How much food do you waste,if none how do you manage that?

[SundayFunday555]

Intrigued as to what is deemed as a good amount and how people get to zero.

What kind of waste do you mean? We have the odd yoghurt that goes off or a maybe an egg left in a dozen, but we don't ever have leftovers and finish our plates.

Almost none.

I check what I need before going to the supermarket, then buy just what I need. I shop everyday. I also have loads of containers for leftovers and next-day lunches.

Peelings go in the compost heap, and the only things for the food bin are bones, and maybe some trimmings from meat.

Just made vegetable fritters with some slightly old veg. Often freeze bits of veg and use in soup later. Certainly do throw some stuff out though but try to limit it. Meal planning helps.

I mean everything!!!

Yeah we use up leftovers but I always have a bit of salad left or a couple of floppy carrots or sprouting potatoes…

What's deemed as a good amount of food waste, does anybody manage nothing?

Very little. So little I won’t be using a food waste bin

Not sure what would be deemed good, probably to waste nothing. We have cut down be meal planning, keeping checking dates in the fridge and being more organised with left overs. There are only two of us which makes life easier. We compost what can be composted and very seldom go into a second bag for the waste bin each week.

We have virtually zero food waste but use one for fruit veg waste - the tops of carrots, banana skins etc. Do you not have any of that?

I don't waste food but I do live close enough to several shops to avoid overstocking the fridge. I buy fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry, meats etc once a week and make sure it's all used before the expiry date. I can't remember the last time I bought a takeaway but it's been several years. I certainly have never used any of the delivery apps. If I find a bargain or have something I can't use before the expiry date I freeze it. The only food in my food waste bin each week are teabags and the skin and/or peelings from the fruit and vegetables.

It sounds really silly but honestly we don't have waste because we eat the food. If something is going to go bad in the fridge, we eat or cook it. Occasionally I suppose we have slightly odd combinations as a result. I chuck the odd thing in the freezer sometimes if it really isn't going to get eaten.

We waste very little.

We do a big shop once a month. Portion and freeze meat and fish, buy frozen fruit and veg for when fresh has run out, and have a well stocked pantry.

Then we buy fresh fruit and veg from small local Asian supermarket every 3-4 days, and eat according to how long we expect it to last. Lettuce and strawberries first, apple and carrots last.

We also have ways of using up things about to go off. Fruit becomes a pudding or smoothies, veg a stir fry or soup, milk porridge, eggs omelette and so on.

Edit: To add leftover dinner is lunch the next day

It takes more than a week for a potatoe or carrot to go off

bit of salad getting towards end of life - stick it on your lunch plate or in the buttie

make a curry and stick the odds in first - those carrots and potatoes and then see what there is space for

don’t overload plates and if no one goes back for more, make leftover into lunch tomorrow

we waste very little - if someone is ill and lost an appetite we might have excess

Minimal waste in our household.

Food is frozen if close to sell by date.

Also a lot of food is eaten past its sell by date, as long as it still smells fresh.

Hardly any food waste here - I live by myself so it's easy for me to keep tabs on what needs using up. I have a food delivery once a fortnight and top up locally in between

I make a meal plan and base my big shop on that, but often change it as I may have leftovers from the previous day to use up

I have a soup maker and use up odds and ends of veg in that, so often have soup for lunch

My DM was a teenager during WW2 and was extremely good at using up food and I think I've inherited it from her!

We have no food waste, shop once or twice a week, eat salad based meals at the beginning of the week when it’s fresher then veg curries, chillis, pasta later in the week. I make soup with any veg left over. Buy fish to go with salad e.g. frozen tuna steak, salmon fillets, we don’t eat meat. Not sure what else we eat really, frozen berries last and Greek yogurt has a long shelf life. We buy oat milk which is used before it expires. Canned pulses, that’s about it. No kids at home though which probably helps

Two of us here.
Veg and fruit peelings is the main one, they go on compost.
Leftover cooked food is eaten or frozen. If I have leftover potato or veg it goes in a bag in the freezer and ends up in soup.
I do sometimes find the odd jar of spices that's very out of date. Most I will still use but often it's gone out of date because I don't like it.
I have a chest freezer and upright so lots of freezer space and anything we're not eating straight away gets frozen.

Not much at all, but I have time on my hands these days and shop for what I need every couple of days.

I plan my meals around what I have left in the fridge first and foremost, and tweak recipies to use things up. Eg this week I had a lone pepper, a couple of mushrooms and half a bag of spinach, so I made bolognaise and chucked the lot in. Often I make soup to use things up. I put leftovers in the freezer for an easy meal another time.

I use fresh produce in the order it will go off. E.g. if there are strawberries and blueberries in the fridge, I'd use the strawberries first. A slightly brown banana or an apple, I'd use the banana, regardless if I'd prefer the apple!

I'm also not that worried about dates. An out of date egg, cheese, yogurt would be used. I'm more careful with meat, but a day or two if it looks and smells OK, I'd still use it. Never fish, but I'd buy that on the day I plan to use it.

They go on the compost.

Every week we buy salad tomatoes and if there is half a tomato or even a couple left I wash and core them and stick them in a bag in the freezer. When I have lots I cook them down either into a pasta sauce or a soup which I add peppers and onion to.

Other veg, roast off and freeze to serve as sides to meals.

Bread, again freeze or make breadcrumbs. We meal plan so everything is pretty much accounted for.

Our chicken, fish, minced steak etc are from Costco so massive portions. Again, divide and freeze, sometimes with a marinade for the chicken. Any leftovers are eaten up so meatballs would be used in a sub etc. We get those flatbread garlic breads and only half is eaten so again, freeze it. Yes I have two freezers, one in the kitchen and one larder freezer in the pantry.

I think it helps that I have a Dh and adult sons who will make a meal out of anything we have.

None at all unless something goes wrong 😂
We don't buy any processed stuff. We do not do a 'big shop' though, we meal plan and only buy exactly what we need. All veg scraps to hens and all meat scraps to cats so pretty much nothing is thrown away.

I thought that but now I have it I use it for egg shells, tea bags, banana peel, vegetable peelings etc. There's never much in the bin on collection day but it's still worth doing IMO

Compost heap 🙂

AAh, ok. I don't have a garden . . .

V little, we plan every meal and check the dates of things to make sure we're eating them in time. We compost or recycle inedible bits. I hate food waste, it costs us millions collectively. I hate meal planning too, but less 😅

I'd say once a month we maybe chuck some slightly slimy spinach or something like that.

I freeze lots, even if it’s just a tub of a few bananas that were going brown. Occasionally I get a slimy carrot or mouldy courgette that goes in the compost bin, but everything else gets eaten or frozen. I eat what I have rather than what I fancy, so will always buy favourite bits and won’t go to the shops during the week. If something is about to go off that is a priority and will either be a meal or snack that day. I shop online at Asda and things tend to last well, unlike at some of the other supermarkets, except for soft berries which get squashed no matter where I buy them

Stale bread for the birds and a small amout of cooked leftovers (when our food waste collection kicks in it will go in there) Raw food waste (of which there isn't much) goes to make lovely rich compost.