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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

570 replies

MLMshouldbeillegal · 13/11/2021 10:20

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?

OP posts:
ZZTopGuitarSolo · 13/11/2021 13:48

@HesterShaw1

I've always had a compost heap. If people realised how easy it is and how they don't attract rats, more people would I'm sure.
We have one and it fills up with snakes in the summer - I don't mind them personally, but some people do. My stepdad would stop visiting if I told him. (This might not be a bad thing mind you.)

I also get several feet of snow in winter which makes getting to the compost heap a bit of a challenge :-)

I use a composting service for a lot of the year - they take away all our food scraps on a Sunday and leave us compost in return. What's really great is they take the smelly stuff like bones, fish skin, etc. They also take pizza boxes, of which we seem to have a ridiculous amount. Life with teens...

ilovesooty · 13/11/2021 13:49

@TheKeatingFive

That's a brilliant system *@ilovesooty*
Thanks! We started it during lockdown and have carried on. For example I'm taking some of my order from Asda to her tomorrow and she split a bakery order with me earlier this week so I got half a loaf of fresh bread, two luxury mince pies and a piece of parkin. I buy dried cat food once a month from Zooplus and we split the bag.
MLMshouldbeillegal · 13/11/2021 13:50

@EmKayEm

I work in Supply Chain and Logistics. You don't want to know what all of the major food retailers generate in waste every week...
But it's a much smaller amount than people are throwing away at home.
OP posts:
Ted27 · 13/11/2021 13:52

@Gwenhwyfar

you can buy half loaves. I rarely buy loaves of bread, but I made jam this week so fancied some decent bread to go with it.
I had my fresh bread and jam, toast for one breakfast , egg on toast, beans on toast for 2 lunches. Loaf gone, no waste.

@Waahingwashingwashing a small person household - apart from milkman no deliveries, green grocers on Saturday, Sainsburys most, but not every Friday, local co-op for odd bit in the week. My shed has an electricity supply so I have a small freezer in there, in the house I got a fridge/freezer with 60% freezer space, most are 60% fridge, 40% freezer

Waahingwashingwashing · 13/11/2021 13:55

That sounds ideal @Ted27 but I’m disabled and getting out is very difficult for me. The local shop drop me stuff or I go up (in the car. It’s 150 yards but that’s too far for me) for the like of milk and anything I’ve run out of but on the whole I’m depending on a weekly or ten day Asda or Tesco delivery (they are the only supermarkets that deliver here).

My shed doesn’t have electric either.

justasking111 · 13/11/2021 13:58

Our leftovers go down the gullets of two grateful dogs. As for fussy kids wtf. You cook if they don't eat it's a jam sandwich for supper.

undetetected · 13/11/2021 13:59

@LuckyAmy1986

My kids are fussy, unpredictable and flatly refuse to eat leftovers, even if I disguise them. They can taste when something has been cooked and then gone in the freezer

This just would absolutely not happen in our house. I would be embarrassed to be bringing up such entitled kids that won't eat leftovers, sorry.

The best part of having kids is the leftovers! Why wouldn't you just eat it, as a parent? Or give them smaller portions etc?

Even if you don't care about the environment, who wants to waste money and time cooking food, just to chuck it

megletthesecond · 13/11/2021 14:00

I'm pretty ruthless and freeze loads of of odds and ends. Peppers and onions get sliced and frozen.
Never ever waste bread. The DC's won't eat the ends in sandwiches but they'll eat them toasted with chocolate spread.

Our hopeless council won't do a food waste collection.

Wingedharpy · 13/11/2021 14:01

I sympathise with those who have very little/no freezer space.
I'd be lost without my freezers - 1 in house(small,fridge size) and 1 in garage (smallish fridge/freezer size).
Lockdown restrictions led to shopping changes here and experiments with what can and can't be frozen.
We eat very little sliced bread but when loaf bought, on day of purchase, I split it and freeze in 2 - 3 sliced portions. Once frozen, it can be tucked into various nooks and crannies in freezer, rather than sitting there, like a breeze block taking up the whole shelf.
Mushrooms - I cook the whole punnet(s) in a bit of butter, cool, and portion out in little pots and freeze. They are a bit rubbery, but completely edible and preferable to having none at all or wasting most.
Apples - last forever - no matter what date on bag says.
Open bag on day of purchase, and put in a folded piece of kitchen roll - doing this with most fruit/veg which comes in cellophane bags or plastic punnets helps to prolong the lifespan of contents.
Change kitchen roll piece as it becomes damp from absorbed moisture. (DH is frugal, and a Scot!, so retrieves the damp, but clean, kitchen roll pieces, dries them out and uses them for polishing his car windows or cleaning mud off his shoes.)
I'm currently experimenting with freezing eggs after supermarket click and collect order substituted my 6 large egg order for a value pack of 15 Eggs!
I've cracked 6 of them into individual silicone muffin cases, fast frozen, then put in a bag to be used as needed.
Meal planning helps reduce waste.
We also have a permanent shopping list on the kitchen worktop where we can jot items down as they're used up/coming to an end, so we can replace what's needed as we go along rather than buying something "just in case" we've got none.

Hothammock · 13/11/2021 14:03

My dogs and husband eat pretty much all our food waste. We don't use the food waste recycling as there is so little. We also have our own compost. If you don't have pets or a garden I can see that a lot of waste would be accumulated over the course of a week.

undetetected · 13/11/2021 14:03

Our food is too cheap

Unpopular opinion but I agree that things are too cheap and this is why we live in a throwaway society. Things in general, not just food. I've been guilty in the past

withlotsoflove · 13/11/2021 14:04

Lots of waste in supermarkets comes from flippant shopping!
Changes of mind on fresh products.
If something is out of the cold chain for 20 minutes we have to waste it ( customer services).
You couldn’t make it up.
“ Don’t want this dip / changed my mind!”
“ These burgers are too big!”
Our waste cage is enormous!
Full of food that could have been eaten.

ZZTopGuitarSolo · 13/11/2021 14:05

Open bag on day of purchase, and put in a folded piece of kitchen roll - doing this with most fruit/veg which comes in cellophane bags or plastic punnets helps to prolong the lifespan of contents.

We used to do this but now we have reusable mesh bags that do similar. We decant all the veg into them as soon as we get home.

Waahingwashingwashing · 13/11/2021 14:07

My veg comes out of the packaging and goes in the fridge and I’ve no idea what date it is it just gets used

ilovesooty · 13/11/2021 14:08

@Waahingwashingwashing

How do you do multiple deliveries a week as a single person household and not get hammered for the min delivery charge? Genuine question - is there something I’m missing?

How do you all freeze so much? I genuinely haven’t room to do that

I have a delivery fortnightly from Asda with an occasional additional one from Iceland. If I'm struggling to get the Iceland one up to free delivery I buy something non perishable such as drinks or laundry items. I spend just enough for free delivery and with the splitting with my friend it works fine.
Waahingwashingwashing · 13/11/2021 14:09

I don’t have anyone I can split with and Iceland don’t deliver here.

I’m glad you’ve found something that works for you though :)

Coffeepants · 13/11/2021 14:12

That’s not the point

Animood · 13/11/2021 14:14

@nordica

My problem is not leftovers or cooked food, but more just not getting around to using something before it goes off. I live alone and some pack sizes are just not practical for me but then I still want to have those foods - for example any bagged salad including rocket and baby spinach that only comes in bags. Fruit and veg in general is unpredictable, sometimes I think those satsumas or peaches will be fine tomorrow and nope, turns out they've gone mouldy overnight. Not everything can be frozen either... sliced bread maybe yes, but a frozen sourdough or a crusty roll is horrible, freezing only works if you're planning to toast it.
This x 1,000

I live alone. I don't eat loads- not a big eater.

I wish the supermarkets would make smaller packs of stuff ffs! So hard to get through a bag or rocket before it goes off!

ForensicAccountant · 13/11/2021 14:19

I try not to let food go to waste and I certainly don’t go by dates on stuff. We also had the ‘other kids go hungry’ line thrown at us constantly over stuff that was inedible. It has left me with such a bad conscience that anything that may be suspect is left in my fridge until it is definitely off - in a way that no hungry person could eat it. Then I can throw it out with peace of mind.

But, if this is about the environment, then surely we can only grow plants where most parts are eaten. No pumpkins, no melons, oranges. Onions and potatoes only use the roots, the whole actual plant gets wasted!

And you can’t grow any flowers either. There’s nothing more wasteful than a bunch of flowers.

Just saying.

ilovesooty · 13/11/2021 14:19

If I have something like lettuce or rocket or other salad stuff I make soup or sauces with it once it's past its best fresh. The same applies to broccoli which I do buy every fortnight - my friend is a confirmed broccoli hater Grin

NineCmNails · 13/11/2021 14:20

I haven't read this version of the Wrap report. Does it include agricultural waste such as spoiled or unlifted crops? Pest damage? I am doubtful at the percentage that is pre-consumer.
The 45 million tonnes sounds like a very big number but what is that as a percentage of food bought?
Human food given to dogs is classed as waste.

CheshireChat · 13/11/2021 14:24

justasking111 and that works fine if you have relatively non-fussy kids, however DS (suspected ASD) just wouldn't eat. Or would just eat the bread (no jam!) everyday and in fact, would much prefer it, but obviously it's not an option as not at all healthy.

We've had big issues with milk (still in date) going off lately so not sure what's happening there.

GrasssInPocket · 13/11/2021 14:26

@Doomscrolling

That said, thank god for the feathery bin-mouths that are chickens. They love scraps.
Given the perfect potential for recycling, we were surprised to learn that we're technically not allowed to feed food scraps to our chickens (DEFRA regulations), despite the fact that we've been doing it for years and naturally assumed that the strict rules for commercial flocks don't apply for a couple of pet hens running around the back garden that are never going to enter the food chain. Can't see that going down too well with the girls, who would probably stop laying in protest in response to no more treats! Grin
KrispyKale · 13/11/2021 14:31

I'm really doubtful about these stats.
It doesn't tally with experience. So I am dubious.

JKDinomum · 13/11/2021 14:32

@SheWoreYellow
Eating food left on your own children's plates is a bit different from going round a restaurant picking up scraps people have left! I should think most parents have eaten left-over food off their kids' plates.

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