to be shocked that 70% of food waste is from our homes? Do people not eat leftovers?

[MLMshouldbeillegal]

ahdb.org.uk/news/consumer-insight-positive-movements-in-uk-food-waste-reduction-reverse-as-covid-19-restrictions-are-removed

71% of food waste - 4.5 MILLION TONNES - annually is from our homes. Retailer and restaurants get stick in the press for throwing things away but really, they're not the problem, are they? Only 4% of food waste is produced by reailers.

It's us who are being wasteful. Throwing away 4.5 million tonnes of food each year is obscene. Do people not eat leftovers? Freeze what they're not using and keep it another day?

I think people just buy too much in the first place and throw it out if it looks off.
I once worked with someone who wouldn’t eat anything the day before it’s sell by date.

I wonder what people are throwing away. I do throw away brown lettuce, but try not to throw away much else.

I don't bother with leftovers. It's my money to waste if I want.

@Aqua55 that seems like a selfish attitude. Do the millions going to bed hungry cross your mind at all?

Always use up leftovers, on rare occasions may throw out bread if not frozen and turning mouldy or brown lettuce but try to avoid this as much as I can by planning meals and using leftovers for lunch, etc

@Aqua55

I don't bother with leftovers. It's my money to waste if I want.

This is not about money, you’ve missed the point.

@Aqua55

I don't bother with leftovers. It's my money to waste if I want.

Very selfish. How about buy less?

As food rots it emits methane gas thereby contributing to global warming

Someone's throwing away an awful lot of stuff that I'm not throwing away! We eat every last scrap- except the occasional tail end of a bag of spinach that smells like a fish tank. And I usually cook that!

Are they measuring that in terms of total food waste, or is food waste put out for compost etc excluded? Because I chuck a lot of tea bags etc but only after they've been used! We have a food waste caddy in addition to green and black bins and into that goes everything - teabags, peelings, crusts, ends, bones, fat etc.

But yes, food waste is a real problem. We're quite inefficient when it comes to using our resources. People buy too much and then can't or don't eat it.

The local vicar here went for a walk shortly after the initial covid lockdown and mass panic buying started. He photographed so many bags of perfectly good fruit and veg which had been left out for the rubbish collection. It was sickening really, all that food going to waste. We're incredibly greedy.

We end up with waste as the kids all eat different things so always have stuff that goes off before it’s used.

You’re right, it is obscene and there is absolutely no excuse for it. But you can see the kind of mentality your dealing with just a few posts in……

I looked at the full report they were citing their figures from (wrap.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-10/food-%20surplus-and-%20waste-in-the-%20uk-key-facts-oct-21.pdf) because I assumed there was some distortion and honestly it does present a very worrying picture.

Obviously household food waste will be a big contributor to the total because people eat most food at home, but looking at their other measures - 16% of household food purchase is wasted! When you consider that some people waste far less it really makes me wonder how much other people are throwing away!

My problem is not “leftovers” - if I have leftovers it’s deliberate because I want them for something (like I want leftover roast chicken for a risotto or something), otherwise we just cook what we will eat.

My food waste comes predominantly from children whose appetite is unpredictable and who are very fussy about food (crusts off sandwiches for example). It’s not helped by the difficulty/expense in buying small amounts of fresh produce as opposed to a big bag of pears or carrots or whatever.

I try to cook /buy just what I need But if there's anything left (unlikely as DH and the teen will normally eat it) I do Chuck it
Can't be bothered with stuff hanging about in Tupperware
If it goes in freezer it normally stays there until I do the monthly clean and clear out

[quote Coffeepants]@Aqua55 that seems like a selfish attitude. Do the millions going to bed hungry cross your mind at all?

Always use up leftovers, on rare occasions may throw out bread if not frozen and turning mouldy or brown lettuce but try to avoid this as much as I can by planning meals and using leftovers for lunch, etc[/quote]
Are they less hungry if she eats the leftovers? How do they know if she's eaten the leftovers?

I try not to, my problem I have is I do an online grocery shop intending for it to last the week. I then get delivered fresh food that frequently only has 2 days date on it when I know from being in the store that produce at the back of the shelf has 4 or 5 days date on it. I'm then left with a load of fresh food that either needs using up in 48 hours or throwing away. I've complained so many times and got refunded every time but still nothing changes so I end up throwing out salad, coleslaw etc every week. Financially it's not costing me anything but environmentally it is.

Over focus on best before dates doesn't help either

@Angel2702

We end up with waste as the kids all eat different things so always have stuff that goes off before it’s used.

If you always have stuff that goes off before its used then you know you're buying too much, so why not just buy less? Even if your kids eat different things, you can still buy those things in appropriate amounts.

Even if your kids eat different things, you can still buy those things in appropriate amounts.

Or freeze things you know you won't use

I live alone so it can be really tricky to get the quantities right when I do my grocery shop. The pandemic has made this worse because I now shop online rather than going down to the local greengrocer and picking up individual/small quantities of fruit and veg (I have a chronic illness and don't feel safe shopping among maskless people).

I try my best to chop and freeze fruit and veg if I don't think I'll use it before it goes off but I sometimes get it wrong and forget about stuff. I'm trying to get in the habit of checking every day and planning a soup or stew with any veg that's starting to look a bit past its best.

@TheKeatingFive

Over focus on best before dates doesn't help either

Agreed. I eat stuff out of date if it looks and smells OK. Just because Tesco says h cauliflower goes off on x date it doesn't mean it actally does

I read that bread and potatoes are the worst culprits (in terms of food waste, not the bread and potatoes throwing things out!).

I think for a lot of small/single person households, it is “easy” to waste stuff because you use a few slices of bread only, or half the potatoes. Ok, you can make breadcrumbs and freeze them, but then that’s an awful lot of breadcrumbs building up. Dsis has a frozen loaf and extracts one slice of bread every morning. That is very eco but at the same time a bit depressing long term.

Do people have DC with predictable appetites? DS1 (9) eats half what I do on some days and outeats me comfortably on others. So he might eat two meatballs or he might eat five…and yes, I usually save anything not eaten that’s in the pan but one meatball isn’t worth it.

According to this survey :

www.theecoexperts.co.uk/home-hub/food-waste-facts-and-statistics

Bread, Milk, Potatoes, leftovers from home made meals.

I have a 3 year old and he creates so much food waste! Like I literally can't make him eat everything, so get left with toast crusts, a few bites of food here and there, and then of course all the veg ends, banana peels, melon rinds etc that can't be eaten.