other way.

we don't throw away much, it's 9 people here and the 4 teenagers are alway racooning in the kitchen!🤣
occasionally bread stuff goes mouldy or a few slices of ham are out of date. I freeze most things that can be used up later

@LondonStone it’s always half pot of natural yogurt in our house. Sometimes I fancy a cucumber and yogurt mix on the side of what I’m eating and then after a few times of doing this the remainder of the tub gets neglected and eventually binned. It’s a shame really.

Very little waste here, I meal plan for a fortnight then make a shopping list from that.
Sometimes we have fresh veg that's looking a bit wrinkled, so I use it up in kids pasta sauce, chilli, curries, stews etc. If I dump it in a sauce I've made and add some kidney beans and call it chilli, the kids will eat it. Bagged spinach is sometime leftover so I put that in a curry with chickpeas and tomatoes and freeze.
Occasionally the odd strawberry here and there if DH hasn't checked the punnet when he buys them.
We keep bakery waste non existent by putting bread products in the freezer.
I'm careful with dates, using the examine and smell test if needed. I don't throw it out of its out of date, unless it's clearly off. I'll put it in the freezer if it's nearing its date or rearrange the meal plan and bump off something that doesn't need using as quickly - usually something that's already in the freezer, and make something with whatever is going to be going off. We don't eat meat though which probably helps that a lot - I would be a lot more careful if we did.

I'm shocked by some huge amounts of waste mentioned here, especially the bin bag of frozen food referred to.

We really need to be mindful of the waste we produce and the resources that have gone into production. Not to mention the increased food spend!

Avocados

Spinach I love spinach why are the bags so big

Coleslaw always ends up being chucked along with dip!

@Mrsjayy

exactly!! so annoying.
I would occasionally remember to make a soup: spinach, broccoli & asparagus with onions and garlic is my favourite

Use spinach up by wilting it and have it with poached eggs for breakfast or lunch

Dips like hummus and tzatziki, or salsa and guacamole. Bought for a meal then the remainder usually gets chucked. I try eg I’ll plan fajitas one day and chilli the next to try to use them up but I either forget to get them out of the fridge on the second day or nobody wants it.

Any jars that say use within 3 days, or even 2 weeks sometimes. Like curry paste for example. I used to bulk cook and use the whole jar but don’t have the freezer space at the moment.

Salad cream and other condiments that we don’t use often.

Sometimes the end of a lime or lemon.
Sometimes an avocado if it’s a bad one.

I buy Stayfresh bags from Lakeland. Veg stays fresh for much much longer. I've had carrots, leeks etc. in there for 2 weeks and still very fresh. Does anyone know why glass jars of mint sauce, horseradish sauce etc have eat within 4 weeks on them. I live on my own and I don't get through them in a month.

Beansprouts only need a handful in a stir fry why are the bags so big

Jam have it on toast occasionally or to bake with but never finish a smallish jar before it goes mouldy

I just buy stir fry mixed bags chuck it all in job done. I wilt spinach tilll I'm sick of it still 3/4 of .the bag left 😄

I clean out the fridge every Tuesday.
I throw out a sad half of a cucumber that's shriveled and a bit moldy and a yellow celery, every single week.

@elp30 I slice up celery before it's yellow and freeze it to use in casseroles, stews and anything that needs cooked celery. Can't help with the cucumber though.

Frozen fresh herbs have been a game changer for me, I have frozen coriander and frozen basil at the moment, also frozen chopped red chilli (in little boxes in the freezer section in my local Morrisons).
Frozen leaf spinach is great for using in curries etc but not so useful for salads. It comes in large chunks about the size of an ice cream scoop.
Cucumber always seems to go soggy and mouldy here but I do put it into the compost bin rather than throwing it away.

Sweet potatoes, celery, celeriac, butternut squash, pumpkin (vegbox). I used to give them away but covid.

Cat food. Fussy bastard!

We say “and coleslaw for the bin” when ordering/buying it.

Cat food. Fussy bastard!

When we had a cat we were the same she would turn her nose up at day old meat

In honour of this thread I finished the coleslaw at dinner !