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?

@Aqua55

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

I get really angry with myself if I let food go off because I picture myself ripping up the paper money value of what it cost and throwing it away - would you really do that?

My experience is that just buying random food items with only a vague idea of a possible meal is a recipe for waste. Boring as it is, I make a menu for the week of six meals and shop for those ingredients only.
Before I make the list I see what's still in the fridge and use that in first - especially vegetables. Easier for me because it's 3 adults and we all eat everything, I know it's harder with children.

I buy milk at the local shop so milk isn’t an issue for me

Frozen bread is horrid. It’s not the same as fresh at all.

None of us like eating the same thing for days, none of us like leftovers.

I find it hard to understand when people say they 'don't like leftovers'. Leftovers doesn't have to mean plates of warmed-up yesterday's dinner. A risotto or a curry made from the remains of a roast chicken is leftovers. Sausage pasta made from leftover sausages etc.

I can well believe this. I think its harder for single households or two adult households who have to buy big quantities. Our potatoes for example; I often have to throw away a portion of the big bags. And fresh veg goes off sometimes because I will buy to have a side and DP will 'forget' aka. cba to cook it! Or because I bought it from LIDL or ALDI who to me have absolutely notorious poor shelf life on their fresh produce.

Atm I am also pregnant, so I am creating much more food waste than previously. Salad bags which we used to use whole are being thrown away as a half bag. Even some meats thrown because when it comes round to it I am not fancying the thought of beef, or chicken or whatever.

I am throwing a lot of soups also, which come in 2 portions, of which half is often thrown as I dont want it every day.

Its a difficult one, because really the solution would be able to buy in smaller quantities. But then you have the associated packaging. Its a bit of a catch 22.

Millions going to bed hungry is a problem that won't be solved by someone not throwing away left overs. You know this right.

If it was just one person not throwing away left overs, your point might be valid.

And while we throw out old limp lettuce or anything that has gone truly manky, we do use up stuff past its best in cooking or baking.

Squashy tomatoes and peppers and limp celery go into soup or bolognaise sauce.

Overripe bananas, even black ones make yummy banana muffins. Squashy pears, strawberries etc go into fruit crumble and wizened woolly apples make great apple cake.

We dont throw away a lot by meal planning, freezing extra portions and making sure meat or other items are frozen before their use by dates.

Working with families I think a big problem is children being offered something else if they wont eat what is cooked or being given portions that are way too big. Some of the children I look after have lunch boxes that would make me sleepy if I polished off, extra sandwiches, cakes and cheese are wasted every day.

One of the things that would help me is no additional basket charge for an online shop under £40
So I could order more frequently.

But that’s not sustainable for the supermarkets.

It's not just the waste of money, it's so he waste of energy used to produce the food! Food production uses so much energy

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

@user1487194234 You do know that you can keep leftovers in a freezer for more than a month? Or three in our house...

On a side note, has anyone found that the strawberries this year have been going mouldy incredibly quickly, whether or not kept in the fridge? Twice this week I have bought some (English) strawberries to use the next day, and by the time I get them out to use, nearly all have fluff and mould.

Not everyone has a lot of freezer space if you rent. That’s a problem our household runs into.

Sure, but it's about careful management. It's very rare to have no freezer space at all. It's about making sure you use what you have smartly.

Tip for weekly delivery shops..... A while ago I started "noting" on particular items that I wanted the longest lifespan and to eat on a particular day. I have to say, since doing that, I get most items with a week usage on them, and those that are short life, you get for free!

@AutumnAlmanack

On a side note, has anyone found that the strawberries this year have been going mouldy incredibly quickly, whether or not kept in the fridge? Twice this week I have bought some (English) strawberries to use the next day, and by the time I get them out to use, nearly all have fluff and mould.

Yes. That’s what dd bought day before yesterday. She made two pavlovas and left half a punnet in the fridge. I went to get some this morning and they were rotten and mouldy.

I have some sympathy for people in this position. I say this as someone who has a visceral over-reaction to food waste. I've been brought up to think it's such a grave offence that I can't watch footage of a food fight and I flinch if I see people 'waste' vegetable stalks.

We have a big freezer so can cope with most uneaten food. However, lots of people have caring responsibilities that create chaotic schedules and that can mean uneaten food or an unexpected meal out. Children and very elderly people can change their tastes or tolerance of food textures very quickly so some people end up over-buying to cope with that.

We have no food waste in our house. We know what we eat and we buy accordingly. Like a pp said, our lettuce sometimes goes off, but that's not weekly or even monthly as we know it expires quickly so we buy accordingly. It's not hard. We cook meals to the ammount we eat. There's rarely anything left over.

Frozen bread is fine if you seal it properly and don't leave it there for months. I buy 2 loaves, pop one in the freezer and take it out midweek when the other is finished. It's perfectly fresh and just the same as the non frozen one.

Almost all of our food waste is made up of vegetable peelings and things like chicken bones. We hardly ever throw any actual food away unless it is definitely off.

Twice this week I have bought some (English) strawberries to use the next day, and by the time I get them out to use, nearly all have fluff and mould.

It's way out of season for strawberries, so I wouldn't be surprised if they're awful. We just don't buy strawberries at this time of year.

BigWoollyJumpers

How are you doing this noting? Which shops enables this option?

There's also a definite rise in the massive fridge/freezer - more space, so people fill them to the brim and can't get through everything before it goes bad. They also make it more difficult to see what's in your fridge, and people will say their fridge is 'empty' when it's half full i.e. enough food for 2 or 3 days, then go buy more.

I do think there are lots of people who don't eat leftovers, my PIL included.

If it goes in freezer it normally stays there until I do the monthly clean and clear out

We just ate some leftover (in original packet) pigs in blankets from last Christmas . They were fine. Still got a spare Xmas pudding for this year to use up.

@User3152672

I agree people should be mindful of waste, but it isn't always that easy.

Take celery - if I want to make a bolognese, I need about 3 sticks of celery. But I can only buy it as a whole root of about 12 sticks. I try to meal plan for things that will use the rest but it's not always feasible to do that for all ingredients, so I have leftover veg. I freeze it and make stock, but I only have a small freezer and I often end up making more stock than I use.

Same with salad - why does it only come in family sized bags? Why can't I get a half size bag?

We all need to make a conscious effort to reduce food waste but supermarkets have to do their part by actually providing food in small enough quantities to help people avoid waste without huge amounts of extra effort involved in batch cooking, freezing etc.

We've actually recently switched to Hello Fresh for 4 meals a week and it has massively reduced our food waste, but it's expensive and therefore not a solution for everyone (plus it has its own issues - excess packaging, travel miles for delivery etc).

That ^ I only cook with celery, I don't actually like it Single household

It's cheaper for me to buy a huge bag of wonky potatoes or carrots and celery rather than celery sticks or individual and then waste some. Do I like doing it? No! I always eat leftovers and I batch cook but say red onions - they're about 30p for a bag of wonky ones. Or £1 something for 3. I'm obviously going to buy the wonky ones but sometimes there is manky ones or I don't get through them all
I also can't eat stuff after use buy date so sometimes half a bag of salad gets binned

Its rare we have food waste, but for us its a combination of luck and planning.

I have a non fussy child, who will eat the majority of things, what he doesn't eat the dog will eat. for small left overs so for one person for example, I can eat for lunch the next day, some people can't take things into work to eat up.

But also we do meal plan alot, however we don't have a food waste bin, infact out of nearly 40 flats we have one recycling bin

Short dates on food esp meat and esp with home delivery. You sonetimes have 1 day to eat it!
If youve bought a weeks load of food merrily tapping away online.
Half of it goes off before the week ends. This is what I hate about weekly shops. The waste. But I dont like daily shopping much more!

I know youll say freeze but not everyone lives in your mansions and defrosting is always a hassle. It should be able to be bought to stay fresh in fridge from weekly shop. Sainsburies is v bad for short dates.