to ask you to think about the food that you waste.

[Fiendishlie]

I hope I am not being unreasonable posting it here, but MN have a link to the Love Food, Hate Waste site as one of this weeks campaigns and I believe we all have a duty to think about the issue and see if we can help reduce the amount of food that is wasted in this country, as well as saving ourselves some money into the bargain.

I work in Waste Management and I am constantly amazed by some peoples' attitues to the waste they produce and their right to continue to do so.
Love food, hate waste calculate that as a nation we throw away 7.2 million tonnes of food per year, most of which could have been eaten. If we stopped throwing away this food it would save the equivalent carbon as taking 1 in 5 cars off the road. Plus, we have paid for this food, only to discard it, uneaten.

I have two nearly teenage boys and a husband with hollow legs. Not only do I not have a problem with waste food, I am lucky to not lose an arm in the attack upon the dinner table.

Remember the 40s house- Lynn Hymers throwing away half of what was in her fridge.

The thing is, if you have a garden, and don't buy all the prepackaged snack stuff and make things from scratch, it's all downhill from there.

Why is it relevant that the cream cheese came from Sainsbury's loads of this kind of thing on MN.

Maybe it's relevant because the Sainsbury's one seems to go off quicker than other supermarket ones, in the opinion of the poster.

exactly karma - sainsburys cream cheese goes mouldy much faster than philadelphia in our house. So buying it is a waste, we cant eat it quick enough. On the other hand sainsburys ready brek stuff is just as good as official ready brek but much much cheaper. We buy the brands that suit us best. Quirrel - no need to pick a quarrel with me where theres none to be had.

Food quality does differ between brands. You live and learn don't you? Or rather it can be trial and error.

Or read it on MN and take note!

I was not picking a quarrel :-) and I don't know why you think I am. You have to admit that it looks a little funny. It's like saying "I am middle class", "I went to an RG uni", which you see all the time here.

sometimes things can be misread here.

OYBK - you're a better poster than me.

Anyone uses the face like that at me goes on THE SPREADSHEET

That sounds a fun place to be, downtrodden...you go ahead ;-)

Food waste?

Not with my 3 DC. They hoover up huge amounts.

They don't like potato skins, though. What shall I do with potato peelings?

I am very fat greedy and was also encouraged to 'eat everything on my plate' and to be honest I would rather throw half a roast potato and a couple of chunks of meat in the bin instead of eating it - obviously I am learning to serve myself less food but I agree with others that not every single thing makes an appetising meal second (or third ) time around.

I do laugh at all the recent 'campaigns' about avoiding waste, it is nothing new to menu plan and to use your leftovers is it ?, anyone from the 1940s/50s will remember rationing.

I make a habit of getting creative with soups out of just-about-to-die vegetables. I hate waste. My DS knows...if he doesn't finish his dinner it stays on the plate...if he tells me later that he's hungry he has to go and stick his unfinished food in the microwave!

I don't save burnt toast,stale bread,mushy apples for the pony,and neither do I pinch her carrots for us,oh no,not me.

I'm sure DEFRA have a law against people eating 'animal food' too.

LesAnimaux, if you have a garden you can put potato peelings in a compost heap.

funnily enough when we had pizza last night there was none left

We are still enjoying the 'bottom of the fridge' soup I made after reading this thread on Saturday. As well as the sad looking veg i usually use, I also added half a tin of leek and potato soup, some week-old mashed potato, and half a tin of coconut milk. I chucked in a load of cumin and it tasted gorgeous.

I can't say I waste much-I am a 'master of invention'. We had a big family lunch yesterday and I invented tonight's meal with what I had left.