To ask you all nicely if you didnt watch Hughs war on waste, to please please watch on catch up if you can.

[fruitandbarley]

I knew we were a wasteful country, and I'm not without blame myself, although do try to not throw things away that can be used, but this really was an eye opener, when there's people struggling to eat and struggling with bills, completely aside from the madness of throwing away millions of tons of perfectly good produce because someone at the supermarket thinks it's not good looking enough (despite proof that when rules were relaxed in times of shortage sales remained the same and nobody noticed), ruining people's livelihoods, this programme/series might actually make people change what they're doing.

Did today's episode have the trip to the recycling plant? Looking forward to that, it should shut up a lot of conspiracy theorists who talk bollocks about recycling.

I actually quite like him after the mental scarring image of him doing that fades.

I didn't watch the program but spoke to my MIL about it briefly, re the parnsips! but it isn't just Morrisons, is it? I can't imagine boycotting Morrisons to shop at Tesco instead will help :( Probably writing all the supermarkets to say you are disgusted would have more effect

I have just googled and still have no idea what he's done! Aside from that I'm still sticking to my original post.

I'm watching, he has a point, but he's so bloody worthy.

He allegedly likes to shoot his load into wimmins hair.

I only saw five minutes of the programme, just the bit where he rang Morrisons and the kfc bit, can anyone tell me what Morrisons did or didn't do?

It was about 3 years ago when DD worked in the supermarket (they had a problem with people going through food waste bins and tried to discourage this on health and safety grounds allegedly)
Nearly 30 years ago I worked for a department store who would slash all unwanted clothing before sending it for rags just so it couldn't be sold on - the waste was incredible

Very interesting programme. One thing he didn't mention though, was the amount of food people waste just because they buy far more than they need in the first place. I think many people waste a fair amount just through lack of planning.

Also, the way food is packaged in supermarkets doesn't help. It's far harder to buy single items (one sausage, one slice of ham, a single bread roll etc) in supermarkets than it is in small shops.

I'm sure all the main supermarkets are just as guilty as each other for demanding 'perfect' fruit and veg though. I'm lucky that we have a very good local greengrocer that sells misshapen but perfectly tasty fruit and veg.

SoMuch, he did touch on the overbuying at the beginning a bit, by going through trolleys which had just gone through the checkout and taking away 10% to illustrate how much people in general won't use out of a weekly shop. But maybe he'll cover it further in another programme.

I agree though, that packaging is an issue. I have an orange for breakfast every day; I have to buy them in packs of 4 because they don't sell them loose any more and, whilst it doesn't affect me because I'll get through them, it must be frustrating if you just want one.

I wish we did have a greengrocer in town, I supported ours all the way till it closed; there is a stall in town now on a Thursday and Friday, but I do the food shop on a Monday and I work on a Thursday and Friday so it's not convenient to shop there, but it's a shame. The greengrocer also had a much much better range of seasonal local produce including wonderful plums and greengages, apples etc.

What astounds me is the people who throw away so much good stuff - why throw away potatoes just because they've started growing shoots or bread (unless it's started growing a fur coat)?

I'm not sure if it's still the case but I know for quite a few years it was actually those at the top within the EU that were dictating what size and shape our fruit and vegetables had to be.

Can no one remember all the headlines in the papers and on the news about them telling people weather a banana was to bent or not?

FruitandBarley you could set up a petition online challenging the big supermarkets about all the waste they're causing and about the fact that they're destroying our farming communties in this country.People could show they're dislike of what the supermarkets are doing by refusing to buy they're fruit and vegetables from the supermarkets.

As an aside it's lots of other types of farms and farmers that are being affected by the strangle hold the supermarkets and the Goverment have on them,don't forget not long ago some dairy farmers took some of they're cows into a supermarket because of how badly they were being treated financially when supplying milk to the supermarkets.

It's all farming in this country that's being slowly suffocated out of buisness,dairy,eggs,meat and poultry,fruit and veg.

I would hope that Hugh would be encouraging all the restaurants,cafes,food markets to be buying direct from the farms and farmers.I'd also hope that any charity's that buy in food were being encouraged to buy direct from the farmers rather than the supermarkets.

I've got to watch the programme on catch up, so I know roughly what it is about.

It's not just supermarkets deciding what they won't accept because of "looks". What supermarkets are failing to do in many cases is allow people to buy sensible quantities of items. Most people would like to eat healthily and cook fresh - or at least cook big batches and freeze things.

There are a HUGE number of single people in this country. We make up a large part of the population. Yet most supermarkets (round my neck of the woods anyway) do not stock a basic commodity like potatoes in anything other than large quantities. As a single person, I cannot possibly get through a bag of spuds that size before they all sprout and go off. Therefore, they go to waste. You can buy Jacket potatoes loose, but no others.

Some supermarkets only have pre-bagged packs of carrots, and no loose ones, which again, will go off before I have time to use them all. I occasionally bake. That is the only time I might need an egg or maybe two (otherwise I can't stand them). But I can only buy eggs in boxes of 6.

I hate wasting food and I am normally very good about not doing so. But , as with the Government, the emphasis for supermarkets is on "families".

My dp is stringent about use by and best before dates, we do plan our meals round the dates though and I freeze anything that has a short date.

I worked for a major supermarket and when clothes didn't sell they got thrown into the rubbish . Give them to charity shops, homeless hostels, anywhere that needs them!

DrSeth - It's not just single people. It's just DH & me at home now & I find it hard sometimes to use up a whole bag of carrots or spuds. I think that supermarkets should be obliged to sell a far wider range of things loose so you can pick your quantities.

I agree, it was shocking. The KFC bit made me feel physically sick.

I'll admit that we are sometimes bad for wasting food - we'd never chuck out good bread, for instance, but we sometimes buy more fruit and veg than we need. This needs to change.

I really don't think boycotting just Morrisons is going to help anything as I'm sure the other big supermarkets are just as bad, but it has made me more determined to use our local greengrocers.

I quite agree about supermarkets selling so many items in packaging which dictates the quantity you can buy.

I love being able to buy just one tomato or a couple of potatoes if I want to in my local greengrocer, but realise that I'm very lucky to have this option, as so many of these small shops have closed down, largely due to competition from supermarkets.

But you can buy a single tomato, a potato, a carrot in a supermarket. Just buy them loose rather than in all the pretty packaging.

He only focussed on Morrisons as, when they asked, no farmer stepped forward to explain what was happening to them, apart from the parsnip farmer ho was going bust as they filmed. That farm only supplied Morrisons - who obviously then have a stranglehold on them, as was seen at the end of the programme.

I would hope that Hugh would be encouraging all the restaurants,cafes,food markets to be buying direct from the farms and farmers Why? That isn't his job and great many of the posher ones do. Our local Indian restaurant buys from the local allotmenteers - due to a specific agreement with the council who are big on recycling and waste reduction.

Also, as he explained a few times, it is us, the householder, who is also responsible for a huge amount of waste. As the blond woman showed, some of us also need to be convinced that recycling is actually a real thing.

Looking at the way people shopped and threw away stuff I am suddenly very grateful that I live out in the sticks and have a council that insists on recycling and actively reminds people how/what to recycle.

Blanche - You can not buy a single tomato in my local Tesco. And, last time I was there, you could only buy large baking spuds singly. The new ones, (wanted for salad) were only available in 500g bags.

Really? All of ours sell loose fruit and veg, except the small Coop, perhaps.

That might be another benefit of living in a rural county

As a single person, I cannot possibly get through a bag of spuds that size before they all sprout and go off

They only sprout because they are kept too warm and think it is spring.

All the potatoes are harvested in late summer and kept cold until needed.

We rarely buy spuds - we grow >90% of our own and they are kept cool until needed.

The best thing to do is to buy fruit and veg from farm shops, or green grocers as the more they can push through the system, the more non perfect veg gets eaten. Or grow your own - it is hard to chuck it out if you have spent time and effort growing it.

Every Waitrose near me sells single items of veg (and some fruit). They may be more expensive but maybe it works out better if you don't have to/want to buy so much?

Thanks op! Watching now

Interesting

We waste lots of our non Food product where I work despite having a scrappage scheme. We do our best but can't re all the products in store because clearance items don't look good hanging around the store!

Watching now. OMG this is madness. I don't even like sodding parsnips!

Madness the amount of wasted produce I mean.

A lot of people throw food out because they don't know how to store it or assess it for useability. Pps above said they couldnt possibly get through a bag of potatoes before they sprout. Potatoes can be stored for months, you're not looking afterbthem properly. And you can use them after they've sprouted anyway.

Well, how do you store them properly?