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'm amazed at how precious some people are about use by dates.
Several work colleagues wouldn't consider eating stuff even a day past its use by date. Weve had yoghurt over a month past their sell by and they were fine.
(Although DH is slightly the opposite of this and insists everything is safe to eat if it has not reached its sell by even if its opened and smells/looks off!)
DS absolutely loves leftovers. He rarely has a freshly made lunch when he's at home because he'd much rather have leftover curry/spag bol etc. In fact he often tries to "reserve" any food we start putting in containers in the fridge, after a meal.

Honestly, I find this a real challenge. I know I waste a lot and want to get better for the sake of my finances and the environment.

Why does it happen? I am naturally disorganised, I lose track of what I have in the fridge, and tend to grab things in the shop without thinking through what I will use when. I am rushed, and grab the easiest thing or the thing I am in the mood for in the shops or from the fridge, and don't notice that that means something else is going off. I am also an unhealthy, compulsive eater despite my best efforts.... so I often buy healthy, fresh stuff which ends up being passed over for less healthy stuff that won't go off as quickly... or I'm bloody tired after a full days work and give in to a microwave meal or takeaway which again means that food that would take longer to prepare ends up going off. I also find my family is an awkward size.... so the tiny portions of fresh stuff don't go far enough, but the bigger size up (Eg bags of spinach) don't get used up fully. I also have a DD who is a fussy eater so perfectly good leftover-based meals get passed over for something to her taste.... and/or she leaves lots on her plate, which gets thrown out.

I know it's not good but it is basically a reflection of my overall disordered life and eating.

Condemning it as 'obscene' etc is a bit over the top and stigmatising. We all have our challenges, and it's something I am trying to get better at.

I find writing a list (pretty much daily if we are a full house) of what is open / needing to be eaten quickly and leaving it on the kitchen counter has helped.
It's on my mobile phone to do list as "eat - up list." As I was basically finding hard to keep track.

I find buying for 6 days and using up leftovers on day 7 helps with waste. There’s always bits left to add to cupboard stores and make something like stir fry/ risotto/ fried rice.

@ForensicAccountant

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.

No but flowers fulfil a different purpose. Namely if your spirits are low they are beautiful and if you are depressed they lift your spirits.

Also without flowers you wouldn't have any veg at all because of the pollinators.

I must admit I struggle with food waste, I never used to when dh was alive, everything got eaten.

But now dd is at uni and there is just the 3 of us and they are picky sometimes I find it hard to not waste food.
I have to buy a big bag of carrots instead of 2 or 3 or a bag of apples instead of a few. Salad and lettuce gets wasted as it’s always in a family bag and my girls won’t eAt lettuce.
Then I feel depressed and tired and don’t want to cook

I need help I think, it is bothering me tbh

@justasking111

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.

Yes, I guess you could dismiss 'fussy kids' altogether.

If they don't have disabilities/sensory issues or eating disorders you might be able to get away with this view, but it is not realistic.

I spent half my life with disordered eating due to not understanding the impact of my neurodiversity.

One of my is gluten and dairy intolerance. It’s not just fussy eating and give them jam like.

Lots of brown or mushy smelly stuff like old cabbage leaves and spinach and the like, can be mushed up further, and dug into the garden soil, for soil nourishiment, or put into a proper compost bin for use later. All this stuff came from the earth to start with. and will benifit the soil, and lots of soil insects.

I find if I buy online , I buy more
Physically wrestling a trolley tound the shop is harder work than clicking a mouse !

The last delivery I got , a bottle of cleaning fluid had spilled on foodstuff . I know these things happen and we were able to rescue 90% of it , but it's put me back onto going to the shop.

Except DS , we're vegetarian and I'll only buy him what I know he'll eat . He'll bag up and freeze bigger packs .

I freeze sourdough and other breads all the time. Defrosted they taste just the same.

I am very confused by all these comments that frozen bread tastes horrible.

@DottyHarmer

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.

I don't get why that's depressing- I buy a variety of sourdough loved from the market, slice and freeze then we have a selection to choose from for a while with no waste. Done things freeze and defrost well and bread is certainly one of those foods

*@JustAnotherPoster00 * Surely the point is not that the starving know about the waste of discarding leftovers but rather that if you have money to throw away by buying more than you need it is possibly less selfish to throw it in the direction of a charity!

@Waahingwashingwashing

Im sorry for your difficulties, but you asked a question and I set out how I acheive it, If you can’t do the same that’s fine, you find other solutions.
Its good that your local shop delivers, many don’t.

Do you have a milk delivery in your area, mine delivers yoghurt, fruit juice, spuds, bread, cheese, butter, you can change your order up to 8 pm the day before. Its very useful,
To be honest, the thing that stopped me wasting food was to just stop buying it. I very rarely buy lettuce or spinach because it won’t get eaten. I don’t pick up the second item in two for ones etc, unless I know it will get eaten. I rarely buy a joint of meat or whole chicken, I buy chops or chicken breasts.

I often look at things and think how nice that would be, and then reality sets in, so I don’t buy it.

No there is no milk delivery here.

I find a small soup maker a good investment

Used most days

Knowing how to check food is a skill. A woman at work nearly threw out a carton of eggs cos they were 1 day past their sell by date. I showed her to test them in water (if they sink they are fine, float they are off). The entire carton was still good.

Smell, texture, colour etc. Relying on dates has meant people have stopped using their own judgement.

Not in the UK, but here food waste is made into gas for the local (free) buses in our town.

@woodhill
I use my slow cooker to batch cook soup and freeze.
On Thursday I made three portions each of green veg and rice/bacon broth/pea and mint, plus a batch of veggie korma for evening meals.
All were made with budget ingredients too.
Tbf I do have a decent sized freezer us mini chopper and stick blender.

@TimeForTeaAndG

Knowing how to check food is a skill. A woman at work nearly threw out a carton of eggs cos they were 1 day past their sell by date. I showed her to test them in water (if they sink they are fine, float they are off). The entire carton was still good.

Smell, texture, colour etc. Relying on dates has meant people have stopped using their own judgement.

They’re not actually off when they float. It just means they’re not as fresh - there’s more air inside. They’re still perfectly fine to eat. Eggs can easily be eaten several months after the date as long as they’ve been stored well.

[quote ISpyCobraKai]@woodhill
I use my slow cooker to batch cook soup and freeze.
On Thursday I made three portions each of green veg and rice/bacon broth/pea and mint, plus a batch of veggie korma for evening meals.
All were made with budget ingredients too.
Tbf I do have a decent sized freezer us mini chopper and stick blender.[/quote]
Sounds great😀

We used to be awful with this and it was very depressing. Now much better although not perfect by any means.

Things we now do:

Meal plan religiously
Turn veg that is about to turn into a vegetable sauce using any veg we have, plus passata and freeze to use with pasta.
DH is not fussy at all and so sometimes he is happy to have all the random bits and pieces we have left over as ‘dinner’.
Stopped buying so much in the first place!

Our biggest waste is definitely bread/bakery products eg sliced bread, bagels, crumpets etc, I never get how much we need right but I’m going to try harder!

We regularly make a minestrone-style soup to use up any and all vegetables that need using. It makes a very satisfying lunch or a great dinner with some crusty bread. Yum.

[quote JKDinomum]@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.[/quote]
You really expect people to scrape off bits of food from their children’s plates and then serve it up the next day? I think that’s too far, sorry.

I’d also love to know how much is thrown away by big supermarkets.